How to install a .tar.gz (or .tar.bz2) file in linux

 

The answer is you cannot "install" a .tar.gz file or .tar.bz2 file. Because .tar.gz files are gzip-compressed tarballs, compressed archives like .zip files. .bz2 files are compressed with bzip2.

 

Step 1

 

Open a terminal or press Ctrl + Alt + T

---

 

Step 2

 

Use the command cd <foldername> to navigate to the correct folder.

 

Make sure you first read a file called INSTALL or INSTALL.txt or README

---

 

Step 3

 

Extract the files with one of the commands

 

If it's tar.gz use

 

tar xvzf PACKAGENAME.tar.gz

 

If it's a tar.bz2 use

 

tar xvjf PACKAGENAME.tar.bz2

---

 

Step 4

 

Most source codes rely on the AUTOCONF and MAKE programs, so you will need to use the following commands :

 

Use the command cd <foldername> to navigate to the extracted folder.

 

Install the files with one of the commands

 

./configure

make

make install

---