Linux: Compiling and Installing Source Code from the Terminal

Method 1, generic

1. Install the needed dev packages

   For Debian based package management

   sudo apt-get install automake autoconf

   For openSUSE

   sudo zypper install gcc make

2. Acquire the source code, and untar it if need be. See Linux: Acquiring Source Code
3. Ensure the root directory and its subdirectories and files have the access permissions set correctly. i.e. not read-only.
4. Enter the command below from the sources root directory, breaking up the three individual commands if needed.

   sudo ./configure && make && make install

Method 2, Debian based

1. Install the base compiler toolchain

   sudo apt-get install build-essential devscripts

2. Acquire the source code, and untar it if need be. See Linux: Acquiring Source Code
3. Install the build time dependencies

   sudo apt-get build-dep whateverPackage

4. compile the package

   sudo debuild -us -uc

5. go up one directory

   cd ..

6. install the compiled .deb package

   sudo dpkg -i filename.deb