17.5. Installation

17.5.1. With make

Now that all is compiled, you have to copy the built files to an appropriate place (usually in one of the sub-directories of /usr/local).

make can usually perform this task. A special target is the target install. So, using make install allows to install the required files.

Usually, the procedure is described in the INSTALL or README file. But sometimes, the developer has forgotten to provide one. In that case, you must install everything by yourself.

Copy then:

You are finished! Congratulations! You now are ready to compile an entire operating system!

17.5.2. Problems

If you just have installed free software, GNU tar for instance, and if, when you execute it, another program is started or it does not work like it did when you tested it directly from the src directory, it is a PATH problem, which finds the programs in a directory before the one where you have installed the new software. Check by executing type -a <program>.

The solution is to put the installation directory higher in the PATH and/or to delete/rename the files that are executed whereas they were not asked to, and/or rename your new programs (into gtar in this example) so that there is no more confusion.

You can also make an alias if the shell allows it (for instance, say that tar means /usr/local/bin/gtar).


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