These are typical installation steps for programs that are generated using the GNU autoconf and Automake
I. BASIC information
1./configure is used to detect the target characteristics of your installation platform. For example, it detects if you have CC or GCC, does not need CC or GCC, it is a shell script.
2, make is used to compile, it reads the instruction from the makefile, and then compiles.
3. Make install is used for installation, it also reads instructions from makefile and installs to the specified location.
Note: Automake and autoconf are very useful things to publish C programs.
Second, detailed explanation
1. Configure command
This step is typically used to generate Makefile, to prepare for the next compilation, you can control the installation by adding parameters after configure, such as code:./CONFIGURE–PREFIX=/USR means to install the software under/usr, The execution file is installed in/usr/bin (instead of the default/usr/local/bin), and the resource file is installed in/usr/share (not the default/usr/local/share). At the same time, some software configuration files can be set by specifying the –sys-config= parameter. Some software can also add –with, –enable, –without, –disable, and so on to control the compilation, you can see the detailed instructions by allowing./configure–help to help.
2. Make
This step is compiled, and most of the source code packages are compiled in this step (some perl or Python-written software, of course, needs to call Perl or Python to compile). If error occurs during the make process, you need to write down the error code (note that it is not just the last line), and then you can submit a bugreport to the developer (usually with a submit address in the INSTALL), or your system will have fewer dependent libraries, which requires careful study of the error code.
Errors you may encounter: make * * * does not indicate the target and cannot find the makefile. Stop it. The problem is very clear, there is no makefile, how to do, the original is to first./configure a bit, then make.
3. Make Insatll
This command to install (of course some software needs to run make check or do test to do some testing), this step generally requires you to have root permissions (because you want to write to the system file).
Iii. Extension Notes
Linux users may know that when installing an application under Linux, it is common to run the script configure, then use make to compile the source program, run make install, and then run make clean to delete some temporary files. Using the three automated tools above, you can generate configure scripts. Run the Configure script, you can generate the makefile file, and you will be able to run make, makes install, and do clean.
Configure is a shell script that automatically sets up the source program to match the characteristics of UNIX systems on various platforms, and produces the appropriate makefile file or C header file based on the number of systems and environment. Make it easy for the source program to be compiled and connected on these different platforms.
At this point, you can run the Configure script and run the Configure script to produce a makefile file that complies with the GNU specification: $./configure
At this point, you can run make to compile, install it on run make install, and then run makes clean to delete the temporary file.
$ make$ Make install (Note: Run this to have enough permissions)
Linux commands in detail (iii)./configure, make, make install command