Linux Pocket Guide, 2nd Edition

Name

tar.gz and tar.bz2 Files

Packaged software files with names ending .tar.gz and .tar.bz2 typically contain source code that you’ll need to compile (build) before installation. Typical build instructions are:

1. List the package contents, one file per line. Assure yourself that each file, when extracted, won’t overwrite something precious on your system, either accidentally or maliciously:^[21]

   $ tar tvzf package.tar.gz | less         For gzip files
   $ tar tvjf package.tar.bz2 | less        For bzip2 files

2. If satisfied, extract the files into a new directory. Run these commands as yourself, not as root, for safety reasons:

   $ mkdir newdir
   $ cd newdir
   $ tar xvzf <path>/package.tar.gz         For gzip files
   $ tar xvjf <path>/package.tar.bz2        For bzip2 files

3. Look for an extracted file named INSTALL or README. Read it to learn how to build the software, for example:

   $ cd newdir
   $ less INSTALL

4. Usually the INSTALL or README file will tell you to run a script called configure in the current directory, then run make, then run make install. Examine the options you may pass to the configure script:

   $ ./configure --help

   Then install the software:

   $ ./configure options
   $ make
   $ su
   Password: *******
   # make install

^[21] A maliciously designed tar file could include an absolute file path like /etc/passwd designed to overwrite your system password file.