Thread: Installing from source tarballs

Installing from tarballs is the next best method for installation after the one-click installation. Source tarballs are the most common method of distribution for open source software. This ensures that they work across platforms, across distributions and in many cases are compiled for the specific hardware present on the system. This also makes sure that the software is configured for you as an individual user, and your preferences.

The 'ar' in the 'tar' stands for archive. The 't' comes from tape. The name tarball is a hangover from the times when tapes were used to archive data from computers. When distributed, the tarball is compressed into a format to reduce the file size. This is usually tar.gz or tar.bz2. The difference between the two is merely different agents of compression, and all Linux distros can handle either format with ease.

Once you have downloaded a tarball, you can unpack it using the archive manager. This step is similar to unzipping a file. Double-click or right-click and select open with archive manager.



The contents will be extracted to the destination folder. To do the same step in the command line, type in $ tar xzf comix-4.0.2.tar gz

You don't need the root password for this step. For the next step, navigate to the folder where you unpacked the package to, open the terminal or type in
$ cd comix-4.0.2

That is, 'cd' followed by the directory name where the package was unpacked to. Now go through the 'readme' file. The readme file will have specific command line instructions about how to install the software. For example, this software requires you to enter $ python install. There may be other options available depending on the software you are installing. While unpacking into a folder, the terminal may show rows of what appear to be random text like. This is the list of files being unpacked. Be patient while this happens. The next step is to configure the installation.