This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Harry Tanama
The standard process for compiling and installing an application from source usually follows these steps:
Download and Extract: Download the source code, which is usually a compressed archive (.tar.gz, .tar.bz2, etc.).
Configure: Run the ./configure script (if it exists) to check for dependencies and prepare the Makefile.
./configure
Compile: Run the make command to compile the code.
make
Install: Run sudo make install to install the final binary and its associated files to the system.
sudo make install
Important Note: Always check the README or INSTALL files that come with the source code, as the build process can vary significantly between projects.
For local installation
./configure --prefix=$HOME/.local
make
make install
Cmake
Build software application using CMake:
mkdir build
cd build
Configure with a CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX: You specify the installation directory when running cmake.
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/.local
The .. tells cmake to look for the CMakeLists.txt file in the parent directory.
Compile and Install:
make
make install
Making the Binaries Accessible
After a local installation, the executable files are in a directory like ~/.local/bin, but your shell might not know where to find them. To fix this, you need to add this directory to your PATH environment variable.
You can do this by adding the following line to your shell's configuration file (e.g., ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):
export PATH=$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Harry Tanama
Harry Tanama | Sciencx (2025-08-03T04:15:01+00:00) How to Compile from Source Code in Linux. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/08/03/how-to-compile-from-source-code-in-linux/
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