1. Unpack the source somewhere, and go to the new directory. 2. Configure the program: $ ./configure You may use ./configure --help to find out which possible configure parameters are possible. Most important parameters are: --prefix=dir Set installation path prefix (default is /usr/local) --package-prefix=dir Prefix installed file names with 3. Compile the program: $ make 4. To install the program, type as root: # make install Optionally you may run some tests to verify that the program works correctly with your system. After compiling the program, you may issue: $ make check 'make check' will report if the compiled program fails any standard tests.