Some projects only give you .tar.gz, what am I supposed to do with them? Is this what people call building from source? Am I supposed to move it to /opt and extract it in Debian based distros? Does this also work on Arch based ones?

  • Kinetix@lemmy.ca
    16·
    3 years ago

    That’s a gzipped tarball (a compressed archive, like a zip), that’s all. It doesn’t determine anything about what’s contained inside of it.

    On modern distributions a “tar xvf <filename.tar.gz>” should unpack it.

    Check to see if one of the extracted files is a README or INSTALL file of some sort. If there’s just a binary there to run, then that might be all that was included.

  • Dyslexic1922@lemmy.sdf.org
    6·
    1 year ago

    This is a compressed archive of files. Might be source code, might not. Depends on project. If you uncompress and extract it, there is usually a README or INSTALL file with further guidance.

  • Jack
    94·
    3 years ago

    Yes, this is building from source. You extract it and build it with whatever instructions come with it; there should be documentation from the git page or possibly in the tar.

    You choose where to put it, but most distros have general spots they put it. You can also use the AUR if you use Arch by using pikaur or yay

    • Kinetix@lemmy.ca
      12·
      3 years ago

      It is not necessarily building from source. It’s a compressed tarball, that’s all.

      • ghost_laptop
        OP
        4·
        3 years ago

        Well, I meant when you download it from a project’s repo, which is pretty much always the code.

        • Kinetix@lemmy.ca
          5·
          3 years ago

          Sure, if that’s where it’s from, that makes sense that’s what it would be.

          If they don’t provide build instructions, you may be on your own.

    • ghost_laptop
      OP
      2·
      3 years ago

      What if it doesnt have any instructions?

      What do you mean about using the AUR?

      • Jack
        11·
        3 years ago

        Hmm, then it sort of depends on the project. And I mean the AUR might already have it compiled for you or in an easier form for Arch users. But if you are using Debian and your your question was “will this compile the same way on Arch and Debian” then the answer is simply yes!

        What project are you trying to compile?

        • ghost_laptop
          OP
          2·
          3 years ago

          I am trying to install Foxit Reader and WineGUI for a friend on Manjaro, I found the latter on the AUR I think, so I should run yay install wine-gui-git?

            • ghost_laptop
              OP
              3·
              3 years ago

              Foxit Reader provides a tarball for Linux, I don’t want to install that with WineGUI, and what if I wanted to? I didn’t came here for someone to give me a lecture about libre software, I know how it works. It’s his first time into Linux, if he wants to install shitty fucking Foxit Reader I’ll do it, as long as he doesn’t switch back to shitdows. BTW he wants it because allows for PDF edition and also allows to insert images and text within the highlights.

              • Helix
                1·
                3 years ago

                BTW he wants it because allows for PDF edition and also allows to insert images and text within the highlights.

                I think Okular can insert images and text within highlights and LibreOffice Draw can edit PDFs.

                Apart from that, it’s OK to want specific Windows software on Linux, they just asked why and misunderstood that you want the Linux version, not install it through WINE. If you had provided links to the software you want to install that would have been clearer.

              • Ephera
                1·
                3 years ago

                Well, if it’s a Foxit Reader tar.gz, that’s hardly going to be the source code. Just extract it into some directory and see if there’s a file in there to start it (probably called something like “foxit-reader”).

                If that works, I would recommend moving the extracted folder to /opt and then making it available in the application menu. Some desktops, e.g. KDE Plasma, have a GUI to edit the applications. If you don’t have that, you’ll have to manually create a .desktop file: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_entries

              • saitan@lemmy.161.social
                1·
                3 years ago

                Sorry i didn’t realize you want both software. There is also an AUR Package for foxit https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=foxitreader and the package maintainer will update the package. Or you can

          • saitan@lemmy.161.social
            2·
            3 years ago

            Manjaro is an Archlinux based Linux Distro. So you can install an UNTRUSTED user package like wine-gui-git with an AUR helper like yay/paru/… like you mentioned.

            But please install not software you don’t understand how to build. It can be dangerous code.

            For the package wine-gui-git the building script is https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=wine-gui-git . So you can look and learn how to build the software by yourself.

          • Jack
            21·
            3 years ago

            You can do that, but like the other users said, you should be wary of obscure packages because the AUR can be used to spread malware. You can check what the script does to make sure.

            And I’d be surprised if you need WineGUI for that, but maybe it’s specifically necessary for how they want to use it. You could also just install WINE and use it to run the program; it will open the program’s GUI.

  • Helix
    1·
    3 years ago

    It’s a compressed archive just like .zip, .rar or .7z on Windows. Compressed archives can contain executables (like on Windows, you just run them) or code (like on Windows, you need to compile them) or other data.

    Am I supposed to move it to /opt and extract it in Debian based distros?

    If that’s where you like to put it, sure.

    Does this also work on Arch based ones?

    If they’re binary compatible and you installed all required dependencies in the correct version, probably yes.

  • ksynwa
    1·
    3 years ago

    It can either be precompiled executables or the source code. What you do depends on which one it is.

  • Halce
    11·
    3 years ago

    It’s the source (code) of a package. To install it, you still need to create/download a distribution specific specs file (it’s called a PKGBUILD on Arch Linux for example).

    This distribution specific specs file for an application (the PKGBUILD on Arch) is a text file describing where to find and download the source from (where on the internet this tar.gz is located). It also describes what the program’s dependencies (other programs it requires to run) are, (such as git to be able to download the sources, or gnutar to unpack them).

    The package manager (pacman for Arch, apt for Debian) each can read and understand only a specs file written exclusively for that one package manager (distribution), read this specs file and installs the software.