How to compile program under Linux / UNIX / FreeBSD

To compile a program under Linux, Unix, or FreeBSD, you will need a compiler and build tools. The most common compiler for these operating systems is the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), which includes front-ends for several programming languages, including C, C++, and Objective-C.

Here is a general outline of the steps you can follow to compile a program under Linux, Unix, or FreeBSD:

1. Install the build tools. Depending on your operating system and the programming language you are using, you may need to install additional build tools such as make, autoconf, and libtool. You can usually install these tools using the package manager of your operating system. For example, on a Debian-based system, you can use the apt-get command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential

This will install the build tools you need to compile a program on a Debian-based system.

2. Install the compiler. If you are using GCC, you can install it using the package manager of your operating system. For example, on a Debian-based system, you can use the apt-get command:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc

This will install GCC on a Debian-based system.

3. Download the source code. You will need to obtain the source code for the program you want to compile. This can usually be done by downloading a tarball or zip file from the program's website, or by cloning the program's source code repository using a version control system such as Git.

4. Extract the source code. If you downloaded a tarball or zip file, you will need to extract the source code from the archive. You can do this using the tar or unzip command, depending on the type of archive you downloaded.

5. Configure the build process. Many programs include a configure script that you can run to configure the build process for your system. To run the configure script, open a terminal and navigate to the directory containing the source code. Then enter the following command:

./configure

This will configure the build process for your system. You can use various options with the configure script to customize the build process. For example, you can use the --prefix option to specify the installation directory for the program.

6. Build the program. Once the build process is configured, you can build the program by running the make command. This will compile the program and create the executable file.

make

7. Install the program. If you want to install the program on your system, you can use the make install command. This will install the program to the directory specified by the --prefix option of the configure script, or to the default installation directory if you did not specify a prefix.

sudo make install