compiling GAIM 0.79

[Olaf Olson]

OK. I tried it. I downloaded the GAIM 0.79 tarball. I am so newbie at 
compiling, that I had to search the world to figure out what to do with 
a something.tar.bz2 file!

But I found it... tar jxf something.tar.bz2 (you can use jxvf, if you 
want to watch it work)

Then, I decided to look for the compile instructions. I've repeatedly 
heard people talk about make, but the help that goes with that was 
indistinguishable from some of the utterings of my 18 month old niece. 
Some of the sounds appear to be words, but... Obviously, the author of 
both discussions knows what he or she is talking about, but...

Anyway, in my ignorance, I read the README file that comes with the 
extracted files. It said:

BUILD
=====

Read the 'INSTALL' file for more detailed directions.


Whoo-hoo! Now I'm in deep. The README file refers me to another file for 
instructions.

OK. SO the INSTALL file says:

The simplest way to compile this package is:

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.

     Running `configure' takes awhile.  While running, it prints some
     messages telling which features it is checking for.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with
     the package.

  4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.

  5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
     source code directory by typing `make clean'.  To also remove the
     files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
     a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.  There is
     also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
     with the distribution.

Now, being simple, myself, I elected to try these steps, in order. It 
looked like the ./configure thing would check to see if I had all the 
pre-requisites, packages, compilers, OS, whatever. here's how it turned out:

*PERFECTLY!!!!!*

It configured, made (maked?), make checked, make installed, and then, 
when I was sure it was running, make clean.

OK... I did the first make in the /tmp directory, which ran out of space 
before it finished, but, after moving it to a larger partition, well... 
it's done!

This wasn't what I intended to have happen. I thought it would be 
difficult. I thought I would have to update GTK, I thought I would have 
to update my compiler. I thought I'd have to ask all of you for help.

This Linux stuff is cool!

Olaf
Who just experienced his first make(out)