how to install?

[jihiggs]

im tired of trying to learn how to do stuff by reading crap so ive decided to start doing and learn as i go. i downloaded a packet sniffer program but i cant figure out what to do with it. it doesnt run. i assume i need to compile the source code to run on my system is this correct? the file list is:
[root@penguin getdata]# ls -a
./ ../ Getdata* getdata.c getdata.c~ Makefile time.c
what do i need to do? btw, the file Getdata was green in color. i assume the * means it is special in some way, not part of the file name

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[poorboy]

Looks like you've got yourself some source code. You'd normally build it by having a look at the Makefile to see it suits your system, then running make. The * means it's got permissions set to executable, and the green means it's executable too. Odds are you can run it already with ./Getdata, but I've really no idea about that particular app. If you don't have any luck with it, try <A HREF="http://www.ethereal.com/" target="_new">Ethereal</A> instead. Your distro probably has it included (if not already installed).

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

 

[jihiggs]

this is the contents of the makefile below. i try to run ./Getdata and it just gives an error. my goal here is to learn how to install this scenario, not to get an equivalent program. i just chose this program cause i stumbled upon it and thought it would be fun to check it out.

[root@penguin getdata]# dir
Getdata getdata.c getdata.c~ Makefile time.c
[root@penguin getdata]# more Makefile

CC = gcc

Getdata: getdata.c
$(CC) -Wall -c time.c
$(CC) -Wall -c getdata.c
$(CC) -Wall *.o -o Getdata '-lpcap'
rm -f *.o
clean:
rm -f *.o Getdata
rm *~


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[poorboy]

It doesn't have an install task in the makefile. You can run make and it will build the Getdata application. That's all there is to it. For "installation" you'd then just copy it to /usr/local/bin.

That app isn't representative of normal software. Normally you'd do one of 2 things with source:
1) ./configure; make; make install, which sets up the sources for your system, compiles them, and then installs it.
Or 2) Build a package from it using a .spec file and install it with rpm (or whatever format your distro uses).


<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>