make vs. imake?

[Joseph Sinclair]

Ubuntu does not ship with the tools to build software from source, by default.  You need to go into synaptic and install the "build-essential" package, which will bring in the bare minimum needed to build from source.

For Firefox, you REALLY shouldn't build from source on Ubuntu.  Ubuntu backports some patches, and this may cause problems in Firefox if you build from source, especially if you install Mozilla or Thunderbird.  If you're running a AMD64 or PPC box, DO NOT build Firefox, use the Ubuntu package, since Ubuntu patches several 64-bit issues in Firefox that aren't fixed in the Mozilla source.

If you want to install the current Firefox on Ubuntu, it's best to  just enable "Universe" in Synaptic, and install Firefox from there.

==Joseph++

Robert N. Eaton wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I recently tried to install a tarball of Firefox into my new Kubuntu.
> After I untarred and gunzipped, I tried make, make install and make clean.
> 
> I got the computer equivalent of, "Make! We don' need no steenking
> make!" I tried man make, and got " No manual entry for make."
> 
> Then I tried locate make, and among other things turned up many
> references to imake.  I invoked man imake, but this left some question
> as to whether imake is a direct replacement for make.
> 
> Then I googled imake and read several entries, including the imake FAQ,
> and what I think I learned was this:
> 
> After invoking tar xvvzf to xxx.tar.gz, invoke imake -l (or -D?), xmkmf
> (to create a make file from the imake file, then make install, and make
> clean.
> 
> Is this the process? Or am I still in the dark?
> 
> Bob Eaton
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change  you mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>