"installing" apps if booted from CD: tar.gz possib

[harry66]

Hello,

I booted my machine with Knoppix and discovered that it should
be possible to "install" software...

Should it be possible to "install" tar.gz and/or are there special
requirements?

Any tip is appreciated very much. Thank you! Harry

[maxIT]

Sort of 'standard' procedure is:
1. put the 'app.tar.gz' in /usr/local
2. cd to /usr/local and type 'tar xvzf app.tar.gz' to decompress the tarball
3. cd to the new directory app/ created with the above command and type
./configure
make
make install (as root).

This is sctrictly thehorical. Recently insalling firefox.tar.gz I've noticed that was sufficent 'step 2' and inside firefox/ directory there was the executable file ready to click'n_run, other times inside derctory created with 'step 2' there are README files that specifies the install process mode.