I am trying linux

[alexkerhead]

I started on Linux last night.
I decided to becuase i was bored out of my mind, so I downloaded, and burned Linux Fedora Core 3 on CDs.
I installed it, setup the servers.
Now, this is going to sound very stupid, I mean, very very stupid.
But I cant figure out how to install tar.gz files
I just cant figure it out.
I would be very appreciative if someone could tell me.
I dont have any trouble with RPMs, but tar.gz seems to be the most common type of software package for linux.

[Gizmo]

It has been my experience that anything distributed as a tarball will generally have the paths to the necessary spots already stored in the tarball. There should be some kind of instructions at the site where you downloaded it.

I think you can do something like

tar -xpf filename

and it will do the trick. Just replace 'filename' with the actual name of the file.

[Aedan]

For tarballs ending in .tgz, I generally do

tar -zxvf <filename>

The -z tells tar to run the file through gzip first. The -x means extract, the -v means verbose.

[Kaitain]

The thing with tar.gz is that it's not actualy an installer but the equivalent of .zip (though we can use .zip too )

Most of the time when you get a tar.gz or a tar.bz2 you actually get source code and a make file. Look for a file called either "install" or "install.readme" and read it. Usually it will ask you to su to root, then run " ./configure && make && make install" If it's software you're trying to install, this is what you have to do.

If you're just trying to extract files, then for tar.gz, you need the command "tar xvzf <filename>", for tar.bz2 you need "tar xvjf <filename>", for just gz you need "gzip -d <filename>". This all assumes you don't need to remember permissions, which are a little more important in Linux than Windows. In all the above, typing --help will tell you what flags do what. Play and have fun...