Chapter 32. The Magic Mantra: configure, make, and make install

We covered a lot of ground in the first section of the book. You learned about files, the hierarchy of the directory structure, and a few dozen commands to help you manage and navigate your Linux system.

But the two most important chapters in the whole book don’t deal with the shell at all. The previous chapter, melting and making tarballs, and this one are the most important. Why? Because they are the two that will allow you to fully experience the world of free software.

No matter what distribution you are using, whether it’s Debian or SUSE or Linspire or Mandriva or Ubuntu or MEPIS or whatever, someday you’re going to find yourself needing a program that’s not included in the official ...

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