Help with Install Please

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004, Geoffrey Hunter wrote:

> Overall: I want to use Midnight Commander as my file manager and operating
> environment; I have downloaded mc-4.6.0.tar.gz, have decompressed it with gzip,
> and have extracted all the files with tar; I now have a new folder (mc-4.6.0)
> containing about 30 files and sub-folders.  What next ?

    What distro are you using? There's a good chance that mc is
    already installed. If not, most distributions have a method for
    installing new packages (on RedHat/Fedora and Mandrake, it's
    "rpm"; on Debian, it's apt-get).

>       There is a README file (text which may help), but how do I read this
> (and other text) file(s); i.e. what is the command to display the contents of
> README on the screen of my CRT-monitor ? - or print it ?  help help didn't
> help.

    To read a file, you can use a text editor, a pager, a browser, a
    shell script, or.......

    Editors possibly installed on your system include vi, vim, emacs,
    nano, joe, nedit

    Pagers include less and more. At the command prompt, type:

less README

    You can use the arrow keys and page up and page down to move through
    the file. Press ? to see a list of the commands available in less
    (one you will need is "q" to quite).

    Browsers include Mozilla/Firebird/Firefox, Konqueror, Galeon,
    Lynx, Links. The last two are text-mode browsers and are excellent
    for browsing the filesystem.

>       There is an INSTALL.FAST file which may be an executable

    INSTALL.FAST is a text file which tells you how to compile (yes,
    you downloaded the source code) and install the package. Try using
    lynx to read it:

lynx INSTALL.FAST

> (how are executables identified in Linux ?).

    By the execute bit in the file's permissions. You can view them
    with:

ls -l

> I'm confused about why I have to "install" instead of simply running
> the mc executable

    Executables are normally stored in "bin" directories (/bin,
    /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin) so that you do not have to go hunting
    for your commands.

    At the very least, you would want to move the executable into one
    of those directories.

> (whichever of the 30 files that turns out to be ?).

   30? ??!!!

   There are about 600 files in that package.

>       After I get mc installed, how do I make it accessible as a new command -
> like all the excutables in /bin ?

    By moving it into a directory in your PATH. To see a list of all
    those directories:

printf "%s\n" ${PATH//:/ }

>       How can I execute mc as the last task of my boot sequence ?  I've been
> operating in the Konquerer X-Window environment but don't like it - it is too
> much like MS-Windows - and much slower (on a 1 GHz CPU) and more buggy.

     That depends on how you are running X, and which display manager
     or window manager you are running.

> Excuse these simple questions from a novice Linux user - I hope that mc will
> get me back to being in control as I was with Norton Commander under DOS.

     Some people swear by mc; I don't like it. I much prefer a shell
     window (rxvt, xterm, konsole, etc.). The Linux shell is to DOS
     COMMAND.COM as a space shuttle is to a velocipede.

-- 
	Chris F.A. Johnson                      http://cfaj.freeshell.org
	=================================================================
                Everything in moderation -- including moderation
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