Compiling Applications With Make

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Compiling Applications With Make

You can compile the software you want to run on Zeta your self from source. The utility you use is called make, and is run from the Terminal. make isn't the compiler, but rather a tool that manages the compilation. make calls the GNU C compiler (gcc), to compile the source code.

The process of going from source code to executable applications has become pretty standardized. In the Terminal navigate to the folder containing the sources with cd. Then write:

./configure
make
make install
make clean

With these few commands, you can build and install most software that you find the sources to.

Configure will prepare your Makefile for the compilation.

An advantage with make is that it doesn't compile the sources when there is an exisiting program that is newer than the code.

The make install step uses instructions in the Makefile to install the application into the directory from which you want it to run. The clean make will remove object files, that are intermediate files in the compilation of more complex applications.

GNU

GNU - The prosject was started in 1984 to develop a completely free Unix-like operating system, the GNU system. GNU stands for "GNU is Not Unix".

Most of the command based applications you find in Zeta are ported from this project.
If you are interested in reading more about this project, please visit http://www.gnu.org.

The GNU Public License (GPL) can be found here.

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