The configure is a way to generate a Makefile automatically.

We will not discuss creating configure scripts, since they can be quite complex. But much software is distributed with them. Configure usually takes many options and they vary by package. To see them, run from its directory

./configure --help

Most configure scripts assume the software will be installed into /usr or /usr/local. You do not have permission to do this on an HPC system, so you will nearly always need to use the -prefix option.

./configure -prefix=/home/mst3k/udunits

Configure should produce a Makefile. When it has completed you can run make as usual. This is usually followed by

make install

Refer to the documentation for your package for more details.

Exercise

Copy udunits.tar.gz from /share/resources/tutorials/compilers

Untar it (tar xf udunits.tar.gz). Cd into its directory. Run

configure --help

After examining the options, run it with at least the prefix option. You may wish to create a new directory for installing the package.

Build the library.

Install the library into the directory prepared for it.