Installing software from source

Posted by Learning on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Learning
Published on 2013-07-21T01:29:47Z Indexed on 2014/08/23 10:36 UTC
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I'm trying to understand the rational behind installing from software from source in Ubuntu 12.04. Obviously, I know I can download what I need from repos, but I want to develop a deeper understanding of Linux.

As a Windows users, when I download a program I double click it, and it installs into the
program files directory unless I specify otherwise. When I want to uninstall it, Windows has a tools that does that for me.

When I install a program in Linux, where does it install to? How do I uninstall it afterwards? Are there residual files left over? How would I tell if it's been fully removed?

For instance, I'm going to install LMMS (Linux Multimedia Studio) from source. I download and decompress the tar ball, and have a folder name lmms_XXX.tar (whatever).

The folder is now on my desktop with an install file. If I run the install file from that location, does it install into that folder? If so, can I move that folder to where ever I want? I want thinking about putting it in /opt/lmms

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