Install software packages in Debian/Ubuntu Linux

Do not install packages from by compiling from source. It will take you a lot of effort. Instead, use the variety of package managers that comes with Ubuntu/Debian Linux to install more than 16000 software packages with just a few keystrokes using one of the following approaches:

apt-get

If you are feeling lucky, for quick and dirty installation, as root enter:

apt-get install {guess name of package you want to install}

dselect

If (you think) you are super smart, you can try running dselect from the command line as root:

dselect

dselect is a text based package selection/management software, that would serve you well even over slow remote Internet connection. However, you must excercise extreme patience in learning to use it, one mistaken keystroke could remove a bunch of essential system packages, leaving your system in an unuseable state. I have had that experience.

synaptics

If you have less time, run synaptics from the GUI.

GUI

If you are lazy, use the simplest way: In the Ubuntu desktop, click Applications -> Add/Remove Applications, you will be prompted to enter the root(or your) password (I can't remember, as I seldom use this approach). You might not be able to install all applications using this approach. If you can't find a package, click "Advanced" to bring up the Synaptics package manager.