The basic drill of source compiling. With so many versions of Unix, it is difficult for programmers to provide a pre-compiled package for each variant. Fortunately, most of the Unix utilities are open source, and most are free. The source files come in a pretty standard package with a format like this: <name>-<version>.tar.gz

Ussually you have to uncompress the file from its compression package.

gunzip is common, but bunzip is getting popular also:

gunzip <name>-<version>.tar.gz

or

bunzip2 <name>-<version>.tar.bz2

Next you need to extract the files from the tarball (.tar) package (notice the previous command removed the .gz and this command will create a directory with the same name as the file, but without the .tar extension):

tar -xvf <name>-<version>.tar

Now go inside the directory, and configure, compile, and install. It is common to configure and compile using a regular user and install as super user. A user with super user privileges can do a sudo. If it fails, login as root using the su command.

./conrigure

make

sudo make install

     or

su

make install

Remember to read README or INSTALL files. They are useful and sometimes (albeit not always) give you the solution. Be patient with this process. Windows developers only worry about windows. Unix developers have to worry about almost any kind of machine. Search on the internet for solutions to problems you encounter. Chances are somebody already had the same issue. Write a solution if you find it. It helps others with your situation