configure, make, make install

Most of the linux/unix packages can be installed just by following three simple steps:

"configure, make and make install"

Try:

./configure
make
make install


If you are working in a cluster or workstation where you don't have sudo previleges, you just need to change the configure as follow. Remaining same.

Try:

./configure --prefix=/the/location/where/you/want/to/install/the/package
make
make install


Some codes use make -j . What is that?

Here is the explanation from "man" page of make.

-j [jobs], --jobs[=jobs]
"Specifies  the number of jobs (commands) to run simultaneously.  If there is more than one -j option, the last one is effective.  If the -j option is given without an argument, make will not limit the number of jobs that can run simultaneously."

Some other questions about make.

What is the difference between make and make all?

To List of things you need to work on HPC (for researchers)

For learning more, see
Make install but not to default directories
How to build: Configure and make

Check if a Python module installed or not

For a beginner, it may be confusing whether a particular module in Python (either 2.* or 3.*). The simple way to check (in terminal is ) to import the module you want.

In the terminal, first go to python2 or python3 prompt. Then import the module you want to check. For example, if I you want to check if Numpy is installed or not, type "import numpy". If installed, the python interpreter will import. Otherwise, error message will be displayed.

Now example.

For python2, try:

~$ python     [in the terminal]
Python 2.7.12 (default, Oct  8 2019 time stamp)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import numpy     [Enter]
>>>
Here note that you get a new >>> prompt and this means that numpy is already installed.

Now, I want to check a module called pythran is installed or not.

~$ python
Python 2.7.12 (default, Oct  8 2019, time stamp)
[GCC 5.4.0 20160609] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> pythran       [Enter]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
NameError: name 'pythran' is not defined
>>>
This error means that this particular module is not installed.

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