Linux Links and Tips

This is a good overview and gives a detailed "How To".

Here is part of the file.

....So where does all this compiling and linking take place? Most Linux systems have a /usr/local subdirectory.
The "local" refers to things that are specific to the local machine. In
other words, if a particular program isn't installed on all Linux
systems by default, then it represents something that is additional to
that particlar local machine. So most third-party programs and
utilities should be installed under this /usr/local subdirectory.

There are quite a few subdirectories under the /usr/local subdirectory. Two of them are /usr/local/src (for source code files) and /usr/local/bin (for binaries). The make utility will usually put any newly-compiled binaries in the /usr/local/bin directory.

With Linux, you typically issue four commands to compile, link, and install a program:

./configure (may not have this)

make

make install

make clean

configure is
usually an extremely long and hideously complex shell script that the
program's author (hopefully) generated to make your compiling
experience easier. It basically checks out your system to see what you
have and where it is and to make sure it has everything it needs. I
have also seen this same type of script given the name of the program
or driver with a .sh extension (example
'myprogram.sh' instead of 'configure'). However, such scripts are no
guarantee of a successful compile. Such a script may also create a
thing called a "makefile" that is used by the make utility in the next step.

The make utility is what does the actual compiling and linking. If it's going to bomb, this is where it will bomb.

make install puts the compiled binary file in the proper (/usr/local/bin ) subdirectory.

make clean cleans up temporary files that were generated by the compiling and linking processes.

Now that you know what you'll be doing, and how to do, lets compile a
program. (Even though compiling is only one step in the process, the
term "compile" is often used to refer to the entire process of
compiling, linking, and installing.)
...

I liked them telling one to go to the diretory you want the file to be in BEFORE you do the download/extraction.