Custom software installation is a common task for sysadmins. Compiling the software is often a complex process involving many steps that must be done in the correct order. Figuring out these steps once is difficult enough, but repeating these steps exactly is even more difficult when you need to rebuild your software in the future. The make program can make this task easier by letting you script complex installs. By using a single control file, you can perform a number of tasks, including downloading, building, and installing needed programs; uninstalling the same programs; and backing up the program's configuration files.

By Michael McGlothlin at Linux.com

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