After the source tarball has been unpacked, the next step involves configuration to match Samba to your operating system platform. If your source directory does not contain the configure script, it is necessary to build it before you can continue. Building of the configure script requires the correct version of the autoconf tool kit. Where the necessary version of autoconf is present, the configure script can be generated by executing the following:

root#  cd samba-3.0.20/source
root#  ./autogen.sh

To build the binaries, run the program ./configure in the source directory. This should automatically configure Samba for your operating system. If you have unusual needs, then you may wish to first run:

root# 

./configure --help

This will help you to see what special options can be enabled. Now execute ./configure with any arguments it might need:

root# 

./configure 
[... arguments ...]

Execute the following create the binaries:

root#  
make

Once it is successfully compiled, you can execute the command shown here to install the binaries and manual pages:

root#  
make install

Some people prefer to install binary files and man pages separately. If this is your wish, the binary files can be installed by executing:

root#  
make installbin

The man pages can be installed using this command:

root#  
make installman

Note that if you are upgrading from a previous version of Samba the old versions of the binaries will be renamed with an “.old” extension. You can go back to the previous version by executing:

root#  
make revert

As you can see from this, building and installing Samba does not need to result in disaster!