cd /usr/src (this is the standard location for source code)
wget http://some.site.com/blah/software-1.01.tar.gz (we need to get the tarball)
tar xzf software.tar.gz  (ungzip and untar it)
cd software-1.01  (now go to the dir)
perl Makefile.PL (./configure for most C code)
make  (compile)
make test (test)
make install (install ;-)

##</code><code>##

[root@devel3 dat]# cd /usr/src




[root@devel3 src]# wget http://switch.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/expat/expat-1.95.8.tar.gz

--04:14:08--  http://switch.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/expat/expat-1.95.8.tar.gz
           => `expat-1.95.8.tar.gz'
Resolving switch.dl.sourceforge.net... done.
Connecting to switch.dl.sourceforge.net[195.176.255.8]:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 318,349 [application/x-gzip]

100%[==================================================================================================>] 318,349      304.20K/s    ETA 00:00

04:14:10 (304.20 KB/s) - `expat-1.95.8.tar.gz' saved [318349/318349]




[root@devel3 src]# tar -xzf expat-1.95.8.tar.gz




[root@devel3 src]# cd expat-1.95.8




[root@devel3 expat-1.95.8]# ./configure

checking build system type... i686-pc-linux-gnu
[snip]
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating expat_config.h
[root@devel3 expat-1.95.8]# make
/bin/sh ./libtool --silent --mode=compile gcc -g -O2 -Wall -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -fexceptions -DHAVE_EXPAT_CONFIG_H   -I./lib -I. -o lib/xmlparse.lo -c lib/xmlparse.c
[snip]
/bin/sh ./libtool --silent --mode=link gcc -g -O2 -Wall -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -fexceptions -DHAVE_EXPAT_CONFIG_H   -I./lib -I.  -o xmlwf/xmlwf xmlwf/xmlwf.o xmlwf/xmlfile.o xmlwf/codepage.o xmlwf/unixfilemap.o libexpat.la




[root@devel3 expat-1.95.8]# make test

make: *** No rule to make target `test'.  Stop. 

/* Note that with C source code it is not unusual that there are not tests
   defined in the makefile. This is an ignorable error
*/




[root@devel3 expat-1.95.8]# make install

/bin/sh ./conftools/mkinstalldirs /usr/local/lib /usr/local/include
/bin/sh ./libtool --mode=install /usr/bin/install -c libexpat.la /usr/local/lib/libexpat.la
/usr/bin/install -c .libs/libexpat.so.0.5.0 /usr/local/lib/libexpat.so.0.5.0
(cd /usr/local/lib && rm -f libexpat.so.0 && ln -s libexpat.so.0.5.0 libexpat.so.0)
(cd /usr/local/lib && rm -f libexpat.so && ln -s libexpat.so.0.5.0 libexpat.so)
/usr/bin/install -c .libs/libexpat.lai /usr/local/lib/libexpat.la
/usr/bin/install -c .libs/libexpat.a /usr/local/lib/libexpat.a
ranlib /usr/local/lib/libexpat.a
chmod 644 /usr/local/lib/libexpat.a
PATH="$PATH:/sbin" ldconfig -n /usr/local/lib
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Libraries have been installed in:
   /usr/local/lib

If you ever happen to want to link against installed libraries
in a given directory, LIBDIR, you must either use libtool, and
specify the full pathname of the library, or use the `-LLIBDIR'
flag during linking and do at least one of the following:
   - add LIBDIR to the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable
     during execution
   - add LIBDIR to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable
     during linking
   - use the `-Wl,--rpath -Wl,LIBDIR' linker flag
   - have your system administrator add LIBDIR to `/etc/ld.so.conf'

See any operating system documentation about shared libraries for
more information, such as the ld(1) and ld.so(8) manual pages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./lib/expat.h ./lib/expat_external.h /usr/local/include
/bin/sh ./conftools/mkinstalldirs /usr/local/bin /usr/local/man/man1
/bin/sh ./libtool --mode=install /usr/bin/install -c xmlwf/xmlwf /usr/local/bin/xmlwf
/usr/bin/install -c xmlwf/.libs/xmlwf /usr/local/bin/xmlwf
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ./doc/xmlwf.1 /usr/local/man/man1
[root@devel3 expat-1.95.8]#