Installing Software

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Guidelines

Software that negatively impacts other users by burdening the server is not allowed.
You can't install software that requires root privileges.
Mining applications (Bitcoin, Litecoin, etc) and peer-to-peer load balancing applications ( __@Home applications as an example) are explicitly prohibited.
Tor nodes are not allowed as a result of the amount of spam that gets sent through them.
Java will not be installed by default. You may still use Java, but installation and support is not provided by Whatbox and all Java usage is subject to Oracle Java EULA.

If you have any questions about whether something is allowed or run into any problem, put in a support ticket or come to IRC.

Compiling from source

Note: You will need to check the software's documentation on its website or in the README/INSTALL files in the source archive for any specific instructions and required dependencies.

These are generic instructions that, when edited, work for many software packages distributed as source code.

Download the source

 wget https://www.example.com/software-1.11.tar.gz

Extract the source. Most sources will be *.gz, but tar can also extract *.bz2 and *.xz
```
 tar xvf software-1.11.tar.gz
```
Enter the source directory
```
 cd software-1.11
```
Configure the installation. The most basic command is shown, but you may add any options you found in the documentation.
```
 ./configure --prefix=$HOME
```
Install the software
```
 make install
```
Add the ~/bin directory to your path. This will allow programs installed to $HOME to work without needing to type a full path.
```
 echo "PATH=\$HOME/bin:\$PATH" >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
```

(Optional) Clean up the setup files

 cd ..
 rm software-1.11.tar.gz
 rm -r software-1.11

Pre-built binaries

Note: You should check the software's documentation on its website or in the README/INSTALL files in the binary archive for any specific instructions and required dependencies.

Some software has packages that are already compiled for you. You only need to extract and run the software.

Download the source

 wget https://www.example.com/software-1.11.tar.gz

Extract the source. Most sources will be *.gz, but below are examples of some other archive types you may encounter.
```
 tar xvzf software-1.11.tar.gz
 tar xvjf software-1.11.tar.bz2
 tar xvJf software-1.11.tar.xz
```
Run the software as the documentation instructs
(Optional) Clean up the setup files
```
 rm software-1.11.tar.gz
```

Python scripts

Note: You should check the script's documentation on its website or in the README/INSTALL files that come with the script for any specific instructions and required dependencies.

Many Python scripts require 3rd-party packages to work. Users can't install these globally. See the Python article for ways to install Python packages.