Compiling third-party software from source

This is the most manual, and most time-honored, way to install software on a system – manual compilation and installation! It doesn’t have the many advantages of a package manager, like speed, repeatability, ease of managing the installed software, and cryptographic validation of the software binary you’re installing.

But in a pinch, it’s still the most reliable way to get something installed, with no real outside dependencies except for the basic software tools (compiler, linker, and make script) that you’re already familiar with as a developer.

You’ll find yourself manually compiling and installing software when:

• There is no pre-packaged version of the software in the package manager you have available. For example, If you’re using a minimal container distribution (such as, Alpine), you might not find what you need in the package manager. In that case, you can compile...