Source problems

[viscia]

I've been trying to install various programs from source - oggvorbis, gnome, xfree86 - hoping to learn something. In each case I get the required libraries and install them into a test directory, and then hit a "something not found" error. I try adding the appropriate directory to the PATH, installing everything with the same prefix, use commands like:

./config --prefix="/home/viscia/test" --with-vorbis-dir="/home/viscia/test/lib..."

(as per instructions in the configure script)
Once I tried just letting things go to the default directories while running as root, but that didn't help. Nothing works. Anyone ever have luck with these things?

[bdg1983]

What distro are you using and did you install all the necessary development tools when you installed. I always find it best to do a full install as it's less likely to run into 'something not found'.

[x]

I, also, tried to install all development tools when needed, but although I got pretty far - some sources were compiled correctly - I finally reinstalled & included all development tools.
Then I had no problems, so I agree with mdwatts III
You learn a lot doing things yourself, but sometimes you have to give up in order to get something done!