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Dear stackoverflow members,

I have a question that might sound silly to most of the members here, but it is bothering me for quite a while now and couldn't find any appropriate answer for it, yet.

My question is, how can we run a source code or binary of a open source project which is distributed under GNU license.

When I download the project, all I get is a .tar file, when unzipped, I get a folder containing many sub-folders, like src, build and etc. This folder looks similar to the project folder created by an IDE like netbeans. But how can I compile and modify these source file?

Is there an application that does it? or do i have to switch to linux to do it?

I am currently using a copy of windows 7 and also have a copy of windows xp at disposal.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

cheers Kishore.

Spaniard89
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    Usually open source software projects come with build/install scripts, and documentation that tells you how to use them. Have you checked if that's available? You might be able to also build the software under Windows, for example with the MingW compiler (haven't done that myself yet, but I've seen it pass by often). – Kenneth Hoste Jun 29 '12 at 20:28

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Under GNU and GNU/Linux distros the packages are installed by the package manager (e.g. no need to build or download anything). Some programmers distribuite (along with the source code) binary versions of the program (which you run by clicking on them, or by invoking them from the command line). You can compile source code on Windows thanks to MinGW. For the istructions to run read the `README' file that you find in the unpacked dir. Most programs can be build with:

./configure; make; make install

If you post the link to the project I could help you with the building process.

xojoc
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