Like PHP and ubuntu.
Is there a convenient way to see the modification alive?
+2
A:
Many open source projects are compiled with those three steps:
./configure
make
sudo make install
The first checks for dependencies and creates a makefile that matches your installation. The second does the actual compilation and the third one installs it into /usr/bin or whereever it goes.
If you want to modify the code, I recommend you first do the above steps on the unmodified code, to make sure your tool chain actually works as expected.
ammoQ
2010-01-26 07:48:51
A:
Each project is different. Most projects have a "How to build" section in their documentation.
To keep up to date with changes in the code I would recommend joining the appropriate mailing list or whatever discussion mechanism the project uses.
You could also subscribe to the RSS feed of the source control or ticket/bug system used by the project.
For the two projects you mentioned have a look at the following sites:
PHP
Ubuntu
Heinrich Filter
2010-01-26 08:22:01