What to do with source code?

[Chiguy]

I downloaded the source code for MPlayer. I know I have to compile it to use it but how do I go about doing that?

Thanks

[nukes]

If you have a mainstream distro like RH or Mandrake, you would do better getting a RPM of it as the GUI can be a real bugger to compile.
the basic steps for compiling software in linux is to change to the directory you unpacked it in, (either a home directory or /usr/src normally)
and run

./configure
make
make install

If you are running from /usr/src, you will have to do it all as root, otherwise (if you're building in your home dir for example - or somewhere else you have the permissions for) then you only need to do make install as root.
I think to enable the GUI you need to add --enable-gui to the configure line, so it looks like:
./configure --enable-gui
but don't quote me on that. The chances are that if you are a newbie and have installed a mainstream distro that not all of the headers/libraries you need will be installed. So whereas it might work, it might simply fail to build.
I think the command for the GUI is gmplayer, whereas mplayer just runs on a fbd does it?
I will have a look around for my tar.bz2 of the MPlayer source so I can tell you more, in the meantime, there should be a README or INSTALL or something in the untarred directory.
Also, if you are a complete newbie, do you know how to untar things?
Change to the directory you want to extract it to in a shell, and type this:
tar xjvf /path/to/source.tar.bz2
(I think MPlayer comes as a .tar.bz2, if not, just replace the j with z for gzip)
then cd into the new directory that was created.
If any of that went over your head, or you still aren't sure, try and catch me on AIM or MSN later on and I will have a go at talking you through it.

[Chiguy]

Thanks for your help I haven't gotten around to trying it yet but I will soon.

[krohnjw]

Chiguy, for any source you download there will at least be a README with install instructions, and/or an INSTALL with install instructions. You should get in the habit of reading both of those as they list common bugs // platform/distro issues and fixes // and install instructions.