Converting tar.gz, etc. to deb

I was wondering if it is safe and/or advisable to convert "zipped" files to "deb"? Same zipped files require extensive terminal usage just to attempt to install and mistakes can be easily made. I have "Alien" installed. For example, Mozilla, when it releases a new version, does not generate a "deb" version. Instead, it is "zipped" and requires a lengthy terminal install. So, can I use Alien to convert the zipped file/app to "deb"?

2 Answers

the installation will fail if you just convert the package to deb... it's not so hard. you download it, extract it and inside that folder you open a terminal and do what we all do:

./configure
make
sudo make install

It's only 3 commands. As for firefox , there is a ppa that does your life easier. If you still want to go for the manual procedure and do it yourself , then you must understand "how to". All apps executables go to /usr/bin , the /opt folder is just a folder to remember where the manually installed apps are. For example you could just install an app on desktop and link the executable there. So in other words you move the app in /opt and the executable in /usr/bin and link it to the app. It's simple already and can't be simpler.

$ sudo apt install alien
$ alien packagename.tar.gz whatyouwantthedebnametobe.deb

Example:

$ alien ige.tar.gz ige.deb

Then you can install gdebi:

$ sudo apt install gdebi

Then right-click the .deb package and open with gdebi and click Install in the gdebi installer.

There you go.

Then you can open it in your apps.