[Fink-users] Compiling Anything

[AprilGsMailbox]

Ok...
Whether I am in gnome or kde, or just a wm and term, I have NEVER gotten anything to compile.
Sadly I am not N*X expert so I'm handicapped there anyway... but I'm tired of having to wait for something to show up in fink in order to install it.
I have edited the .cshrc as per the FAQ and it makes no difference.
Basically I guess I am suppose to set some veriable with ./configure but sionce I haven't a clue how I'm lost.
I have tried installing from fink and then installing the exact same item from source copying the fink ./configure command but it still fails. I've tried it in super user mode and still no dice.
Frustraited beyond words, I have also attempted to set the Look for downloaded files here option in preferences. Then I place tarballs, unpacked tar balls and deb file there and they never become available to fink.... I realize I must be clueless, so can some one help me understand why nothing I do works?
TIA
April.
P.S. There really needs to be a layman's guide to using fink. I mean I used to use SuSE 7.0 and never had anything fail to compile (As long as I dl'd the suse or ppc dist.)