Why shouldn't I compile as root?
The same reason that you shouldn't do *anything* as root - the potential for mishap is greatly magnified.
Nearly all OS source packages say "./configure; make; sudo make install" i.e. only become root at the time you need to write to the filesystem, and not before.
I expect you're an "administrator" on your windows boxen too, eh? Gosh how those viruses spread when they have global write privs ...
-jim
