software installation - How to create a .tar.gz file to install a custom application

I have written a simple program, and I made a .deb file to install it on Debian based OSs. but for other distros like Arch, I usually use a .tar.gz file (and doing :./configure, make and make install), How to make that .tar.gz file for my program ??

I can write a bash script (for example like configure) to copy my files to /usr/bin/ , /usr/share/man and /usr/share/doc. so I can install my application simply by executing that script(./configure).

but how do other .tar.gz files(applications) need to run make and make install to install ???

To generate the application distribution archive, developer uses some tools called GNU Autotools. These tools help you create the configure & Makefile which generates the distribution archive for you.

Check:

1. Official site (autogen,autoconf, automake)


2. Quick Tutorial

After making the correct setup, you should be able to generate the source archive using:

make dist

Notes:

• These tools were developed primarily for use with c/c++ projects. Look for corresponding tool to use with other languages (Like Ant for Java, setup-tools for Python).



• There are also some alternatives, example for c/c++ cmake, qmake with Qt.


• A correct workflow, start with generic source archive .tar.gz then distribution specific packages like Debian source package and .deb/Debian binary package.