Don't waste your life on ./configure & make & make install.

That's for amateurs.
To really waste your time you has to use Java.

In the '90s, you often had to resort to hand-compiling, as package managers lacked a lot of the features and abilities they all have now.

When I first used Linux, Red Hat 5.2(not RHEL, mind you-- it didn't exist yet) didn't have a package manager that could search and download packages, and it certainly couldn't resolve dependencies for you.

I remember spending hours chasing dependencies and waiting for source tarballs to download at dialup speeds. It wasn't until I started using Debian in 2000 that I discovered modern package management. That was a watershed moment.

Yes. The apt package manager can do everything for you. Try running synaptic as root for a GUI experience, or using a command from a console window like:

apt install vim-gtk

@1989 The better way is using a package manager :P

@krister-alm lol