Question

I want to build some package from source (e2fsprogs to be more concrete) and install its header files to my system. After that I will delete the build tree so it will not be accessible anymore. What is the right way to do this?

When I want to install program, I make simply:

 $ ./configure
 $ make
 # make install

What are the equivalent actions when I want to install headers?

Answer 1

For e2fsprogs, quoting verbatim from the INSTALL file shipped with the sources:

7) Install the include files and libraries

You can run `make install-libs’ to install the include files and
libraries. Please note that this installation is not needed for the
programs to work. It is only needed if you expect to develop other
programs using the libraries or if you want to compile other program
using these libraries (like the 4.4BSD dump and restore port).

More generally though, when I want to find out what is the ‘proper’ way to install something that has worked for others, I look at:

1. What the package looks like, in my favourite distro
2. How the package is built for my favourite distro