Don't forget the most important part:

    sudo make install

If you use checkinstall(1) it'll see what `sudo make install` would do, and create a local package that would do that (e.g. a deb on ubuntu). This package can then be installed in the usual manner, which gives you uninstallability, transactionality, and ensures you don't overwrite any other files installed via a package. This is much better than curl|bash.

Correct me if I'm wrong but can't you also run arbitrary code while installing packages?

Either way I'm not saying `curl | bash` is good, I'm just trying to point out that people have a very knee jerk reaction to it and pay no mind to things which are similarly as dangerous.

Yes, it runs arbitrary code. But checkinstall avoids other downsides from curl|bash

Yes, but not as root!

we can get better compartmentalization than that with things like user namespaces (firejail[1]) or spawning a temporary user id[2]

[1] https://l3net.wordpress.com/projects/firejail/ [2] https://github.com/teran-mckinney/raru

But that means they have to steal the laptop in the two minute window before it goes to sleep.

It's not like your user password is 1234, right?

When I got my last computer, I just copied my home directory over. Funnily enough, my old login sessions worked.

Actually 99% of the Time this will install it to /usr/local

I disagree. Many (probably most) makefiles conform to the GNU Coding Standards, which recommend declaring "all" to be the default make target. `make all` does not install; that's what `make install` is for.

https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Standard-Target...

The idea of the original parent comment on Make is not about well conforming makefiles.

The idea is that if one doesn't trust a random curl-ed install file, they shouldn't trust a downloaded makefile either -- and for the same reasons, yet tons of people complaint about the first, but have been using the latter for decades without complain...

The idea is that the Makefile (and maybe configure?) could just as well as a "curled" install script contain ANY command, even "sudo rm -rf /".

It's not about where it will install it if it works fine.