tar

# create archive and write it to a file
tar cf target.tar file1 file2 file3

# create zipped archive and write it to a file
tar czf target.tar.gz file1 file2 file3

# extract a compressed archive
tar xvf source.tar.[gx|bz2|xz]

# extract a compressed archive to target directory
tar xvf source.tar.[gx|bz2|xz] --directory=directory

# list the contents of a tar file
tar tvf source.tar

tar
  -a, --auto-compress         # archive
  -c, --create                # create an archive containing items
  -f, --file                  # read | write from specified file
  -j, --bzip, --bzip2         # compress with bzip
  -k, --keep-old-files        # do not overwrite existing files
      --keep-newer-files      # do not overwrite existing files that are newer
  -o, --format                # use group and user running program instead of the archive
  -p, --preserve-permissions  # preserve file permissions (acls && xattrs)
  -r, --append                # like c but adding to archive
  -t, --list                  # list archived items to STDOUT
  -u, --update                # like r but requites newer modification date
  -w, --interactive           # confirm every action
  -x, --extract               # extract to disk from archive
  -y, --bzip2                 # compress with bzip2
  -z, --gzip                  # compress with gzip

  -C, --directory <dir>       # target directory
  -J, --xz                    # must use with c
  -O, --to-stdout             # extract to STDOUT instead of disk
  -P, --absolute-paths        # preserve pathnames
  -U, --unlink                # unlink files before creating them
  -Z, --compress              # compress with compress

  --uname <name>              # use provided user name

tar -xzfv file.tar.gz
cd <archive-name>
./configure
make
sudo make install