Read the INSTALL file for the complete instructions. 

GNU Midnight Commander requires glib2.  You may already have glib
installed, but if you don't, take it from ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/

GNU Midnight Commander uses the S-Lang screen library by default. It
tries the S-Lang library installed on the system.  If it's not found,
the included S-Lang sources are used.  It is also possible to use
ncurses as the screen library.

1. Configure the package for your system.

Normally, you just `cd' to the package main directory and type
`./configure'.

The most often needed options to configure are following:

`--prefix=PATH'
	By default, `make install' will install the package's files
	in `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc. or to `/usr/bin',
	`/usr/man', etc. depending on the location of an old mc binary.
	If you have none in your system, default will be `/usr/local'.
	You can specify an installation prefix other than default by
	giving `configure' the option `--prefix=PATH'.

`--with-screen={slang|ncurses}'
	Choose the library used to manage interaction with the terminal.
	`slang' means S-Lang library already installed on the system,
	`ncurses' means ncurses library already installed on the system.  
	The installed S-Lang library is used by default if found.

You may also want to specify CFLAGS for the compiler, even if it finds
itself some defaults by typing e.g.

./configure CFLAGS=-O3

2. Type `make' to compile the package.

3. Type `make install' to install programs, data files, and
documentation.  You may need to run this command as root.

If you're on a GNU/Linux system, this will install the `cons.saver'
utility, which allows the Midnight Commander to save and restore the
screen contents.  This utility can be installed setuid root, but it's
only needed on systems where users cannot access /dev/vcsaN, where N is
the virtual console number, on which the uses is logged on.

If you're making a mc binary distribution for other people and want to
package the whole installed tree, use `make install DESTDIR=PATH', which
will make PATH the root for installation.

4. Type `mc' and enjoy!