If you've been using Linux for a while, you've probably run across the need to install something from the source packages. Either the program you wanted wasn't available in the repositories, or you wanted a more recent version than what's shown in the repositories. Checkinstall is a program that will create Slackware, Debian, or RPM packages for you after you compile a program from source. For a typical install from source you run

With checkinstall you run

Checkinstall is available in the Ubuntu Universe repository. Make sure Universe is enabled in your package sources and then install it with Synaptic or from the terminal with