Most users should simply follow the directions at http://tor.eff.org/docs/tor-doc-unix If you got the source from Subversion, run "./autogen.sh", which will run the various auto* programs and then run ./configure for you. From there, refer to the above instructions. If it doesn't build for you: If you have problems finding libraries, try CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/local/include" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/local/lib" \ ./configure or ./configure --with-libevent-dir=/usr/local rather than simply ./configure. If you have mysterious autoconf failures while linking openssl, consider setting your LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the openssl lib directory. For example, "setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/athena/lib". Lastly, check out http://wiki.noreply.org/noreply/TheOnionRouter/TorFAQ#ItDoesntWork