Prepare Bzip2 for compilation with: make -f Makefile-libbz2_so make clean The -f flag will cause Bzip2 to be built using a different Makefile file, in this case the Makefile-libbz2_so file, which creates a dynamic libbz2.so library and links the bzip2 utilities against it. Compile the package: make Install it: make install And install the shared bzip2 binary into the /bin directory, then make some necessary symbolic links, and clean up. cp bzip2-shared /bin/bzip2 cp -a libbz2.so* /lib ln -s ../../lib/libbz2.so.1.0 /usr/lib/libbz2.so rm /usr/bin/{bunzip2,bzcat,bzip2} mv /usr/bin/{bzip2recover,bzless,bzmore} /bin ln -s bzip2 /bin/bunzip2 ln -s bzip2 /bin/bzcat