Linux (Fedora-13)

• Download the latest file from http://sourceforge.net/projects/opencvlibrary/files/opencv-unix/ 
  in my case its OpenCV-2.3.1.tar.bz2
• Extract the contents into a folder
  in my case I put it into /home/gperry/opencv/OpenCV-2.3.1
• If you don't have them already you will need the gcc compiler and several other utilities
  you can install them with the following command
  $ sudo yum install gcc cmake cmake-gui ffmpeg ffmpeg-libs 
• I like using the cmake-gui
  
• Examples is the item I like having which by default is not included 
• Hit Configure then Generate
• Create native makefiles unless your cross compiling
  
• go to the directory where the binaries will be built and type
  $ make
  then
  $ sudo make install
  This will put the binaries (.so) into /usr/local/lib

  

• after its installed you will need to export the /usr/local/lib directory 
  $ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH