to become root, in the console, type "su" [enter] then enter your root password [enter]
ex:
$ su
Password:
# cd <directory where source code is>
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# make clean
you should read the "INSTALL" file that is usually in the same folder as the configure script. this will tell you the exact commands that are needed, sometimes a "make all" or "make depend" may replace a make command listed above. also sometimes there is no configure script, just type make and its done. this should be the same with all i386 linux distros that have gnu make, and gcc installed.