Use 'make' to compile TheIDE. It will generate ~/theide.

Use 'make install' to prepare standard U++ environment. It will create ~/upp
directory to store U++ library sources, MyApps to store your application
sources and ~/upp.out as output for intermediate files.

Then start playing with U++ by invoking ~/theide (you might want to put it elsewhere later).

For debian/apt-get based distribution, debian file contains required dependencies in form of
apt-get commands. You can use this file by this file with "sh debian" as root (e.g.
"sudo sh debian" if sudo is available).