Q:

Are questions about compiling/building third-party software off-topic for Stack Overflow?

I've never been quite sure how to handle questions like this one where the OP is apparently having difficulty building some piece of third-party software. I guess it's on-topic if the software in question is some sort of library that is subsequently going to be used as part of a software-development project, but what if it's just some generic piece of software that is throwing errors when the user tries to build it with their particular Linux distribution or GCC version and the user is not necessarily a programmer?
Clarification: although I gave one particular example above, this type of question is quite common, so I am looking for some general "rules of thumb" to apply, e.g. "if the OP is a programmer and is building something for development purposes then it's on-topic, otherwise off-topic."

A:

Most often OP has a big log of what happened when trying to build, and is totally lost. Solving his problem can't usually happen with a magical reusable answer but through an help exchange with an experienced user asking questions and analyzing answers until a diagnostic is made (or until it suddenly starts to work).
The usual problem with those questions isn't that they're off-topic, but that SO isn't tailored to handle them. This makes a choice that's not obvious. You should close the ones that clearly miss so much information and research that they'll obligatory end in an exchange of small questions and answers, answer when it's answerable, and probably let die the many in between that can only be answered per luck.

A:

Among the things that are explicitly on-topic, as per the Help Center, is:

software tools commonly used by programmers

gcc definitely applies; and the fact that gcc is ran on Ubuntu may be relevant to the question.  
If a user has a problem with building a piece of software, but has shown that they have at least a basic understanding of what they are doing, the question is OK. If they don't have at least a basic understanding of what they're doing, a downvote may be in order. The subject matter is still on-topic (tools commonly used by programmers), but the question may be off-topic for other reasons - like "too broad", if it would take an entire tutorial to explain the user what is going on.
There are a few corner cases; for example, some editors are also often used by programmers, but if the question is about the usage of the editor itself, and is not actually related to programming, then the question is better off on Super User.
If the actual usage of the tool is not about programming (where "programming" includes questions about compilers and linkers), then the question should be on Super User, assuming it is fit for Stack Exchange at all.

A:

In answer to your question I believe these questions are acceptable and can be on topic. 
However, every question is different so you have to be judicious when evaluating whether the question was written by someone with the minimal level of knowledge needed to be able to benefit from any answer you take the time to write.
I find the very first line of What Questions Should I Ask Here is of great help to me in deciding whether I ought to bother to respond to a question asker:

Stack Overflow is for professional and enthusiast programmers, people
  who write code because they love it.

A professional or enthusiast programmer is seldom completely lost, and will usually have tried several different things to accomplish their aims and been able to narrow things down before crying for help. 
The example you've linked to is not the sort of question I personally would expect a professional or enthusiast coder who writes code because they love it to have asked without supplying other information about what they had tried.

