Packet building

What you describe is the usual process to compile a program built with the GNU Build Chain (aka the Autotools). Other programs use other build systems. Programs written in interpreted languages need not be compiled. And getting a package such as a .rpm and .deb (I believe that is what you mean by "packet") is a further step that is distribution-dependent. For instance, the Trisquel project builds .deb packages because that is what it uses.