Recoll binary copies are always distributed as regular packages for your system. They can be obtained either through the system's normal software distribution framework (e.g. Debian/Ubuntu apt, FreeBSD ports, etc.), or from some type of "backports" repository providing versions newer than the standard ones, or found on the Recoll WEB site in some cases. The most up-to-date information about Recoll packages can usually be found on the Recoll WEB site downloads page
There used to exist another form of binary install, as pre-compiled source trees, but these are just less convenient than the packages and don't exist any more.
The package management tools will usually automatically deal with hard dependancies for packages obtained from a proper package repository. You will have to deal with them by hand for downloaded packages (for example, when dpkg complains about missing dependancies).
In all cases, you will have to check or install supporting applications for the file types that you want to index beyond those that are natively processed by Recoll (text, HTML, email files, and a few others).
You should also maybe have a look at the configuration section (but this may not be necessary for a quick test with default parameters). Most parameters can be more conveniently set from the GUI interface.
