Could an rpm version of the installation be a possibility?
we do not distribute any binary formats for linux at this time, but most distributions do. we recommend that new linux users try out Fedora Core 4 with Planet CCRMA layered on top. installing ardour then becomes a single click or command. ubuntu, debian, gentoo, suse, and several other distributions all have their own pre-packaged versions of ardour that can be installed using each distributions preferred package manager.