Re: compilation question

    stuck on actually performing the install.

https://www.tug.org/texlive/doc/tlbuild.html#Installing

There is no simple way to run "make install" anywhere and end up with a
pdftex that can actually process documents.

My suggestion is to do a minimal installation of TeX Live (whatever
formats you want to use, e.g., scheme-minimal if you just want plain and
no latex), and then replace the pdftex binary that is installed with the
one you built. -k