This installation manual assumes you have already cloned the bitcoin script tools from the github repository and that you have switched to the installation directory of the package (.../bitcoin-script-tools).
In order to use the bitcoin script tools, some Linux packages have to be installed on the local machine. The following description assumes a Debian distribution; for other distributions you may have to adjust the necessary commands to install the packages:
$ sudo aptitude install cabal-install ghc6
First you should update the cabal-install package itself as it is likely that the distribution package is no longer up-to-date; make sure you include the executable directory in the search path:
$ cabal update
$ cabal install cabal-install
$ export PATH=~/.cabal/bin:$PATH
Next you use new cabal binary to install cabal-dev:
$ cabal install cabal-dev
Now you can compile the bitcoin script tools:
$ cabal-dev install
On its first invocation cabal-dev pulls all dependencencies from Hackage, builds them and installs them inside the project directory.
$ cabal-dev/bin/bitcoin-script-tools --help