Now, I’ll be quick to admit that you probably shouldn’t spend a huge amount of time trying to install something from source. For many packages the best case scenario is a complicated process requiring specific build tools and dependencies with their own complications. The worst case scenario is poor or lacking documentation and no idea how to even get started. — Try installing from source first
I did install from scratch almost any app/program on my Mac 15 years ago. At that time, Mac systems were transitioning from 32 to 64 bits, and it was kind of a mess for some programs. Then I got bored and I choose to rely on Homebrew. Then Homebrew got sort of broken on my Macbook, and I was back at the magic incantation configure && make && make install.