If you're on a modern ubuntu, I provide binaries for it already.
wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/cgminer-3.12.3-x86_64-built.tar.bz2
tar xf cgminer-3.12.3-x86_64-built.tar.bz2
cd cgminer-3.12.3-x86_64
sudo cp 01-cgminer.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
./cgminer [commands]
plug in device via usb
Output on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS:
./cgminer: 1: ./cgminer: ELF: not found
./cgminer: 2: ./cgminer: Syntax error: "(" unexpected
I'm not sure what this is telling me...
The binaries are for a 64 bit ubuntu version 13.10 which you don't seem to have meaning you will have to compile it for yourself.