How to convert .tar.gz etc to .deb format using checkinstall?

Install checkinstall

sudo apt install checkinstall

Extract the tarball into a directory. In this case, it is /tmp/program_example. Open terminal and cd into it with:

sudo -i    cd /tmp/program_example  

./configure

Now, run:

make  

and then

checkinstall -D --pakdir=/home/youruser/packages/