THE newbie question

[kd7aze]

I've read a good portion of the help files, I've checked the online resources - and I can not execute a binary or exe file.

I've downloaded three things-
NetBeans
Java1.4SDK
FAH3

I can not get any of these to run. In the case of the Java SDK, I tried everything I could think of (this is the binary installation file - don't even have it installed). I tried chmod -x, chmod +x, moved it to a different directory, tried running it as root, running it from bash, runing it from the explorer, verified I had permissions to run it... No luck.

To say the least, this is a bit frustrating. I can get the programs which came with the distro to work - but that's it.

System info:
Suse Linux 8.0 Personal - updated via internet.
AMD Duron 950
NVIDIA 14MB g2

Should be the simplest thing - and it's the only thing I can't do right now.

I appreciate the help!

Kid

[mdwatts]

'Running binaries/executables?' would have been a more suitable topic instead of 'THE newbie question'.

Some may not bother replying to questions that do not have a relevant subject.

Just a bit of advise.

Are these Windows executables you are trying to run?

Linux does not natively run Windows binaries/executables though some will work if you use Wine/WineX.

[Wallex]

And you forgot to give more details on what is the exact error message... just saying 'ive tried everything I could and it still doesn't works' pretty much leaves us clueless.. we could tell you to try 'this', but how do we know if you tried 'this' already or not since you said you've tried all you could think of? Knowing what are you doing which you think 'should work' and what is the error message you get when you try can be a lot of help.
The normal process to run a binary is 'chmod' it to get execute permission and then from within the directory where the file is just type ./file-name (if the file is not located somewhere in your path. It isn't complicated.... so we'd like knowing what's the exact error that pop ups, maybe it isn't an executable for Linux, as it was just stated.

[kd7aze]

"It just doesn't work" seemed adequite... No error messages. I tried to run them from the KDE (3.0) desktop, and nothing happens. When I run them from a command line, I got;

bash : <filename> :command not found

Now that someone explained that a ./ needed to be in front of the executible file, I can run it from the command line. Thank you Wallex. :D

With regards to the subject name, yes, it could have been more clear. My apologies. I realize you are a moderator and have seen literally hundreds of thousands of these, but as a linux newbie forum, you seem a bit jaded in your response. But that's just my opinion, one forum mod to another. :rolleyes:

Thanks again for your help,

Kid

[mdwatts]

It was only a suggestion.

Quite a few LNO members have commented that they will not even bother to read posts that contain subject headings such as 'Help me', 'Need help please' etc.

Having a relevant topic does help other members that might have the same or similar problem as yours.

Some also perform forum searches based on the contents of the topic heading.

As I previously said, 'Just a bit of advise'. It's up to you.

[Wallex]

Originally posted by kd7aze
...
bash : <filename> :command not found

Now that someone explained that a ./ needed to be in front of the executible file, I can run it from the command line. Thank you Wallex. :D
...
A bit of feedback on this: When you type a command (when you run a program from the menu it is basicly doing the same) this command will be 'lookup' on your user's path (which contains dirs like /usr/local/bin, /usr/bin/ and some others), if the binary is not found in any of these directories, then you get a 'command not found'. When you install a program, normally the binaries will get placed somewhere in your path, therefore enabling you to run them from anywhere by just typing the binary name. Using ./ at the beginning is to explicitly tell your system to look up for that command in your current directory. If you have a program installed somewhere other than your user's path, you just run it by typing the fullpath and not just the binary name (or changing to that dir and then using ./filename).
Installing most programs is a breeze (./configure to set it up, then make to compile it, and finally 'make install' to move the files to their final repository, somewhere in your path). Of course, you can go the 'easy' way and use precompiled packages (rpm is the most popular one), in which case you just use a package manager like red-carpet and you are all set, installing becomes just like using windows programs... a bit too easy sometimes.

Ah I love answering easy questions, they make me feel smarter.

[mdwatts]

Also unlike Win/Dos, the current working directory is not necessarily in your 'path' unless it is specified in your path variable. echo $PATH

Linux will only search for a command in the directories that are defined in your path variable.

Prefixing the command with './' will tell the shell to look in the current working directory.

./filename

[kd7aze]

All good information to know. Thank you. :D

Kid