i have been trying to install ETQW for the last few days and this is really got me stumped.

in a nut shell i download the installer from the id software ftp and did the normal deal to install. instead it spits out a you do not have permission error. as root, after chmod -x.

the thing is i have already installed 4 other games, from the same site, with no problems at all. quake 4, doom3, ioquake3 and wolfet. all work great. i even got my wifi up and running

so here is what i do
download file, but i save it as etqw.run

as root
sh etqw.run
doesn't work
chmod -x etqw.run
sh etqw.run
doesn't work
./etqw.run
doesn't work

the file seems to be downloaded, the file size and md5 all match up.

also there seems to be few places that host the download without a bunch of hoops. so can someone provide a link to the direct download, no line waits and junk.

the site i was downloading from
ok the site bans me from posting the link, so here is how you get there. go to google and type "idsoftware ftp" the first link.
failing that what is a way to force the command to run, or how do i give it permission to run? i am root when doing this so should be no reason why i don't have permission. also i am a bit rusty on linux i am sure there is a command that can do this. something like chmod 777 or something.

long story short the installer seems to be bad? i downloaded it from 2 other locations. both idsoftware mirrors. both failed to work. i ended up finding a 1.1 installer and am using that and will need to update inside the game.

i really don't know what the problem is as i don't see ANY reports of this, although internet searches tend to be like wading in a cesspit anymore. all other games worked well, install fine. i have installed and run it before too. i recently did a reinstall and the only thing that changed was i got a 320GB hard drive.

if i tired
./etqw.run

bash: ./etqw.run: Permission denied
was the answer

sh etqw.run
etqw.run: etqw.run: cannot execute binary file
was the output

the thing is i installed all the games useing the same steps and i installed etqw on a prior installation with no problems with the same install. i tried downloading on a windows system and loading it on a disk(copied from disk to home of course), nope. i even tried on another linux system and got the same result. it appears the currently listed file is broken.

i should add in my years working with linux off and on NOBODY has bother to explain the whole ./ and sh deal and how it all works. i feel understanding how linux handles "executable" files would be a very important thing to teach new users, but its almost nill. i have a rather basic grasp of it, but would like to know more.

chmod +x

you can do 'ls -l' to see what the permissions are and who it belongs to. You can find everything you need to know if you google for "chmod howto" and "chown howto" There's not much to it.

The '.' just means "this directory" alternative to giving the full path. If an executable is not in /bin or /usr/bin you need to give the full path in order to execute it, hence the ./

.sh is just to clarify things. linux doesn't care about file extentions, that's also why you need to make it executable before it knows what to do with it.
If you are root, it doesn't matter who the file belongs to, so need to use chown here.