extracting tar.gzip files

drmjh · 08-14-2007, 09:51 AM

Hi, sorry to pose such a mundane question but I get no joy after reading the man pages, trying various permutations etc. I know it's something dumb but I can't see it.
I'm trying to extract and unzip the following file: gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar.gz.
following are a few of the shell entries, "no such file' is the constant err msg. File belongs to me in permissions.

Code:

mathay@linux-lqc2:~> ls
addresses.odt     Garden                          public_html
As I Remember it  Georgie Stories.odt             Recipes
bin               gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar.gz  Suse10.1 WiFi.odt
BkUp_Script       Intel Wireless.pdf              TauMtg2008Sep.doc
BlueToothSend     Linux_Set-Up_HelpFiles          unix_commands
books2006.odt     music                           Walks.odt
Desktop           perl
Documents         Pictures
mathay@linux-lqc2:~>  

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
mathay@linux-lqc2:~> tar -xvf-z /gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar.gz
tar: -z: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
mathay@linux-lqc2:~>

Thank you in advance for your help.
Matthew

cgjones · 08-14-2007, 09:55 AM

Try the following while in the same directory as the file you are trying to extract.

Code:

tar -xzf gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar.gz

colucix · 08-14-2007, 09:57 AM

Code:

tar: -z: Cannot open: No such file or directory

Here is the reason: tar is looking for a file called "-z". Indeed, in the tar command the name of the archive to extract must follow the -f option!

b0uncer · 08-14-2007, 10:45 AM

And if you want to know how it happens step by step, here it is: first you have a gzip-compressed tar-archive called gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar.gz. Then you gunzip-uncompress it:

Code:

gunzip gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar.gz

and you get the tar file out of it, called gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar
Then you untar it with

Code:

tar -xf gsmile-0.1.1.linux-i686.tar

and get out whatever is in the tar archive. The command tar -xzf simply includes the "gunzip" part (the -z option; it would be -j for bzip2 archives), making these two steps in one command.

drmjh · 08-14-2007, 12:25 PM

Thx guys,
Of course it worked straight off.
Was easy to tell I haven't opened too many zipped tar balls

Matthew

jilloper · 08-14-2007, 09:30 PM

im having the same problem

drmjh · 08-15-2007, 02:30 AM

try posting the code snippets you used here to try to extract the files. That might make the mistake (s) obvious.
Matthew