I was wondering how I install/open these files?

I have tried sh {filename} but this just reports that it cannot execute the binary file?

What command do I need, and also is a .tar (tarball) similar in respects to a compressed archive, or is it more like an installer, ie. .rpm file?

I was also wondering how i could open .rar files, as I have quite a few things compressed in .rar files in my windows directory, but whilst linux can see them, it is unable to open them.

Thanks

Agile

% bzip2 -cd somefiles.tar.bz2 | tar xvf -

will unpack the compressed (bzipped) archived (tar'ed) files. This is just a way to bundle together a bunch of files and compress to save storage or bandwidth. Similar thing with gzip instead of bzip2 is also common, but bzip2 usually compresses better. Check man pages for bzip2, tar and gzip for full gory details.

Not sure what to do with .rar

try:
tar -xjvf filename.tar.bz2
the -j option is used to unzip bz2
HTH
lynch

I have tried both options, but in both cases it says that both of my files:

bzip2: Compressed file ends unexpectedly; perhaps it is corrupted? *possible* reason follows.
bzip2: Inappropriate ioctl for device
Input file = (stdin), output file = (stdout)

It is possible that the compressed files have become corrupted. You can use the -tvv option to test integrity of such files.

Well I have tried to use -ttv, but it keeps on spitting out syntax errors, I am pretty sure that they are okay, but I cannot be sure. I was wondering if this is the case, or it is my methods that are at fault.

The files are rp9codecs.tar.bz2 and mplayer-1.0pre1.tar.bz2

Thanks

Agile

I have now managed to get bzip2recover to try and recover the file, all it has done though is extract the bz2 archive into 22 smaller archives, whitout wanting to sound rude, what do I do with this, as it is of no help at all!!

Thanks

Agile

it's the bunzip2 command first and when you get .tar do the tar -xvzf

If I try to just bunzip2 {filename}
then i get the error that the file may have been corrupted, and it deletes the output.

Agile

do bunzip2 -t (for testing) if it finds a problem, do bzip2recover and after that bunzip2 should work