Hi I am trying to install some files I have downloaded onto my comp into root folder.I have no way of getting them open.These are either .exe or.bin files.I have tried to go to the terminal and the only command I have is rpm . Also, Am I suppose to change the name of the file when downloading it before it goes into the folder?

If you are in the same directory, you need to put ./ in front of the file name.

ok, when you say the root folder, I'm not sure what you mean, as in / ? usualy in linux you save stuff to your home directory or to /root for administrative things. first of all, in linux, you cannot run windows executables. there is a program called wine, and derivatives of that called winex/cedega and tricks like that, but those are tricky to get working and I wouldn't recomend them to a newbie. So, .exe files are just out, you can't use them at all on linux without some sort of non-emulation like wine.

With that said, there are equivilant (often better) apps for linux for just about anything you want to do one windows. Let us know what these exes are and we can recomend some linux programs to try and get you started on the right foot.

as for the .bin, that sounds like part of a .bin/.cue file, a disk image. I've only used these in linux a few times. I first converted them to an iso using some utility (sorry, forget the name) and then mounted it using
mount -d /dev/loop -t iso9660 blahblahblah.iso /media/image/

also, what distro are you using? thats important for us to know to be able to help you.

.bin is just the extension given to some binary files. They can be cd images but mostly they're just executables. It's extremely unlikely that he's downloaded a .bin disk image.

hmm... hardly ever see bins, what other binary data do people package in them?

In Linux, I've most often seen that extension used for wrappers around installation files that require you to confirm some EULA. IBM and Sun have done this for drivers and such that I've had to install from time to time.

nikkilynn - Most likely, if a file has a .exe extension, it's for Windows and would be unusable under Linux. You would need to d/l the Linux package.

Is there a specific program you're trying to install? If you indicate what it is, I can almost guarantee that if there is a version for Linux, someone here will know about it and can steer you in the right direction. -- J.W.

Welcome to LQ!

.exe files are usually windows (microsoft) programs, and cannot be run under linux.
*however* for some reason, some programs distribute files that end in .exe, which are nothing more than shell scripts
.bin files are also usually shell scripts (w/ encoded binary data stuck on the end), but they can also be ELF files as well
(such as the java development kit file (jdk-1_5_0_01-nb-4_0-bin-linux.bin)
(well really they can be any file they want, I'm just talking "normal" stuff here)

an easy way to find out what exactly a file type is, is to use the 'file' command.

example :

[root@gadzook ~]# file xmms-1.2.10.tar.bz2
xmms-1.2.10.tar.bz2: bzip2 compressed data, block size = 900k

check out 'man file' for more information.

if you figure out that you have a shell script. or other executable
'file' will say something like
ELF 32-bit LSB executable
or
Bourne shell script text executable
about the file.

then you will want to tell bash that the file is executable.

to do this you type
chmod +x filename.bin

now you have an executable file, which is now given permission to be an executable file.
how do you run this file you ask?
easy by adding a "dot forward-slash" or
./ (<- note the period before the slash!!!!)
to the beginning of the file name

example
./filename.bin

this tells the shell to run the program from the current directory.
if the current directory was your home then

/home/username/filename.bin
~/filename.bin
./filename.bin

are all the same command

what you are really doing here is specifying the complete path for the program
' ./ ' is just a shortcut which means current directory.
( typing ./glfile beats the hell out of typing /usr/local/code/projects/SDL/OpenGL/GL-File-2/glfile )

the reason for this is: the shell (aka bash) will not run programs outside of the $PATH variable
to find out what your path is type
echo $PATH

so in order to run programs outside the $PATH variable we would either need to add the directory to the path, or
prepend the full path to the filename ( or a shortcut such as ' ./ ' )

if you wanted to add the current directory to the path type

export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd)

however this is considered to be a bad idea in general, as it can be a HUGE security risk.
but for home systems, w/ an unprivilaged user, this is not generaly a problem

If you are trying to install java, (it can be downloaded as .bin file) read their instructions http://www.java.com/en/download/help...10500.xml#self extracting Good reading also if attempting to install some other .bin file. Java example is

Install

# Linux self extracting binary file
# Linux RPM package

Note: The instructions below are for installing JRE 5.0. If you're installing another version, make sure you change the version number appropriately when you type the commands at the terminal.


To install the Linux (self-extracting) file

Follow these instructions:

1. At the terminal: Type:
su
2. Enter the root password.
3. Change to the directory in which you want to install. Type:
cd <directory path name>
For example, to install the software in the /usr/java/ directory, Type:
cd /usr/java/

Note about root access: To install the JRE in a system-wide location such as /usr/local, you must login as the root user to gain the necessary permissions. If you do not have root access, install the JRE in your home directory or a subdirectory for which you have write permissions.
4. Change the permission of the file you downloaded to be executable. Type:
chmod a+x jre-1_5_0-linux-i586.bin
5. Verify that you have permission to execute the file. Type:
ls -l

Make sure the installation file has executable permission

6. Start the installation process.Type:
./jre-1_5_0-linux-i586.bin

it should be easy

When I am in root account in the terminal,
I type the command chmod 755 to change permissions and then when I try to install ./ <ANYTHING> I get Bash: ./ is a directory.The files Im trying to install is java and they are all highlighted green.It still wont install.Thank you

$./ jre-1_5_02-linux-i586-rpm.bin
This is the command I have been using to install but still nothing.

Make sure there is no space between the "./" and the filename. They are all part of a single path.

Padma is right. I have been using linux 4 months and would say: while following howtos use copy/paste if possible and then just change version numbers and paths in command. It worked for me and sometimes i still use it. Helps against spelling errors.

It finally worked. Thank you everyone for the help.