Could someone explain this?

ion@protos:~/OMNI> ls -l
-rwxrwxrwx 1 ion users 541756 1997-09-22 00:58 ob_sw

This would indicate that I have a file executable by all users, but when I try to execute it...

ion@protos:~/OMNI> ./ob_sw
bash: ./ob_sw: No such file or directory

Perhaps the file is damaged, but it is there.

hmm, the errors bash gives from executing files can be a bit misleading, what actually is the file? maybe it's not finding a suitable interpret for it? what if you do "sh ob_sw" ? if it's a text fail, can you, for example, do a "head ob_sw" to show the first few lines of it?

ob_sw is OmniBasic, a compiled BASIC. It runs on my home computer which unfortunately is 5000 kilometers away. On that computer, when it errors out the errors are reported correctly. What I am curious about is why bash reports the file is not there. By the way I got exactly the same error on another BASIC I installed and have since deleted. Might have been yabasic or cbasic.

I have since managed to install RapidQ, a BASIC compiler that actually works and is well documented, so I don't REALLY need an answer. Just trying to satisfy my curiosity, so don't waste too much thought on it.

Thanks, and here are the reponses to your questions.

ion@protos:~/OMNI> sh ob_sw
ob_sw: ob_sw: cannot execute binary file

ion@protos:~/OMNI> head ob_sw
EL44 (7�Ԁ
7
/lib/ld-linux.so.1
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...and a lot more non-printable characters.