Terminal "man" Problem
 

i can't seem to get any help from my linux machine...
when i try

man tar

I get

sh: line 1: /usr/bin/gunzip: No such file or directory
fgets: No such file or directory
Error reading man page /usr/share/man/man1/tar.1.gz
No manual entry for tar

or

man rpm

I get

sh: line 1: /usr/bin/gunzip: No such file or directory
fgets: No such file or directory
Error reading man page /usr/share/man/man8/rpm.8.gz
No manual entry for rpm

I upgraded my kernel to 2.4.20-19.9..before everything was ok I can get a positive output from the "man" command.

look like you need to install gzip.

I tried to check if I already have gzip installed by entering "locate" and it said that it is located in my /bin/ directory.
also i checked for /usr/share/man/man8/rpm.8.gz for the manual entry for rpm and guess what i do have them.
it just bug the hell out of me why it doesn't return any manual when i enter

man rpm

'man' cant find gunzip where it expects it to be. Just do this as root...

ln -s /usr/bin/gunzip /bin/

and give it a go. This just creates a file called gunzip in /bin/ that points to
/usr/bin/gunzip

'ls -l /bin/gunzip' will show you what I'm taking about after it's done.

BTW this is called a symbolic link.

ok here's what happened

'ln -s /usr/bin/gunzip /bin/'

ln: `/bin//gunzip': File exists

'ls -l /bin/gunzip'

-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Feb 1 2003 /bin/gunzip

but when i

'man rpm'

i get

sh: line 1: /usr/bin/gunzip: No such file or directory
fgets: No such file or directory
Error reading man page /usr/share/man/man8/rpm.8.gz
No manual entry for rpm

I think fatgod got the commands backwards. Happens all the time with 'ln'.

Do this instead:

ln -s /bin/gunzip /usr/bin/gunzip

To keep things consistant, you should also do this, if /bin/gzip exists and /usr/bin/gunzip does not:

ln -s /bin/gzip /usr/bin/gzip

-= Stefan

so far heres the situation:
ln -s /bin/gunzip /usr/bin/gunzip

ln: `/usr/bin/gunzip': File exists

ln -s /bin/gzip /usr/bin/gzip

ln: `/usr/bin/gzip': File exists

man rpm
sh: line 1: /usr/bin/gunzip: No such file or directory
fgets: No such file or directory
Error reading man page /usr/share/man/man8/rpm.8.gz
No manual entry for rpm

Hmmm.... bet one of our previous commands created some bad links.

Do this, so we can see where the links are pointing too, and what the original files look like:

ls -ld /bin/gunzip /usr/bin/gunzip /bin/gzip /usr/bin/gzip

-= Stefan

Another thought:

Is this a RedHat 9 system? If so, then it's a little worrysome that your gzip & gunzip aren't available in /usr/bin. Looks like some files were removed from you system. Do you know why?

Your gzip & gunzip utilities should be located in the following locations by default:

% ls -l /usr/bin/gzip /usr/bin/gunzip
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Apr 16 11:22 /usr/bin/gunzip -> ../../bin/gunzip
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Apr 16 11:22 /usr/bin/gzip -> ../../bin/gzip
% ls -l /bin/gzip /bin/gunzip
-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Jan 31 2003 /bin/gunzip
-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Jan 31 2003 /bin/gzip


Why on earth are you missing the symlinks?

-= Stefan

I am using RHL 9 and just upgraded my kernel..after upgrading this thing just happened.

ls -ld /bin/gunzip /usr/bin/gunzip /bin/gzip /usr/bin/gzip

-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Feb 1 2003 /bin/gunzip
-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Feb 1 2003 /bin/gzip
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jul 26 11:35 /usr/bin/gunzip -> ../../bin/gunz)p
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Jul 26 11:35 /usr/bin/gzip -> ../../bin/gzip

ls -l /usr/bin/gzip /usr/bin/gunzip

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jul 26 11:35 /usr/bin/gunzip -> ../../bin/gunz)p
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Jul 26 11:35 /usr/bin/gzip -> ../../bin/gzip

ls -l /bin/gzip /bin/gunzip

-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Feb 1 2003 /bin/gunzip
-rwxr-xr-x 3 root root 53716 Feb 1 2003 /bin/gzip

<i>lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 Jul 26 11:35 /usr/bin/gunzip -> ../../bin/gunz<b>)</b>p</i>

Is that a typo? (Might be an issue with character encoding in my browser, so I'm not sure).

Does thtat really say 'gunz)p' with a parenthesis instead if an 'i' in the word gunzip?

If so, that's the problem! :)

-= Stefan

hey you're right man, it is!! can we fix it??
gunz)p instead of gunzip

i navigated to my /bin folder but it seems fine it's there gunzip the way it should be spelled
but when i enter

ls -l /usr/bin/gzip /usr/bin/gunzip

I still get

that gunz)p thing

I think you need to remove the link first, and then symlink it.

So:

rm /usr/bin/gunzip
ln -s /bin/gunzip /usr/bin/gunzip

Then doublecheck to make sure that things are pointing to the correct place:

ls -l /usr/bin/gunzip /bin/gunzip

Swish stefanlasiewski ;)