how do you unpack
 

how do you unpack a .bz2 file. I did tar -zxvf nameoffile.bz2 and it gave me a error/

did you try actaully reading the man page for tar? if you did you'd se that the z tag is for gzip files, while y or j is for bzip2 files.

to tell the truth some one told me how to do it i didnt know there was a file that i could look this info up on.

yeah dood... the following command will work miracles for you:

# man <command>

gadzooks, batman! it's a manual for the command!!! ;-)

Yes it is better to read the man pages when you are in need of help but since that has been said here you go:

To unpack bzip2 tarball: (.tar.bz): tar -Ixvf /path/to/archive.tar.bz2

To unpack bzip2 file: (.bz2): bzip2 -d /path/to/archive.bz2

thanks for the tip didnt know that one.