help me, im stupid
 

im the dumbest newbie to this linux stuff in the world. it took me a couple of weeks to figure out how to install a .bin file. is there any kind of program that i can use that will install my stuff for me? iv tried reading up on how to do it but its way over my head. someone help me!

what kind of stuff do you want to install? what distro?

there's nothing mysterious about installing stuff in linux. what distro are you running and what are you trying to install? a lot of distros work with installation utilities like apt or yum which will let you update packages and try to work out the dependancies for you automagically.

and if you do have to install something via source, there's nothing hard about:

./configure
make
make install

and here's something for the next time you have questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Many distros have a nice tidy way of installing and uninstalling software. For example, debian has a system called APT, which manages software bundled into 'packages'. If I want to install a new piece of software, provided it is packaged, I can type something like the following at the command line:

apt-get install mozilla-firefox

For example. That would install the Firefox browser. Not only that, but it would automatically download everything that package requires in order to run.

You may not be running Debian but your distro probably provides something similar. Which distro are you running?

how do i install .tar files
 

right now im trying to install some tar files. iv tried reading on how to do it but i just get frustrated after many many failed attempts.
i tried the tar -v FILENAME.tar suggestion. when i do i get
"tar: you must specify one of the '-Acdtrux' options"
(the thing that im trying to install is the complete xine media player..it ends with .tar.tar i dont knwo if that makes a difference on what im supposed to do or not as far as installing goes) oh and im using suse..any suggestions?

to install something in a tar file you have to do:
tar -v FILENAME.tar
if it is a *.tar.gz: tar -zxvf FILENAME.tar.gz
then you will have a dir created with the name similar to the tarfile name
then you cd into it
./configure
make
su
make install
all this is done in cmd prompt

ok. you are trying to install tar files. before going at it with the tar files have you tried to use YAST? also, suse is an rpm friendly distro. have you searched the web for a suse rpm? with rpms, you can usually just double-click (or single-click depending on how you have your desktop environment set up) on it and it should try to install for you through some kind of package manager. of course, if you think installing from source is a pain, wait until you have to start searching for dependancies with rpms.

again, what problems are you having when you try to install your tarball package? what steps have you done? if you're getting compilation errors, what errors are you getting (copying and pasting these errors is a good idea... ). help us help you.

also, there was no need to start up another topic. your first topic was fine to continue with.

edit: and also stop using this help me i'm stupid title and use a title that can describe your problem.

Check this out: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ticle&artid=15

how do i install .tar files?
 

right now im trying to install some tar files. iv tried reading on how to do it but i just get frustrated after many many failed attempts.
i tried the tar -v FILENAME.tar suggestion. when i do i get
"tar: you must specify one of the '-Acdtrux' options"
(the thing that im trying to install is the complete xine media player..it ends with .tar.tar i dont knwo if that makes a difference on what im supposed to do or not as far as installing goes) oh and im using suse..any suggestions?

Seen this?
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=45094
Sticky thread in Linux general ....


Cheers,
Tink

In the console type 'file <filename.tar> to verify that is it a tarball.
Usually the endings are either .tgz or tar.gz or .tar.bz2. I'm wondering if you changed the extension. The file command will tell you if it is a tar archive or if it is compressed with bzip2 or gzip.

If it is a tar archive (w/o compression) then the command is
tar xvf <filename>.tar

If it is a tarred file with bzip2 the command is
tar xvjf <filename>.tar

If it is a tarred file with gzip then the command is
tar xvzf <filename>.tar

The 'tar' command was written before the convention of using hyphens for options. Also, the 'f' option needs the argument of the file to un-tar, so be sure it is the last option given. The 'x' option will uncompress the archive, making necessary directories. The 'v' option isn't needed. It just causes each file extracted to be printed on stdout.

You should end up with a bunch of files inside a directory.

Good Luck!

merged triple post

Some tarballs are missing a 'configure' script in their folder, But have a 'configure.in' or a 'Makefile.dist' file.

the 'autoconf' program will take the 'configure.in' and generate a new 'configure' script.

If there is a 'Makefile.dist', you can run "make -f Makefile.dist" to generate a new 'configure' script.

I don't know which one you should do if both files are present. I think the 'make -f Makefile.dist' command will run 'autoconf' as one of the commands.

The best bet is to ALWAYS read the README and INSTALL files in the directory. There may be gocha's mentioned that you need to be aware of.

Newbie with similar problem
 

I am a Newbie. I am experiencing similar problems with installing these tar files that can help me play DVD's on my Linux Fedora2 system. I attempted all of the suggestions listed here to no avail. It is my understanding according to this site http://www.linux-sxs.org/multimedia/dvdplay.html that I need to install several packages. I can't get any to install. I'm quite sure that it is something simple that my DOS/Windows mind is just not thinking of. I have tried several times to install other things and it seems so far that if it doesn't install automatically with the LauchUp2date then I can't get it installed? I don't believe I could have installed the Linux had it not came on CD's with the book the book that I bought for $50, which obviously isn't helping much. PLEASE HELP!!! Break me in, give me the missing Key that I am not doing, anything; but PLEASE HELP!!!

Some months ago, when i installed linux for first time, i downloaded some programs for linux in windows(my modem didn't work on linux) and the extensions was .tar.tar, so i had the same problem as you; the fact it's that when i start to find a solution i realized that the extension it had to be .tar.bz2; so the problem was that the IE change it and make everything impossible. Maybe (if you downloaded from linux) that was the error that don't allow you to unpack the file.

Try these:
-change the extension of the file to .tar.bz2 or .tar.gz
-then try(if it's .tar.bz2): tar jxvf file_name-tar.bz2
-or (if it's .tar.gz): tar zxvf file_name.tar.gz

Good luck

The file extension means nothing in linux, they're there for the user's benefit. Even if you called a .tar.bz2 file .zip you could untar it using:
tar jxvf filename.zip
as if you'd never renamed it.

Anyway, I'm not sure why you're having such problems. If you've downloaded a file ending in tar then:
will untar it. If it ends in .tar.gz (or .tgz) then:
will untar it. If it ends in .tar.bz2 then:
will untar it. Then, assuming you've downloaded source code, you would:
where mynewdirectory is the directory created when you untarred the tarball.
And then read the README or INSTALL file, which usually tells you to:

Seems the initial question isn't being answered. The reason there is a problem is a lack of understanding of tar
You need to tell it what to - compress or uncompress or whatever. Verbose by itself ain't valid - as the message said.
We all know this, the answers given show the options, but not why.

Some of the links given should do the job, but man command is there for a reason.
squirlprotector, try entering man tar from a terminal screen. This is a help system (contraction of "manual" I believe). Works for most commands when you get lost ;)
edit: use q (quit) to get out of man.