How does linux run programs?

**FreeTheCheese** · 02-14-2004, 03:15 PM

I'm trying to understand how to 'run' linux programs. e.g. in windows you run excutables or batch files. So I would like to have an idea of the equivalent to those in linux and how to run them. I know there are scripts as well and you run them by './' but i don't really 'get' it all at all

**fingers99** · 02-14-2004, 03:31 PM

The most significant difference between Windows executables and Linux ones is that the Windows ones have an .exe extension, while Linux ones don't!

Generally, in Linux you run a program by calling it. In effect (although there may be some overlying GUI trickery going on) you're doing no more than typing (for example)

gimp

at the command line. This calls the gimp executable which lives in /usr/bin (actually, it's a symbolic link to gimp1.2, BWTH). You can even run it by clicking on the icon.

There's much more about this in rute

(if you have a HD install you can get it by doing:

apt-get install rutebook)

but a google will find it.

**baldyeti** · 02-14-2004, 04:35 PM

Have a look at the chmod man page. IOW, type "man chmod" in a shell session. I believe "man:/chmod" should also work as a target location for konqueror.

**FreeTheCheese** · 02-14-2004, 08:00 PM

So, say I download a program off of the net, (a linux program) how do I actually run it? Do I have to compile it, or create a symbolic link or wat?

And also, how do you know what a program is if it hasn't got a different ending?

**windos_no_thanks** · 02-14-2004, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by FreeTheCheese

And also, how do you know what a program is if it hasn't got a different ending?

The file ending way in dos/windos is silly anyway since you can change it. There is an utility called "file" that identifies most file types correctly. To find out if a file called "foobar" is an executable file say:

Code:

file foobar

**windos_no_thanks** · 02-14-2004, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by FreeTheCheese

So, say I download a program off of the net, (a linux program) how do I actually run it? Do I have to compile it, or create a symbolic link or wat?

Depends on what you download. As Knoppix is Debian based you should use the Debian package management system (apt-get etc...) to retrieve and install the stuff. If it isn't available as a pre-compiled package you can get the source tarball instead, for most stuff something like this works:

Code:

tar -xzvf foobar.tgz
cd foobar
./configure
make
make install

(the make install part needs to be run as root) Notice that this would probably break the package management for that particular program so avoid doing it if it is available as a Debian package.

**rickenbacherus** · 02-14-2004, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by FreeTheCheese

So, say I download a program off of the net, (a linux program) how do I actually run it? Do I have to compile it, or create a symbolic link or wat?

Depends. First you should always look for a README or INSTALL doc. Sometimes you might get a script, make it executable and then execute it.
Debian uses apt so you simply type : apt-get install <someapplicaiton>
If it's source code then you may need to do ./configure && make && make install.

And also, how do you know what a program is if it hasn't got a different ending?

File extensions are not necessary in Linux but you may use them if you like. For example:

homework.monday
homework.tuesday

are both perfectly acceptable. Use whatever you like. Wouldn't it suck if an application was too stupid to know what to do with a file simply because the file had the wrong file extension?