The permission bit in a file mode that allows a file to be run as a program. Also, questions related the format of program files, and to locating and executing program files.
Questions tagged [executable]
564 questions
358
votes
4 answers
How do I clear Bash's cache of paths to executables?
When I execute a program without specifying the full path to the executable, and Bash must search the directories in $PATH to find the binary, it seems that Bash remembers the path in some sort of cache. For example, I installed a build of…
Daniel Trebbien
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186
votes
4 answers
Where do executables look for shared objects at runtime?
I understand how to define include shared objects at linking/compile time. However, I still wonder how do executables look for the shared object (*.so libraries) at execution time.
For instance, my app a.out calls functions defined in the lib.so…
rahmu
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172
votes
10 answers
How to chmod without /usr/bin/chmod?
Today I was told a tale by a Unix trainer where the root password got leaked to the students, and one of the fellas removed the execute permission from /usr/bin/chmod itself. How do you recover chmod in this case and make it executable again? Let's…
Sundar R
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164
votes
9 answers
How to find out the dynamic libraries executables loads when run?
I want to find out the list of dynamic libraries a binary loads when run (With their full paths). I am using CentOS 6.0. How to do this?
nakiya
162
votes
1 answer
How is Mono magical?
I'm learning C#, so I made a little C# program that says Hello, World!, then compiled it with mono-csc and ran it with mono:
$ mono-csc Hello.cs
$ mono Hello.exe
Hello, World!
I noticed that when I hit TAB in bash, Hello.exe was marked executable.…
cat
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155
votes
4 answers
Where should a local executable be placed?
I have an executable for the perforce version control client (p4). I can't place it in /opt/local because I don't have root privileges. Is there a standard location where it needs to be placed under $HOME?
Does the File System Hierarchy have a…
user640378
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138
votes
7 answers
What is /usr/local/bin?
Before today, I've used the terminal to a limited extent of moving in and out of directories and changing the dates of files using the touch command. I had realised the full extent of the terminal after installing a fun script on Mac and having to…
JFW
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117
votes
6 answers
Why do we use "./" (dot slash) to execute a file in Linux/UNIX?
Why do we use ./filename to execute a file in linux?
Why not just enter it like other commands gcc, ls etc...
Renjith G
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116
votes
9 answers
Why is /dev/null a file? Why isn't its function implemented as a simple program?
I am trying to understanding the concept of special files on Linux. However, having a special file in /dev seems plain silly when its function could be implemented by a handful of lines in C to my knowledge.
Moreover you could use it in pretty much…
Ankur S
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114
votes
5 answers
Does the shebang determine the shell which runs the script?
This may be a silly question, but I ask it still. If I have declared a shebang
#!/bin/bash
in the beginning of my_shell_script.sh, so do I always have to invoke this script using bash
[my@comp]$bash my_shell_script.sh
or can I use…
jrara
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106
votes
8 answers
#!/bin/bash - no such file or directory
I've created a bash script but when I try to execute it, I get
#!/bin/bash no such file or directory
I need to run the command: bash script.sh for it to work.
How can I fix this?
Nicolas de Fontenay
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93
votes
14 answers
chroot: failed to run command ‘/bin/bash’: No such file or directory
When I run the chroot command an error is given:
failed to run command ‘/bin/bash’: No such file or directory
USER3254789
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91
votes
1 answer
Why does the following script delete itself?
If you create an executable file with the following contents, and run it, it will delete itself.
How does this work?
#!/bin/rm
user253751
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89
votes
5 answers
How to recursively remove execute permissions from files without touching folders?
I made a backup to an NTFS drive, and well, this backup really proved necessary. However, the NTFS drive messed up permissions. I'd like to restore them to normal w/o manually fixing each and every file.
One problem is that suddenly all my text…
gaazkam
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80
votes
9 answers
Can a script be executable but not readable?
Is it possible to execute a script if there is no permission to read it? In root mode, I made a script and I want the other user to execute this script but not read it. I did chmod to forbid read and write but allow execute, however in user mode, I…
ashim
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