Talkback:132/renker.html

[ In reference to "Poor Man's Laptop" in LG#132 ]

tytower [tytower at ledanet.com.au]
Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:44:42 -0500

Perhaps I should wait for the next bit but I think the problem may be in the published section. In particular the unpacking phase.

I can't unpack the file . I tried to attach it but not allowed , it should have 50 files or so on it and does ,I can see them during the unpacking phase but I can't extract them at least not to the same computer. What have I done wrong please? I'm playing on the one computer only atm so I used the --yes option.

Attached the file ScriptUSB.pl but my provider won't send it unless I name it ".text" Took out the first line too just in case

[[[ Archived at http://linuxgazette.net/135/misc/tag/unpack.txt - Kat ]]]

Your end won't accept my archived file because it was too big . So all in all a complete stuff around and I have now sent three versions of this bloody email. I doubt I will bother again

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Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Sun, 31 Dec 2006 13:51:38 -0500

On Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 10:44:42AM -0500, tytower wrote:

> Perhaps I should wait for the next bit but I think the problem may be in the 
> published section. In particular the unpacking phase.
> 
> I can't unpack the file . I tried to attach it but not allowed  , it should 
> have 50 files or so  on it and does ,I can see them during the unpacking 
> phase but I can't extract them at least not to  the same computer. What have 
> I done wrong please? I'm playing on the one computer only atm so I used 
> the --yes option.
> 
> Attached the file ScriptUSB.pl but my provider won't send it unless I name 
> it ".text" Took out the first line too just in case
> 
> Your end won't accept my archived file because it was too big . So all in all 
> a complete stuff around and I have now sent three versions of this bloody 
> email. I doubt I will bother again
> 
> Ty

Sorry you're experiencing so much frustration, Ty; this is what standard practice - i.e., posting a large file in a location where it can be downloaded and providing a link - is supposed to prevent. Since I'm one of the list admins, I went back and took a look at the original file you sent; it appears to be a perfectly valid tarball, just what it should be (you can examine it with 'tar tvf <filename>' or unpack it with 'tar xvf <filename>.)

You didn't say what you were getting in a way of messages or errors, but due to your "not allowed" statement above, I suspect (NOTE: the fact that I have to guess is not a good thing, and can lead you down the wrong path) that you're not executing the script with the correct permissions on the remote system. That is, if you created the archive as root, and try to 'unarchive' it as a non-root user, you will not have the permissions to write those files in the locations where they originally were.

So, if the above doesn't solve the problem, and you do decide to "bother again", here's the step-by-step "right thing" to do:

1) Upload your archive to some file sharing archive (e.g., 'http://www.4shared.com/') and include the URL in your next email.

2) Run the script again, then *copy and paste* (do not retype) the errors that you get into that email as well.

3) Provide the pertinent info - i.e., which user you are on the local and the remote hosts, what OS both of them are running, and anything else you can think of that applies.

I'm also CCing the author of the article just to keep him in the discussion loop.

-- 
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *

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Gerrit Renker [grrtrr at yahoo.co.uk]
Wed, 3 Jan 2007 07:15:47 +0000 (GMT)

Hi Ty,

> > I can't unpack the file . I tried to attach it but not allowed  , it should 
> > have 50 files or so  on it and does ,I can see them during the unpacking 
> > phase but I can't extract them at least not to  the same computer. What have

would be happy to help but I don't know the precise nature of the problem you are facing. Please consider the helpful hints by Benjamin; here are a few further tips to help isolate the issue:

1) Mounting:
   * are you using automounter 
   * if not, have you adjusted the $flashdir variable at the top of the file?
        $flashdir= "/vol/" . (${ENV}{'VOL'} || "flash"); 
     --> if your mount directory is `/mount/myStick', it would have to be set to
        $flashdir = "/mount/myStick"
 
2) File access
   * once you have made sure you can mount the file / automounter is working correctly,
     try:
             tar -jtvf    $flashdir/actual.2
   * or have you changed the name of the main archive file? Then try
             tar -jtvf    $tarfile            # (refer to top of file for variables)
 
3) Have you got dialog / gdialog installed?
   All user communication uses this package. You don't need both, one is sufficient.
   Try if the following commands work:
        * type `dialog'      in an xterm
        * type `zenity'      in an xterm (this is how gdialog is called)
 
4) Check if you can unpack the file manually and look out for potential error messages:
        
        tar -jxvpPf      $flashdir/actual.2      # or $tarfile, depending on your naming choice

Hope this helps, if you get stuck with one of the above, feel free to post again.

Best regards Gerrit

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tytower [tytower at ledanet.com.au]
Wed, 3 Jan 2007 06:51:44 +1000

Woops my error I see now that the archive is not getting all the files in the pack.list. This is the problem I will see if I can find out why. Please disregard previous

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