no such file or directory

[harbeyma]

Dear Sir,
I would like to appreciate your doing best in answering Newbies questions. I have been using distro Red Hat Linux 9 for about two months. It was going very well. I do my best to learn eveything about GNU/Linux from several Forums, magazines, Googling,etc.
I like to update and install new programs that are compatible with Red Hat. I install many rpm files and gz and bz2 files by reading the necessary instructions and Readme. But lately, I face a strange problem. I cannot install any program any more because it says (cannot open : No such file or directory) althourgh they are downloaded in the same directory(/home/loner/Downloads) Herewith you could find what is written in my shell [[harbey@localhost harbey]$ mkdir /usr/local/src
mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/src': File exists
[harbey@localhost harbey]$ cd /usr/local/src
[harbey@localhost src]$ ls
[harbey@localhost src]$ tar -zxvf httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz
tar (child): httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
[harbey@localhost src]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost src]# tar -zxvf httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz
tar (child): httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
[root@localhost src]#].
I am really sorry to take some of your effort and valuable time. But I read so much and I could not find the solution for this problem.
Best regards and until hearing from you, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
harbey

[daark.child]

Does that file actually exist in your current working directory? Is it listed when you run ls?

[dxqcanada]

The tar command will assume that your file is somewhere in your Environment path.
Example:

dennis@nc4200 ~ $ env | grep -i ^path
PATH=/usr/kde/3.5/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.2:/usr/qt/3/bin:/usr/games/bin

If the file is not in one of the directories specified ... then you will need to specify the path for the file.

If the file is in the /usr/src/ directory the prefix the file name with "./"
example:

# tar -zxvf ./httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz

If the file is somewhere else you will need to qualify the full path.
example:

# tar -zxvf /home/buddy/httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz

[harbeyma]

Dear Daark.child,
Thank you very much for your quick reply. As for your question, I say yes they are all in my working directory but unfortunately the (ls) displays only the names. When I try to get more information, it still says that there is no such file or directory, it is something strange.
Dear dxqcanada,
Thanks a lot. I tried your solutions but unfortuantely it stills tell me that there is no such file or directory. Anyhow .I am sorry to bother you all.
I think it is better for me to reinstall Red Hat Linux 9 again. It may solve this problem.
Best regards.
Yours sincerely,
harbey

[Jonathan183]

Herewith you could find what is written in my shell [[harbey@localhost harbey]$ mkdir /usr/local/src
mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/local/src': File exists
[harbey@localhost harbey]$ cd /usr/local/src
[harbey@localhost src]$ ls
[harbey@localhost src]$ tar -zxvf httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz
tar (child): httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
[harbey@localhost src]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost src]# tar -zxvf httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz
tar (child): httrack-3.42-2.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
[root@localhost src]#].
I am really sorry to take some of your effort and valuable time. But I read so much and I could not find the solution for this problem.
Best regards and until hearing from you, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
harbey

As for your question, I say yes they are all in my working directory but unfortunately the (ls) displays only the names. When I try to get more information, it still says that there is no such file or directory, it is something strange.
.... I think it is better for me to reinstall Red Hat Linux 9 again. It may solve this problem.
Best regards.
Yours sincerely,
harbey

From the output you originally posted you have nothing in /usr/local/src this appears to be why you are having problems .... reinstalling Linux will not help. You can try the command again after su command ... but it is likely ls will return no files.

Ed: you can check where the file is located using something like

find / -name httrack*

you need to cd to the directory and use ./httrack* rather than httrack* in the tar command as indicated in previous post from dxqcanada.

[scm]

The tar command will assume that your file is somewhere in your Environment path.
Example:

dennis@nc4200 ~ $ env | grep -i ^path
PATH=/usr/kde/3.5/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/bin:/usr/i686-pc-linux-gnu/gcc-bin/4.1.2:/usr/qt/3/bin:/usr/games/bin

If the file is not in one of the directories specified ... then you will need to specify the path for the file.

Eh? PATH is used to locate executable files, so it's found the tar binary from one of the entries in PATH. tar won't assume anything from PATH to find any filenames you give as command line arguments.

[harbeyma]

Dear Sirs,
Thank you very much for helping to solve my computer's problem. Sorry to say that nothing worked. I think that I made mistakes during my training on Red Hat Linux 9. Or it may be due to swicthdesk from gnome to kde.
Then I tried and downloaded several programs from Internet and installed easily.Therefore I deleted all the programs that were not identified in my working directory. Now everything goes well. I had to not reinstall my distro.
Thanks again.
Best regards.
Yours sincerely,
harbey

[netstrider]

harbeyma,

Is your file located in /home/loner/Downloads or /usr/local/src?

Post the output of

ls -A /home/loner/Downloads

and

ls -A /usr/local/src

please.

[dxqcanada]

Eh? PATH is used to locate executable files, so it's found the tar binary from one of the entries in PATH. tar won't assume anything from PATH to find any filenames you give as command line arguments.

Ah, I stand corrected.

The PATH is only used by the shell to search for executable files.