unpacking .tar.xz

[ionray]

Hi,
I am following this tutorial to install ubuntu on a beaglebone:

elinux.org/BeagleBoardUbuntu

I have downloaded the image and verified it. However, I am trying to unpack the image with this:

tar xJf ubuntu-12.04-r3-minimal-armhf.tar.xz

I get the following error:

tar: xz: Cannot exec: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors


I can confirm that the file is in the directory I'm working in and when I click on the file it gives this error:

Archive type not supported.


I have installed XZ Utils xz-5.0.3.tar.gz from:

tukaani.org/xz/

If anyway can help me unpack the .xz file would be appreciated.

[Irithori]

Hi and welcome.

You are using the correct switch (-J) but it seems, that the package "xz" is not installed.
Install it:

apt-get install xz

then try again

P.S., about the xy-5.0.3.tar.gz:
The easier way of installing software is via repositories.
It is possible to use source tarballs of course, but usually you would have a good reason to do so.

[ionray]

thank you,
I am running an old version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu 9.1). when I run that line I get an error:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package xz

I am guessing this is due to my older version, is there another way to install xz?

[Irithori]

Correct. ubuntu 9.10 didnt have xz.

You *could* compile it from source, but if you have never done this, then it is probably easier to extract the .xz on a different OS.
Even a recent linux liveCD or windows would do.

The command is simply

unxz ubuntu-12.04-r3-minimal-armhf.tar.xz

and the result is a tar file (ubuntu-12.04-r3-minimal-armhf.tar), which your ubuntu 9.10 can handle.

[ionray]

Thanks you heaps, 7-zip with windows did it.

[bleedingsamurai]

For future reference try installing a package called xz-utils

sudo apt-get install xz-utils liblzma

this will give you some tools for working with xz archives (the same ones you installed from source, only these will be from Ubuntu's repositories) and the libraries required for other programs to use them.

[dstoian]

Hi and welcome.

You are using the correct switch (-J) but it seems, that the package "xz" is not installed.
Install it:

apt-get install xz

then try again

P.S., about the xy-5.0.3.tar.gz:
The easier way of installing software is via repositories.
It is possible to use source tarballs of course, but usually you would have a good reason to do so.

There is no package "xz" (on Ubuntu Lucid 10.04):

~$ sudo apt-get install xz
[sudo] password for zzzzz: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package xz

[dstoian]

For future reference try installing a package called xz-utils

sudo apt-get install xz-utils liblzma

this will give you some tools for working with xz archives (the same ones you installed from source, only these will be from Ubuntu's repositories) and the libraries required for other programs to use them.

Thanks for that.
There is a package "xz-utils" and that only was enough for me to unpack the .tar.xz archive.
But, there was no package "liblzma".