tar.bz

[mhismail]

Just wondering, if knowledge about tar.bz or what to do with it has any kind of bearing to a 'user' of Open SUSE - ie I do not want to know how the pistons in my car engine work - so long as they work - if I can use that comparison.

I do occasionally, downloaded a 'new' thing via the web and at the end of it all I could see a tar.bz kind of file in my download folder. Then I dont know what to do with it. I tried clicking here and there to install it. Finally, it went to the thrash bin.

Can somebody enlighten me on this issue.

Thanks

[Irithori]

tar.gz or tar.bz2 are used to package the sourcecode of an application.
They are meant for developers, package maintainers, but also for users.
"Users" under the assumption, that they want and are capable of compiling.

If you just want to install software, then stick to what your package manager provides.

[jayd512]

I agree with sticking with the package manager for software installs. Since it will handle dependencies, as well as the actual program, it just makes life easier.
Here's some info about Yast, just in case you're not familiar with it: Portal:YaST - openSUSE

Once in a while, though, you might just come across a program that isn't available in your package manager, and that's where installing from source can come in handy.
Take a look here for some instructions for that: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/lin...tml#post344054

[atreyu]

To add to the good information and suggestions already mentioned, think of tar as a way for a bunch of files to be concatenated together into a single file, and gz or bz2 as zipping them up.

[mhismail]

Thanks guys. It may take some bit of time before I may venture into 'familiarization' with installing from source.

[carlbrasil]

Hi, mhismail. To answer your question : You open it with a program meant to open it. It's a compressed file containing several files and folders. ARK is the best I know. It is the program that will let you open this kind of file and let you decompress its content to whatever folder you want. In Windows OS the equivalent is 7-zip for zip and rar files for instance.

[mhismail]

Hi all,
Just revisiting this issue again. How I came about this issue was I 'updated' my browser some time ago and a tar.bz appeared on my desktop. I dont really know what to do with it. Should it did successfully update the said browser can I just put it to thrash? Its still these on my HP Mini's desktop.

[jayd512]

What browser are you using? What version is it currently?
What is the name of the file on your desktop?
And how did you do the update?

[mhismail]

The browser is Mozilla Firefox. However, my apology, as I cannot find what version it is. I did download a 7.0 Firefox that is visible on my desktop in the form a tan colored box, its name is Firefox-7.0.tar.bz2. Appreciate your guide. Thanks.

[jayd512]

When yo have your browser open, click on the 'Help' menu. Then, 'About Firefox'. You'll see the version.
If it's version 7, then you can safely trash the file on your Desktop.
If not, let us know.