UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi all,

I am using putty to access my school unix servers.

I have recently downloaded a source file of a software in .tar format. I change the code of the program and compile it in VS8 and build an .exe file.

1) I copy the .exe file to my school account but I could not make it work. How can I do it?

Another question is: There exists some .bin files or executables which are already installed in the machine. When you type their names wherever you are they work. How can I do this for my own .bin file. I want that when I write myfile to the terminal like a command -wherever I am- it should work.


I'll appreciate your help...

exe files will works individually for dos/windows machines. you can compile your source file in school's unix machine with gcc as g++ source.cpp -o binaryfile then try ./binaryfile
or copy .exe file and try wine yourfile.exe if get dll not found error copy that file(s) from win32 directory to current working dir on unix machine.
google wine will useful too.

First off, UNIX is not binary compatible with Windows. Never happened, never will, which means there is no way an executable compiled on Windows will run (natively) on UNIX. WINE is just an emulator for that, and in order to use it you have to have the original Windows libraries (which means you have to have a valid license or it's illegal otherwise).
Second, if you've downloaded source code, it usually comes with a file called "README" or "INSTALL", which contains instructions on how to compile and run that software. If it isn't there, look on the website where you've downloaded it.
Third, UNIX does not require you to identify executables by file extensions, those are for the user to easily identify it's possible content. .bin is usually used for binaries, eg. compiled code, as opposed to .sh for shell scripts or .pl for Perl scripts.
In order to run executables from whatever directory you are in, either call it with it's full path, or put it in a directory specified in the PATH environment variable (which probably requires admin rights)