UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi All,

I am trying to run an executable on Sun OS and it gives me following error:

syntax error: `(' unexpected

On other server this same executable is running fine. Shell on boht server is ksh.

Please help!

Thanks

This usually means that the executable format of the binary does not match the executable format expected by the OS. In other words, the app was compiled on a different platform than the one you are trying to run it on. What OS is running on the machine where the app works? What OS is running on the machine where the app gives this message? And last, what is the output of the file command on each machine

i.e. file executable_file_name

I'm assuming this "program" is a Korn Shell
script (???). On Sun OS, normally, the default
shell is "csh". I would ask the following...

Is the shell script installed as "executable"
(i.e. rwxr-xr-x permissions)?

Does it contain as the very 1st line:
#!/bin/ksh (or whatever path to "ksh")?

What do you get when you do...
env | grep -i SHELL

How do you actually execute the script?

FYI,
Just a tip I found once.... if you do not know what the contents of a file are, it helps to identify it first, as using cat or more on an executable binary can cause unexpected results.

Use the command :

Code:

file &ltname_of_file_to_examine&gt

and it will tell you the type, eg. ASCII text, executable etc.
this will then let you know if it is safe to read using cat/more etc...

HTH,
-gHoTi

Thanks you all for your replies, When I do "file pmconfig" on both servers, I get exact same output. Following is output

pmconfig: ELF 32-bit MSB executable SPARC Version 1, dynamically linked, not stripped

When I do env | grep SHELL then I see that its ksh on both machines.

Please also tell me how can I change shell for the whole machine?

Both are running sun solaris OS5.8

Please help!

Thanks

Ahhh...

pmconfig is the power management configuration
utility. It reads the /etc/power.conf file.
Is the error you are seeing comming from
pmconfig itself? What I'm wondering is if the
power.conf file has some syntax error in it.

oh! no its not that pmconfig. Its a different excutable comes with Informatica server component.

I am sorry about the confusion.