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I have an executable file but don't know what type or format it is. When I execute like this

$chmod +x xfile

It shows

Permission denied

when I run as super user

$sudo ./xfile

It shows

sudo: ./xfile: command not found

I am new to Linux please tell me how to execute it.

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Try sudo sh /path/to/file/xfile –  blade19899 Sep 18 '12 at 13:17
which type of executable is it? A python program, ruby or some binary ? –  Pranit Bauva Sep 18 '12 at 14:05
You are doing the right process to run the file. Nevertheless, in certain cases you must use sudo chmod -x xfile in order to create the proper execution permissions over the file itself. In addition you must consider the location of the file. If it belongs to a different hard disk drive/partition or usb-memory/external-storage the command may not succed giving the proper permissions to the file for execution. Good luck! –  Geppettvs D'Constanzo Sep 18 '12 at 15:15
Once I was in trouble because I forgot the extension of the file. Did you put it? –  Michele Sep 23 '12 at 14:47

1 Answer 1

Strange, it works exactly that way over here.

First, try to find out what the file is:

file xfile

The file command looks inside the file and based on certain "magic" tries to figure out what that program does.

From what you describe I guess that it is a shell executable that tries to execute yet another program. If this is the case, why don't you post the code of the shell executable using http://paste.ubuntu.com.

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