[NTLUG:Discuss] Installation Problem StarOffice 5.1

[Richard Cobbe]

tu20159tu at netzero.net wrote on 12-2-1999:

> New to the list and to Linux.  

Welcome to both!  Enjoy your stay!

> If this question has been asked before, please point me in the right
> direction.  Loaded Open Linux 2.3 and have downloaded the Sun version of
> StarOffice 5.1.  When I tried to install, I received the following
> message: "Can only start executables on local disks" I really want to use
> the program and would appreciate any information that would help in the
> installation process.
> 

It's a little hard to tell exactly what the problem is, but I have a guess.
It is possible, for a number of reasons, to prohibit users (including root,
I believe) from running executables on certain filesystems.  I suspect that
you've untarred StarOffice in a direction on such a filesystem.  To check
this, at a prompt, type 'mount'.  (You don't need to be root for this.)
Here's the output on my system:

[minbar:~]$ mount
/dev/sda9 on / type ext2 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext2 (rw)
/dev/sda6 on /home type ext2 (rw)
/dev/sda5 on /usr type ext2 (rw)
/dev/sda8 on /var type ext2 (rw)
/dev/hda1 on /win95 type vfat (rw,uid=500,gid=10)
/dev/sda10 on /scratch type ext2 (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/hdc on /cdrom type iso9660 (ro,noexec,nosuid,nodev,user=cobbe)
/dev/scd0 on /cdrom2 type iso9660 (ro,noexec,nosuid,nodev,user=cobbe)

What this means: 

/dev/sda6 on /home type ext2 (rw)
~~~~~~~~~    ~~~~~      ~~~~ ~~~~
    1          2         3    4

1) The device file, how Linux accesses the raw hardware.  For now,
   ignorable; check either the getting started guide or system
   administrator's guide for info about how to decipher these.

2) The directory on which the filesystem is mounted and where its contents
   can be found.

3) Filesystem type.  For now, not an issue.

4) Mount options.  This is the important bit.  ro = read-only; rw =
   read-and-write, noexec = "Do not allow execution of any binaries on the
   mounted file system."  See the mount manpage for a description of the
   rest.  

If the filesystem containing the StarOffice installer has the noexec option
set, the above error could result.  (Why it's muttering something about
"local disks" I'm not sure, unless it's on an NFS- or samba-mounted fs.)

Solution: either remount the thing without the noexec option, or copy the
files to another partition without this option set.

Good luck,

Richard

(Oh, and a note to the curious: yes, I do have 2 CD-ROMs.  That's because
/dev/scd0 is actually a CD-RW.)