How to Install .sh Files in Linux: A Quick Guide!

Alright, guys, today I’m gonna talk about something pretty basic but super important if you’re working with Linux – how to install .sh files. You know, those shell script files that can automate tasks or install software. I recently had to install a few things using these scripts, and I thought I’d share my experience and how I went about it.

Making the .sh File Executable

So, first off, I downloaded the .sh file. In my case, it was called “*.” The thing is, you can’t just run it right away. You gotta make it executable. To do this, I opened up my terminal – you know, that black screen with the blinking cursor that makes you feel like a hacker. Then I used the “chmod” command. I typed in chmod +x * and hit enter. What this does is give the script permission to be executed. It’s like telling your computer, “Hey, this file is not just any file; it’s a program that can be run.”

Running the .sh File

After making it executable, it’s time to run the script. There are a couple of ways to do this. The simplest is to just type in the terminal and press enter. The “./” part tells the terminal to look in the current directory for the file. Most of the time, this works perfectly. But sometimes, you need to run the script with superuser privileges, especially if it’s installing software system-wide. In that case, I used sudo ./*. “sudo” is like asking for the admin password – it gives you temporary superpowers to do things that require higher permissions. When I ran it with sudo, it asked for my password, and after I typed it in, the script started doing its thing.

Checking if Bash is Installed

Now, here’s a little hiccup I ran into. These .sh files are usually meant to be run with Bash, which is a common shell in Linux. Most of the time, Bash is already there. But on one of my older systems, it wasn’t installed for some weird reason. So, if you run into any issues, it might be because Bash isn’t there. To check and install it on systems like Debian or Ubuntu, I used sudo apt-get install bash. It’s a straightforward command that installs Bash using the system’s package manager. Pretty neat, right?

Creating Your Own .sh File

Sometimes you need to create your own scripts. I did that too, to automate some boring stuff. To create a .sh file, I just opened a text editor. It could be any basic text editor like nano or vim, but you can use any you are comfortable with. I wrote my commands in the editor, and then saved the file with a .sh extension, like “my_*.” Make sure you remember where you save it, cause you’ll need to navigate to that directory in the terminal to make it executable and run it, just like I explained earlier.

So, that’s pretty much my experience with installing and running .sh files in Linux. It’s not rocket science, but it’s one of those things you gotta know if you’re dealing with Linux systems. Hope this little walkthrough of my experience helps someone out there. Remember, the key steps are making the file executable with “chmod,” running it with “./” or “sudo ./,” and making sure Bash is installed if you run into trouble. Happy scripting, everyone!