Some software packages for RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 come from commercial vendors such as game companies that provide closed-source binary packages or installers that you can run and enjoy in Linux. These installers often come either in .sh form or .bin form. Both are executable installers that you can launch in RHEL 8. If you have downloaded a .bin file and don’t know how to run it follow these steps.
In this tutorial you will learn:
- How to make .bin files executable using the command line
- How to install .bin files in RHEL 8
Software Requirements and Conventions Used
| Category | Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used |
|---|---|
| System | RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 |
| Software | N/A |
| Other | Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command. |
| Conventions |
# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user |
Two easy steps
Use Nautilus to navigate to the folder where the .bin file is located and type ls to list all available files in that folder. You will need to locate the .bin file’s filename and make the .bin file executable so RHEL 8 / CentOS 8 will be able to run it. You can do this with
$ chmod +x filename.bin
Then all you need to do is run the file using
$ ./filename.bin
Now that the file is marked with the executable bit it will start the installation process. Follow the prompts you will get either in the console or the launched GUI to finish installing the .bin installer.
Some installers might require system-wide access and might need to be launched using administrator rights. If an install launched as a regular user won’t install all the files in your home directory you will need to relaunch the
.bin installer using sudo ./filename.bin or by entering root mode with su - and launching the file as root.