Finding the executable

[pwright2]

When you get an attachment in Thunderbird, you can click on the attachment to attempt to view it. If you don't like the program it offers to let you view it in, you can browse for another program. In Windows it offers you a list of possibilities and you can browse for others. Linux doesn't seem to offer a list but the browse is there. But it is not very helpful (to me) because (1) I don't know where the programs are and (2) I don't know which are the executables.

So I was looking for Xnview to view some JPGs. There are lots of files/folders etc named xnview. How do I find the one which does the work?

Is there a generic way to recognize the executable?

-----Paul-----

[aysiu]

Re: Finding the executable

Try /usr/bin

[pwright2]

Re: Finding the executable

OK. I try /usr/bin and, indeed, there is a file named xnview. And if I do a right-click, properties, it declares that it is an executable. But how do I know that it is an executable? What if a program installed somewhere else?

BTW, the right-click menu indicates that the keyboard shortcut for properties is Alt-KP_Enter. What the heck is a KP_Enter?

-----Paul-----

[Fenyx]

Re: Finding the executable

1. Packages that are installed using Kubuntu's repositories normally have their executables in /usr/bin/ directory. This is the norm. Of course, there are other commands (executables) that can be found else where. Running the command

echo $PATH

in Konsole will give you a list of directories where the system would search for programs. If you can't find the program in /usr/bin, you can try finding them in those other directories.

2. When KDE gives you a dialog box to choose a program, it will have a list that resembles the structure of your K Menu (Graphics, Multimedia, Utilities, etc.). At the top of that dialog box, there's a text field where you can just type in the name of the program (xnview) and KDE will look for the program (based on the $PATH) and run it.

3. KP_Enter = KeyPad Enter.. So Alt+Enter of the numeric keypad (if you have one).

[pwright2]

Re: Finding the executable

Which explains why I cannot get the keystroke to work on my laptop.

Very helpful answer, all around. Thank you.

-----Paul-----

Hmm. I was going to complain that 'echo $path' does nothing. It will take me a while longer to get used to case sensitivity in linux.

[kubicle]

Re: Finding the executable

You can also use 'which' command to find out what executable is run if you type a command:

which xnview

[pwright2]

Re: Finding the executable

Oooh! Oooh! That's what I needed.

Thanks.

-----Paul-----