Problem EXTRACTING Apache on Red Hat Linux!

OK, I downloaded Apache 1.3.12 from their website (http://www.apache.org/dist/apache_1.3.12.tar.gz) and I burned it onto CD in order to get it onto my Linux box (which hasn't got a modem). So I tried to install it with the commands:

cd /tmp
tar -zvxf apache_1.3.12.tar.gz

In return for my hard work, I get the following message:

gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
tar: Child returned status 1
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

I would hazard a guess that this means that the file I downloaded, complete with its extension .tar.gz is not a gzipped tar file. Help! Now I'm lost. I'm extremely new to Linux and I have three aims: to get mySQL, Apache and PHP4 all working together. I've got tutorials that tell me how to do this but very simple things seem to go wrong. Does anyone know what that error means and how I can fix it so that I can install Apache??

I also got a really wierd problem the other day. I'd just installed mySQL on my Linux box, and it started fine (with /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start) but then when I tried to start mySQL by typing mySQL it worked fine, and I got the thing telling me "Welcome to mySQL, blah blah blah". Then when I tried again, in the same place a couple of days later, I got bash: command mysql not found or words to that effect. I did a directory listing and found a file called mysql which i presumed was the executable. It was in /usr/local/mysql/bin
I went to that file in File Manager and found that it was of type text-plain!

Now I'm lost. Really lost. Why has this file turned to text-plain?! It executed before and gave me the mySQL monitor! I extracted the file onto my Win32 machine and all the files in the bin directory had no extension(which I presume means they're text-plain, or does Linux see these as executables??). So what's gone wrong? I'm really confused about the whole thing now. All I want is to get Apache, mySQL and PHP4 installed on a Linux box so I can develop web programs with these tools. It seems that everything is conspiring against me!

Please someone help before I lose my head!

--------------------------------------------
Alex
(http://www.alex-greg.co.uk)

>>gzip: stdin: not in gzip format

That file in your CD was corrupted. Reburn it again.

>>I'm extremely new to Linux and I have three aims:

Start here -> http://www.devshed.com/Talk/Forums/Forum15/HTML/000020.html

>>all the files in the bin directory had no extension

So? That doesn't mean they are ASCII files.

FreeBSD,

The file on my CD isn't corrupted: it extracted fine on my Win32 machine, all the directories etc. are in place. It just doesn't seem to want to extact on my Linux box.

Do you have any insight as to the problem with mySQL that I described above? This is also bugging me.

--------------------------------------------
Alex
(http://www.alex-greg.co.uk)

[This message has been edited by alexgreg (edited August 10, 2000).]

Alex, you need to buy yourself a Linux book and read that first. If you want to be able to administer a MySQL/Apache/PHP setup you're going to need some skills with Linux and an understanding of how it works. In Linux (as in DOS, for that matter), a file does not have to be a binary to execute. In DOS, files with the extension .bat are plain text but are interpreted, while in Linux any file with the execute permission set may be executed. In Linux, file extensions are not used to determine whether something can be executed or not.

Setting permissions in Unix requires a basic understanding of users, groups, and security, so I'm not going to try to give you the answer to your problems here (it would take too long, and I have no idea how much knowledge of this stuff you already have). Any good Unix/Linux book will explain all that for you much better than I can.

>>The file on my CD isn't corrupted

Okay, try NOT to place it in /tmp, put it somewhere like /usr/local/src

You should also cd /tmp, then do a df and see how much disk space you have there. apache_1.3.12.tar.gz needs at least 9mb free space.