topic Re: Exec format error in Operating System - HP-UX

Exec format error

hmorrison — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 12:58:01 GMT

Using HPUX11.11, and created a regular user. The startup program was changed from executing /usr/bin/ksh, to running a shell script. When an attempt is made to login as the user the following error appears "Exec format error". Can anybody help?

Re: Exec format error

Mel Burslan — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:08:06 GMT

things come to mind right away are:

1. is the script executable ?
2. is the ownership right (i.e. is this user able to read and execute this script depending on its permissions and ownership) ?

Re: Exec format error

hmorrison — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:21:15 GMT

The user is able to run the program, if given a shell prompt, but not able to run if it is made to be the startup program

Re: Exec format error

Mel Burslan — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:24:04 GMT

if you have an /etc/shells, you may try putting your script into this file as a new line. If you do not have an /etc/shells file, create and add this script with the full path name into the file.

Re: Exec format error

Tim Nelson — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:29:22 GMT

did you include #!/usr/bin/ksh or sh on the first line of the script ?

Re: Exec format error

hmorrison — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:47:29 GMT

Thanks for your responses. I however created the /etc/shells and put the script and its path in it. This however did not solve the problem

Re: Exec format error

Mel Burslan — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 14:03:11 GMT

is this a strictly shell script that you are running or is it calling some other scripts like perl scripts and/or other executables ? If there are external calls being made from this script, can you absolutely say that the error is coming from your script ?

just for kick, as the first executable command in your shell script, put this line

set -x

and see what happens when you login to this user's acct next time. If the shell script portion is running correctly, you should see a boat load of tracing information, with lines starting with "+" signs. And if you can copy those here, maybe someone can tell what is going on

Re: Exec format error

hmorrison — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 16:07:24 GMT

Thanks again, the #!/usr/bin/ksh worked, however I found it strange,because in my troubleshooting, I tried to execute a script that another user executed, and the script did not have #!/usr/bin/ksh in it. I have actually removed the /etc/shells file that I had created, thanks to you both