Did you do tar xzf noip-duc-linux.tar.gz?

zoew@zoew-desktop:~$ tar xzf noip-duc-linux.tar.gz
tar: noip-duc-linux.tar.gz: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
zoew@zoew-desktop:~$

What am I missing?

take a look at this
www.no-ip.com/.../setting_up_linux_update_clien\
t.html

I hadn't found that page. It seems fairly simple and
straightforward except it fails when switching to root. This was
written for redhat and Im using ubuntu I have a password for my
username but none for root. I tried using my password and just
plain root, both failed to authenticate. Any more ideas. The way
I normally switch to root is thru nautilus- was unable to use that
for this operation.

Im coming in late on this thread but, lets change the focus here.
Instead of how to install x package, how about 'I want to install No-IP'.

ubuntulinuxhowto.blogspot.com/.../...ns-no-ip.html

Here is one post on that.

And another:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=497323

this might not apply now but, when I first moved to linux I
too tried to use no-ip but I could not get the service to work. I ended
up with Dyndns.org and it has worked for me without trouble.

Two other things:
If you use Opera, there is a widget of dyndns updates that will run for
you.

And if you have a router, I use a linksys wrt 54gl router running ddwrt
software and it has a service feature for using dyndns OR noip.

You can install RPM on Ubie...............

Could you please explain RPM and how does this apply when an rpm is
not offered for download?

You said it was for Red Hat and Red hat uses RPM.

The file distributed by no-ip.com is a tar.gz. One of the files
inside stated that it was created for Red Hat. thats all I know

This can be found in Synaptic. No install of a TAR is needed.


This package provides the No-IP.com Dynamic DNS update client.

When configured correctly, the client will check the local IP address at a
given time interval. If it
has changed, the client will notify No-IP.com DNS servers and update the
IP address for your No-IP/No-IP+ host name.

Canonical does not provide updates for noip2. Some updates may be provided by
the Ubuntu community.

I had already checked Synaptic for DUC, DNS and
no-ip and came up blank. This is when I decided to post to the
group. Your assertion caused me to look further and discovered
its listed under noip2 - now for future reference just how is
one to know how these files are being listed assuming that they in
fact do exist under Synaptic. I am really making an effort to
learn my way around ubuntu and Linux in general unfortunately
there does not seem to be any definitive literature to explain to us
new folks how this all works or if there is no one seems to want
to point us in the right direction.

In spite of quite a few inquiries on the forum and in this group from
folks like me who clearly ask how to install a .tar.gz file and
reading thru tons of replies to these requests I have yet to
find any real answers. The only good answers target a specific
file but gives us absolutely no information on how to treat the
next .tar.gz file we run into. This particular one is also released
in .deb format however I was getting errors on that install which
is why I went to the .tar.gz in the first place.

Again I thank you for pointing me to Synaptic, this file is now
installed and I am grateful.

Now can anyone give any clues as to how to handle the next
.tar.gz file I run across? I would really love to learn how to do
this stuff by myself without having to resort to bother anyone
else about it.

You still didn't get an answer to this, because there is no single answer. A
.tar is just like a .zip, it might contain anything. Most often, it will
contain the source code for a program, which you need to compile. But there is
no single way to compile!

Perhaps the program is written in C, and requires X, Y and Z libraries to be
installed on your system before it will compile. Or it could be written in
BASIC, and need a completely different approach.

I have even seen a .tar which contained an executable program and some
instructions on how to run it, no compiling required!

So the general approach is, set up an empty folder and expand the .tar into it,
then look at what you've got. If you are lucky, there's a text file called
readme.txt which will tell you what to do, in something approaching plain
English. I've also seen text files called descript.ion, usually written by
smartasses. (Present company excepted, of course.) I have even seen
instructions written into the program source code, as comments. In the worst
case, you just have to look around, viewing everything you can, and if that
fails, search the Ubuntu Forums with the program name.

I thought was about tar files and missed
the point that you were asking about installing software. I will cover a few
items that you may consider:

First a "tar file" is simply a directory structure containing a number of files.
Tar file will extract the structure where ever you run tar x(for extract) f(for
file) and v(for verbose as this lists the files as they are extracted: tar xfv
myfile.tar.

Second is the "zipped version" with the .gz extension. This is simply a
compressed tar file (keep in mind that a tarred file is not a compressed file).
This is extracted with tar xfvz(unzip): tar xfvz myfile.tar.gz.

You may see an extension like myfile.tar.z and this will need to be unzipped
with the gzip program before it is untarred. Try gunzip myfile.tar.z and then
untar with tar xfv myfile.tar.

Third is the location of installation. You may install in you home directory
with you own user account. If you wish to install in the "linux" directories
such as /opt or /usr you will need to be root and you do this with su root in
most linux systems. Another command is used in Ubuntu.

Fourth is the installation procedure. Assuming you will need to install this
software, a typical scenario is to cd to the directory just created when you
untarred your file. Next look for a file usually called "configure.sh" and run
this with ./configure. Next you will probably need to "make" the program. Look
for a file called "Makefile" and if this is there you can just type in make.
Some software may require other items such as "make install" or "make test" or
whatever as these may vary.

As mentioned in an earlier post, look for the readme.txt file or install.txt
file.

Every little piece brings me a step closer
to understanding the problem. I have saved this as a txt file on my
desktop for future reference.

Why not use the noip client in the repository?

Had I known where to look for it I would have. I did check
Add/Remove and Synaptic prior to submitting my question but was
unable to find it. To which repository are you referring?
Perhaps I need to add one to my software sources list.

Sorry, I was a few hours late with my suggestion. When I say "repository," I
mean the collection which Synaptic points to.

I'm surprised you originally searched for "no-ip" but not "noip".

Please note that I trimmed off the irrelevant excess from your message. It
really helps in reading the "digest" version of this forum.