Fix: tar (child): bzip2: Cannot exec: No such file or directory

Encountering tar (child): bzip2: Cannot exec error? This guide covers why it happens during .tar.bz2 extraction and how to fix it by installing bzip2.

Detailed Error Message

$ sudo tar -xjf latest.tar.bz2

tar (child): bzip2: Cannot exec: No such file or directory
tar (child): Error is not recoverable: exiting now
tar: Child returned status 2
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

Fix

The issue occurs because the system lacks the bzip2 package, which is needed to extract .tar.bz2 files. Here's how to fix it:

1. Install bzip2: This is likely missing from your system.

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install bzip2

2. Retry Extraction: Once bzip2 is installed, you should be able to extract the file:

   sudo tar -xjf latest.tar.bz2

This should solve the issue.