How do I mark a file as executable on Xubuntu?

Question

I need to know how to mark a file as executable but the check box is not there.

Answer 1

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal.

2. Navigate to the location of your file by inputting cd command into the terminal Eg. cd /documents/, then enter the following:

   chmod +x yourfilename
   

To view if your changes had been saved enter the following ls -l in the terminal.

Other way to change your file to an executable is to right click the file, select Properties → Permisions and tick Allow execution of the file as a program.

Hope this helps. Also to execute the file you first have to be in the directory where it is located. For instance if your file is located in the Documents folder, you have to cd ("change directory") in to that directory and then do this: ./yourfile.c

This is how it will look:

root@root:~/Documents$ ./file.c

Answer 2

As you say the checkbox is not there, I assume you are in the correct place to change it in Thunar so if the checkbox in Properties -> permissions is not there, it is because the file is not an executable file (if it is a script, did you include #!/bin/bash at the beginning?)

If the checkbox is there and you can't change it, it is because you are not alowed to change the file (not owner?).