Q: Why does Debathena say "No such file or directory" when I try to run some locker software?

Answer

When you try to run older locker software on Debathena, your shell may incorrectly respond with "No such file or directory" even though the program clearly exists. For example:

$ add andrew
$ ez
-bash: /mit/andrew/arch/i386_linux24/bin/ez: No such file or directory
$ which ez
/mit/andrew/arch/i386_linux24/bin/ez

Even though ez is clearly available, the shell claims that it does not exist. This occurs because the ez binary was linked against a very old version of the C library (libc5), and the interpreter is no longer available.

A program in the consult locker can help you determine if a binary will work on Debathena or not:

$ add consult
$ check_binary ez
This binary is too old to run on Debathena.

Alternatively, you can search for the string "ld-linux.so.1" in the binary:

$ strings /mit/andrew/arch/i386_linux24/bin/ez | grep ld-linux\.so\.1
/lib/ld-linux.so.1

If a binary uses the ld-linux.so.1 interpreter, and it's not present on your system, the shell will incorrectly report that the binary is not present.

This is a known bug, documented at https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/335666