[ Thanks to Ramon
Casha for this link. ]
“Linux provides all the commands necessary to create compressed
archives and re-extract them, as well as run complex installation
scripts. So, why not automate things a bit? This article explains
how to create an “executable archive” that, when executed, extracts
itself into a directory and, optionally, starts an installation
script.“The trick is actually very simple – the file in question is a
combined shell script plus tar/gzip archive. The script file
identifies the beginning of the archive portion and extracts from
there.“Of course the end-user will still have to set the file
permissions to executable before running it…”