bzip2: Cannot exec: No such file or directory

Error when trying to create tar.bz2 Archive File in CentOS 7

The following is the error output when trying to create tar.bz2 file in CentOS7:

$ tar cvfj testfile.tar.bz2 ./testfile*
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
$

First step is to check if the package is installed or not.
$ sudo yum list installed | grep bzip2

If package is not installed, please run the following:
# yum install bzip2
# exit

Then create tar.bz2 file.
$ tar cvfj testfile.tar.bz2 ./testfile*

Commands to check CentOS version

These are the commands on CentOS to check version:

# hostnamectl
# rpm --query centos-release
# cat /etc/centos-release
# cat /etc/os-release
# cat /etc/redhat-release
# cat /etc/system-release

Note:
# uname -a
and
# uname -r
will not give the OS version in detail.

[root@localhost slean]# hostnamectl
      Static hostname: localhost.localdomain
              Icon name: computer
                   Chassis: n/a
            Machine ID: e6450196561343d9976ba0d9c29c54c0
                  Boot ID: 0ddca677a08a44019c0f9b71fec2882a
         Virtualization: vmware
  Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)
       CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:centos:centos:7
                    Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-229.11.1.el7.x86_64
           Architecture: x86_64
[root@localhost slean]#

Similar result from running # hostnamectl on Oracle VirtualBox

[root@localhost ~]# hostnamectl

   Static hostname: localhost.localdomain

         Icon name: computer-vm

           Chassis: vm

        Machine ID: ec0ea531f8894f84b9d5266ee38dfd8a

           Boot ID: d1fa0335dab445fca139710b318734a8

    Virtualization: oracle

  Operating System: CentOS Linux 8 (Core)

       CPE OS Name: cpe:/o:centos:centos:8

            Kernel: Linux 4.18.0-193.14.2.el8_2.x86_64

      Architecture: x86-64

[root@localhost ~]#

Another way to get the CentOS version is by 

[slean@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/os-release

NAME="CentOS Linux"

VERSION="7 (Core)"

ID="centos"

ID_LIKE="rhel fedora"

VERSION_ID="7"

PRETTY_NAME="CentOS Linux 7 (Core)"

ANSI_COLOR="0;31"

CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:centos:centos:7"

HOME_URL="https://www.centos.org/"

BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.centos.org/"

CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT="CentOS-7"

CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="7"

REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="centos"

REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="7"

[slean@localhost ~]$ 

The next 3 commands give the same output result

[slean@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/centos-release

CentOS Linux release 7.1.1503 (Core) 

[slean@localhost ~]$ 

[slean@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/redhat-release

CentOS Linux release 7.1.1503 (Core) 

[slean@localhost ~]$ 

[slean@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/system-release

CentOS Linux release 7.1.1503 (Core) 

[slean@localhost ~]$ 

Source: https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-check-centos-version