Beginning Modern Unix: Learn to Live Comfortably in a Modern Unix Environment

431 Pages·2018·11.61 MB·English

by  Manish Jain

Beginning
Modern Unix
Learn to Live Comfortably in a Modern
Unix Environment
—
Manish Jain
Beginning Modern Unix
Learn to Live Comfortably in a
Modern Unix Environment
Manish Jain
Beginning Modern Unix
Manish Jain
Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-3527-0 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-3528-7
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3528-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950445
Copyright © 2018 by Manish Jain
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Table of Contents
About the Author ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xvii
About the Technical Reviewer ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������xix
Preface �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xxi
Part 1: P reparing for Part I ����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
Chapter 1: E diting Text with Vim and Joe ����������������������������������������������������������������� 5
1.1 A Brief History of Unix Text Editors .......................................................................................... 5
1.2 I mportant Terms ...................................................................................................................... 6
1.2.1 L ine ................................................................................................................................. 6
1.2.2 R egular Expressions: What You Need To Know Right Now ............................................. 7
1.2.3 R emaining Terms of Endearment ................................................................................. 11
1.3 V i IMproved (Vim) .................................................................................................................. 11
1.3.1 M oving Around in the Buffer ......................................................................................... 16
1.3.2 R egisters and Clipboard Integration ............................................................................. 17
1.3.3 M arks ........................................................................................................................... 18
1.3.4 F ind and Replace .......................................................................................................... 18
1.3.5 V isual Selection Modes ................................................................................................. 19
1.3.6 Recording and Playing Macros ..................................................................................... 21
1.3.7 V im Utilities ................................................................................................................... 24
1.3.8 V im Confguration ......................................................................................................... 25
1.3.9 Vim Abbreviations and Auto-Completion Framework ................................................... 27
1.3.10 I nstalling Vim .............................................................................................................. 28
1.4 Joe’s Own Editor (Joe) .......................................................................................................... 29
1.4.1 I nstalling Joe ................................................................................................................ 32
1.5 S ummary............................................................................................................................... 33
v
Table of ConTenTs
Chapter 2: E ssential Unix Commands and Terminology ����������������������������������������� 35
2.1 K ernel, Shell, and Filesystem ................................................................................................ 35
2.2 F iles and Special Files .......................................................................................................... 36
2.2.1 T he Null Device ............................................................................................................. 37
2.2.2 S tandard Input .............................................................................................................. 37
2.2.3 S tandard Output ........................................................................................................... 38
2.2.4 S tandard Error .............................................................................................................. 39
2.2.5 T he Pipe ........................................................................................................................ 40
2.2.6 C onsole ......................................................................................................................... 40
2.3 Essential Unix Commands ..................................................................................................... 40
2.3.1 e cho <string> ............................................................................................................... 40
2.3.2 c d <path> .................................................................................................................... 41
2.3.3 p wd ............................................................................................................................... 41
2.3.4 l s <path> ...................................................................................................................... 41
2.3.5 m kdir <path> ............................................................................................................... 41
2.3.6 cp <source> <destination> ......................................................................................... 42
2.3.7 mv <source> <destination> ........................................................................................ 42
2.3.8 r m <path> .................................................................................................................... 42
2.3.9 ln [-s] <path> <additional> ......................................................................................... 42
2.3.10 c at <fle> .................................................................................................................... 43
2.3.11 t est <condition> ......................................................................................................... 43
2.3.12 e xpr ............................................................................................................................ 44
2.3.13 d d ............................................................................................................................... 45
2.3.14 grep <regex> [<fle>] ................................................................................................ 46
2.3.15 a wk [<fle>] ............................................................................................................... 47
2.3.16 s ed [<fle>] ................................................................................................................ 48
2.3.17 f le <path> ................................................................................................................. 49
2.3.18 f nd ............................................................................................................................. 49
2.3.19 u pdatedb .................................................................................................................... 49
2.3.20 l ocate <name> ........................................................................................................... 49
vi
Table of ConTenTs
2.3.21 b asename <string> .................................................................................................... 50
2.3.22 d irname <string> ....................................................................................................... 50
2.3.23 r ealpath <path> ......................................................................................................... 50
2.3.24 h ead [<fle>] .............................................................................................................. 51
2.3.25 t ail [<fle>] ................................................................................................................. 51
2.3.26 r ev [<fle>] ................................................................................................................. 51
2.3.27 c ut [<fle>] ................................................................................................................. 52
2.3.28 t r ................................................................................................................................. 52
2.3.29 r ead <arg> ................................................................................................................. 52
2.3.30 d ate ............................................................................................................................ 53
2.3.31 t ype <executable> ..................................................................................................... 54
2.3.32 w c [<fle>] ................................................................................................................. 54
2.3.33 l ess [<fle>] ................................................................................................................ 54
2.3.34 m an <topic> ............................................................................................................... 55
2.3.35 s et ............................................................................................................................... 55
2.3.36 u name ........................................................................................................................ 56
2.3.37 w ho ............................................................................................................................. 56
2.3.38 cmp <fle1> <fle2> ................................................................................................... 56
2.3.39 diff <fle1> <fle2> .................................................................................................... 56
2.3.40 p s ................................................................................................................................ 57
2.3.41 kill [<sig>] <pid> ....................................................................................................... 57
2.3.42 s leep <n> ................................................................................................................... 58
2.3.43 s ort [<fle>] ................................................................................................................ 58
2.3.44 u niq [<fle>] ............................................................................................................... 58
2.3.45 chmod <mode> <fle> ............................................................................................... 59
2.3.46 chown <user> <fle> ................................................................................................. 60
2.3.47 c hsh [<user>]............................................................................................................. 61
2.3.48 p asswd [<user>] ........................................................................................................ 61
2.3.49 t ouch <fle> ................................................................................................................ 61
2.3.50 t ar ............................................................................................................................... 61
vii
Table of ConTenTs
2.3.51 g zip ............................................................................................................................. 62
2.3.52 x z ................................................................................................................................ 63
2.3.53 s ource <fle> .............................................................................................................. 63
2.3.54 w get............................................................................................................................ 63
2.3.55 m d5[sum] <fle> ........................................................................................................ 64
2.3.56 s ha256[sum] <fle> .................................................................................................... 64
2.4 S ummary............................................................................................................................... 64
Chapter 3: B ourne Shell Scripting �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 65
3.1 I nside Our First Shell Script .................................................................................................. 65
3.2 V ariable Assignment .............................................................................................................. 66
3.3 A rithmetic and Boolean Operations....................................................................................... 69
3.4 C ommand Chaining and Grouping ........................................................................................ 70
3.5 M eta-Character Expansion.................................................................................................... 71
3.6 Q uoting: Single, Double, and Back ........................................................................................ 72
3.7 Setting the Shell Prompt ....................................................................................................... 73
3.8 Dealing with Whitespace in Filenames ................................................................................. 74
3.9 S hell Functions ..................................................................................................................... 76
3.10 S pecial Variables ................................................................................................................. 77
3.11 Branching and Looping ....................................................................................................... 79
3.12 T he shift Command ............................................................................................................. 82
3.13 Sourcing, Aliasing, and Exporting ........................................................................................ 83
3.14 P utting It All Together .......................................................................................................... 85
3.15 S ummary............................................................................................................................. 85
Part 2: P reparing for Part II �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 87
Chapter 4: P C Hardware for Unix ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 89
4.1 A Shopping List ..................................................................................................................... 89
4.2 P reparatory Notes ................................................................................................................. 90
4.3 C PU (Central Processing Unit) ............................................................................................... 91
4.4 S ystem Board/Motherboard .................................................................................................. 92
viii
Table of ConTenTs
4.5 R AM (Random Access Memory) ............................................................................................ 95
4.6 H ard Disk .............................................................................................................................. 96
4.7 S MPS (Switched Mode Power Supply) .................................................................................. 97
4.8 C abinet .................................................................................................................................. 98
4.9 G raphics Card ........................................................................................................................ 99
4.10 Optical Drive (CD/DVD Reader and Writer) ........................................................................ 102
4.11 C PU Cooler ........................................................................................................................ 103
4.12 P rinter/Scanner ................................................................................................................. 105
4.12.1 B uying an HP Printer ................................................................................................ 105
4.12.2 B uying an Epson Printer ........................................................................................... 106
4.13 S ummary........................................................................................................................... 107
Chapter 5: I nstalling and Confguring FreeBSD/Linux ������������������������������������������ 109
5.1 D isk Partitioning .................................................................................................................. 109
5.1.1 M BR (Master Boot Record) ......................................................................................... 110
5.1.2 G PT (GUID Partition Table) ........................................................................................... 111
5.2 D o We Have Enough Disk Space? ....................................................................................... 112
5.3 T he Default Partitioning Scheme......................................................................................... 113
5.4 P reparing the Computer’s CMOS for Unix ........................................................................... 114
5.5 D ownloading and Burning Installation Media ..................................................................... 116
5.6 Our Example Hard Disk ....................................................................................................... 117
5.7 I nstalling FreeBSD ............................................................................................................... 118
5.8 Installing and Confguring Linux ......................................................................................... 125
5.9 Post-Install Confguration of FreeBSD ................................................................................. 130
5.9.1 N etworking ................................................................................................................. 131
5.9.2 Software Packaging Subsystem ................................................................................. 131
5.9.3 A Friendlier Shell ........................................................................................................ 131
5.9.4X Server ....................................................................................................................... 132
5.9.5 NVIDIA Graphics Driver Addition ................................................................................. 133
5.9.6 NVIDIA and ATI Radeon Graphics Confguration .......................................................... 133
5.9.7 U ser Accounts ............................................................................................................. 134
ix
Table of ConTenTs
5.9.8 G raphical Desktop Environment ................................................................................. 135
5.9.9 M aking Things Easier: A Simpler Way to Confgure FreeBSD ..................................... 135
5.10 D ual-Booting FreeBSD and Linux on a GPT Disk ............................................................... 136
5.11 S ummary........................................................................................................................... 138
Chapter 6: B asic System Administration �������������������������������������������������������������� 139
6.1 B eing Root ........................................................................................................................... 139
6.2 L ocal Filesystems ............................................................................................................... 140
6.3 P artition Management......................................................................................................... 144
6.4 C onsole Confguration ......................................................................................................... 146
6.5 I nternet Connectivity ........................................................................................................... 146
6.6 S ound Confguration ........................................................................................................... 150
6.7 X Confguration ................................................................................................................... 151
6.8 Running X Applications as Root .......................................................................................... 153
6.9 Finding Local Files Quickly ................................................................................................. 154
6.10 Confguring the Printer ...................................................................................................... 155
6.11 Using the Scanner ............................................................................................................. 157
6.12 Using an APC Powerchute UPS to Shut the System Down ................................................ 158
6.13 Building Stuff from Sources .............................................................................................. 159
6.14 U nix Virtual Filesystems .................................................................................................... 160
6.15 A dditional Commands to Administer Your Desktop ........................................................... 162
6.15.1 d f .............................................................................................................................. 162
6.15.2 d u ............................................................................................................................. 162
6.15.3 a t .............................................................................................................................. 163
6.15.4 c drecord ................................................................................................................... 164
6.15.5 Loop Device Confguration ........................................................................................ 165
6.15.6 s mtp-cli .................................................................................................................... 165
6.15.7 r sync ......................................................................................................................... 166
6.16 Mitigating the Need for Backups ...................................................................................... 168
6.17 S ummary........................................................................................................................... 172
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