Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference

by Ellen Siever, Stephen Figgins, Robert Love, Arnold Robbins

Overview

Everything you need to know about Linux is in this book. Written by Stephen Figgins, Ellen Siever, Robert Love, and Arnold Robbins -- people with years of active participation in the Linux community -- Linux in a Nutshell, Sixth Edition, thoroughly covers programming tools, system and network administration tools, the shell, editors, and LILO and GRUB boot loaders.

This updated edition offers a tighter focus on Linux system essentials, as well as more coverage of new capabilities such as virtualization, wireless network management, and revision control with git. It also highlights the most important options for using the vast number of Linux commands. You'll find many helpful new tips and techniques in this reference, whether you're new to this operating system or have been using it for years.

• Get the Linux commands for system administration and network management
• Use hundreds of the most important shell commands available on Linux
• Understand the Bash shell command-line interpreter
• Search and process text with regular expressions
• Manage your servers via virtualization with Xen and VMware
• Use the Emacs text editor and development environment, as well as the vi, ex, and vim text-manipulation tools
• Process text files with the sed editor and the gawk programming language
• Manage source code with Subversion and git

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449379209
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/19/2009
Series:	Nutshell
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	944
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ellen Siever is a writer and editor specializing in Linux and other open source topics. In addition to Linux in a Nutshell, she coauthored Perl in a Nutshell. She is a long-time Linux and Unix user, and was a programmer for many years until she decided that writing about computers was more fun.

Spainhour is a writer for O'Reilly & Associates.

Stephen Figgins honed many of his computer skills while working as O'Reilly's book answer guy. A life long learner with many interests, Stephen draws on many resources to make difficult topics understandable and accessible. Now living in Lawrence, Kansas, he administrates Linux servers for Sunflower Broadband, a cable company. When not found working with computers, writing, or spending time with his family, you will likely find him outdoors. Stephen teaches wilderness awareness and living skills.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 5: Red Hat and Debian Package Managers

This chapter describes the two major Linux packaging systems, the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) and the Debian GNU/Linux Package Manager.

When you want to install applications on your Linux system, most often you'll find a binary or a source package containing the application you want, instead of (or in addition to) a .tar.gz file. A package is a file containing the files necessary to install an application. But note that while the package contains the files you need for installation, the application might require the presence of other files or packages that are not included, such as particular libraries (and even specific versions of the libraries), in order to be able to run. Such requirements are known as dependencies.

Package management systems offer many benefits. As a user, you may find you want to query the package database to find out what packages are installed on the system and their versions. As a system administrator, you need tools to install and manage the packages on your system. And, if you are also a developer, you need to know how to build a package for distribution.

Among other things, package managers:

• Provide tools for installing, updating, removing, and managing the software on your system.

• Let you install new or upgraded software directly across a network.

• Tell you what software package a particular file belongs to or what files a package contains.

• Maintain a database of packages on the system and their state, so you can find out what packages or versions are installed on your system.

• Provide dependency checking, so you don't mess up your system with incompatible software.

• Provide PGP, MD5, or other signature verification tools.

• Provide tools for building packages.

Any user can list or query packages. However, installing, upgrading, or removing packages generally requires superuser privileges. This is because the packages normally are installed in systemwide directories that are writable only by root. Sometimes you can specify an alternate directory, to install, for example, a package into your home directory or into a project directory where you have write permission.

Both RPM and the Debian Package Manager back up old files before installing an updated package. Not only does this let you go back if there is a problem, but also if you've made changes (to configuration files, for example), they aren't completely lost.

The Red Hat Package Manager

The Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) is a freely available packaging system for software distribution and installation. In addition to Red Hat and Red Hat-based distributions, both SuSE and Caldera are among the Linux distributions that use RPM.

Using RPM is straightforward. A single command, rpm, has options to perform all the package functions. For example, to find out if the Emacs editor is installed on your system, you could say:

% rpm -q emacs
emacs-20.4-4

In addition, the GNOME-RPM program provides an X-based graphical frontend to RPM (that can be run even if you are not running GNOME). This section describes the rpm command and then the gnorpm command that runs GNOME-RPM.

The rpm Command

RPM packages are built, installed, and queried with the rpm command. RPM package names usually end with a .rpm extension. rpm has a set of modes, each with its own options. The format of the rpm command is:

rpm [options] [packages]

With a few exceptions, as noted in the lists of options that follow, the first option specifies the rpm mode (e.g., install, query, update, build, etc.), and any remaining options affect that mode.

In the option descriptions that refer to packages, you'll sometimes see them specified as package-name and sometimes as package-file. The package name is the name of the program or application, such as gif2png. The package file is the name of the RPM file: gif2png-2.2.5-1.i386.rpm.

RPM provides a configuration file for specifying frequently used options. The system configuration file is usually /etc/rpmrc, and users can set up their own $HOME/.rpmrc file. You can use the --showrc option to show the values RPM will use for all the options that may be set in an rpmrc file:

rpm --showrc

The rpm command includes FTP and HTTP clients, so you can specify an ftp:// or http:// URL to install or query a package across the Internet. You can use an FTP or HTTP URL wherever package-file is specified in the commands presented here.

Any user can query the RPM database. Most of the other functions require superuser privileges.

General options

The following options can be used with all modes:

--dbpath path

Use path as the path to the RPM database.

--ftpport port

Use port as the FTP port.

--ftpproxy host

Use host as a proxy server for all transfers. Specified if you are FTPing through a firewall system that uses a proxy.

--help

Print a long usage message (running rpm with no options gives a shorter usage message).

--justdb

Update only the database; don't change any files.

--pipe command

Pipe the rpm output to command.

--quiet

Display only error messages.

--rcfile filename

Use filename as the configuration file instead of the system configuration file /etc/rpmrc or $HOME/.rpmrc.

--root dir

Perform all operations within directory dir.

--version

Print the version number of rpm.

-vv

Print debugging information.

Install, upgrade, and freshen options

Install or upgrade an RPM package. The syntax of the install command is...

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
Chapter 1	Introduction	1
	The Excitement of Linux	1
	Distribution and Support	3
	Commands on Linux	3
	What This Book Offers	3
	Sources and Licenses	5
	Beginner's Guide	6
Chapter 2	System and Network Administration Overview	11
	Common Commands	11
	Overview of Networking	17
	Overview of TCP/IP	18
	Overview of Firewalls and Masquerading	23
	Overview of NFS	26
	Overview of NIS	27
	Administering NIS	28
	RPC and XDR	28
Chapter 3	Linux Commands	29
	Alphabetical Summary of Commands	30
Chapter 4	Boot Methods	399
	The Boot Process	399
	LILO: The Linux Loader	400
	Loadlin: Booting from MS-DOS	411
	Dual Booting Linux and Windows NT/2000	412
	Boot-time Kernel Options	415
	Initrd: Using a RAM Disk	417
Chapter 5	Red Hat and Debian Package Managers	418
	The Red Hat Package Manager	419
	The Debian Package Manager	430
Chapter 6	The Linux Shells: An Overview	446
	Purpose of the Shell	446
	Shell Flavors	447
	Common Features	448
	Differing Features	449
Chapter 7	Bash: The Bourne-Again Shell	450
	Overview of Features	450
	Invoking the Shell	452
	Syntax	453
	Variables	462
	Arithmetic Expressions	468
	Command History	469
	Built-in Commands	472
	Job Control	498
Chapter 8	csh and tcsh	500
	Overview of Features	501
	Invoking the Shell	501
	Syntax	502
	Variables	506
	Expressions	517
	Command History	520
	Command-Line Manipulation	524
	Job Control	529
	Built-in csh and tcsh Commands	529
Chapter 9	Pattern Matching	551
	Filenames Versus Patterns	552
	Metacharacters, Listed by Linux Program	552
	Metacharacters	553
	Examples of Searching	555
Chapter 10	The Emacs Editor	558
	Introduction	558
	Typical Problems	558
	Summary of Commands by Group	560
	Summary of Commands by Key	567
	Summary of Commands by Name	570
Chapter 11	The vi Editor	576
	Review of vi Operations	577
	vi Command-Line Options	579
	ex Command-Line Options	580
	Movement Commands	581
	Edit Commands	583
	Saving and Exiting	585
	Accessing Multiple Files	586
	Interacting with the Shell	586
	Macros	587
	Miscellaneous Commands	587
	Alphabetical List of Keys in Command Mode	588
	Syntax of ex Commands	590
	Alphabetical Summary of ex Commands	591
	vi Configuration	603
Chapter 12	The sed Editor	607
	Conceptual Overview	607
	Command-Line Syntax	608
	Syntax of sed Commands	609
	Group Summary of sed Commands	610
	Alphabetical Summary of sed Commands	611
Chapter 13	The gawk Scripting Language	619
	Conceptual Overview	619
	Command-Line Syntax	620
	Patterns and Procedures	622
	gawk System Variables	624
	Operators	625
	Variable and Array Assignments	625
	Group Listing of gawk Commands	626
	Alphabetical Summary of Commands	626
Chapter 14	CVS and RCS	634
	Basic Concepts	634
	The CVS Utility	636
	CVS Administrator Reference	638
	CVS User Reference	655
	The RCS Utility	683
	Overview of RCS Commands	683
	Basic RCS Operations	684
	General RCS Specifications	685
	Alphabetical Summary of RCS Commands	689
Chapter 15	GNOME	701
	Desktop Overview	702
	The Panel	704
	The Main Menu	706
	The GNOME Control Center	707
Chapter 16	KDE	724
	Desktop Overview	725
	The Panel and Taskbar	730
	The KDE Control Center	732
Chapter 17	An Alternative Window Manager: fvwm2	748
	Running fvwm2	749
	Configuration Files	749
	A Modular Approach	750
	How to Implement Window Manager Customizations	751
	A Quick Tour of the fvwm Environment	751
	Specifying Click-to-Type Focus	753
	Raising the Focus Window Automatically	754
	Changing the Size of the Desktop	754
	Having Multiple Desktops	755
	Making the Same Window Appear on Every Page	757
	Starting Windows on Different Desktops and Pages	758
	If It's Too Hard (or Easy) to Move the Pointer Between Pages	759
	Adding Keyboard Shortcuts	761
	Customizing Menus	765
	The FvwmWinList: Switching the Focus	766
	Index	771

Editorial Reviews

The authors offer concise, precise discussions of probably 98 percent of what you'll need to know to run or administer Linux on a day-to-day basis! The brand-new Third Edition reflects the latest Linux kernel and distributions, with scads of new coverage: GNOME and KDE configuration, dpkg Debian package manager, new commands, expanded coverage of the rpm Red Hat package manager, and more. Plus everything that made previous editions great: crisp, to-the-point coverage of 800+ commands, more than 100 pages on Linux shells, detailed help with Emacs, vi and sed editing, pattern matching, RCS and CVS revision and version control, and more -- all organized splendidly!

bn.com

This excellent desktop reference reviews the basic commands and features found in popular Linux distributions. It's not a man page download, but a well organized guide and reference with explanations, parameters and options. For best understanding, you should be familiar with the Linux operating system, installation requirements and utilities. A basic understanding of shell scripts will also help. This is not a tutorial, but a guide and reference for intermediate to advanced users and programmers.

Highlights:

• Each of the 13 chapters covers a specific topic. The largest chapter is the Linux command reference; it's approximately 150 pages.
• Other chapters contain references for the bash, csh and tcsh shells along with the sed, ex, Emacs and vi editors.
• The gawk scripting language, RCS and CVS utilities are also represented, along with an extensive Perl 5 quick reference.
• Includes references for boot methods and system and network commands.

Advantages:

• This is an excellent alphabetized desktop reference for Linux core commands, with options, parameters, annotations and explanations.

Related Titles:

This desktop reference is a very good companion volume for Linux Configuration & Installation, Fourth Edition and Mastering Linux. If you need a little help with your scripts, try Using csh & tcsh or Learning the bash Shell, Second Edition.

Reflecting the rapid and continuous development of the Linux operating system, the reference has been published in 1997, 1999, and again now. Not a tutorial for new users, but a concise handbook of commands (most, but not, for example cdp!), network administration, boot methods, package managers, shells, editors, scripting, version control, and window managers. O'Reilly's series is highly respected in the community by those who recognize what it is and is not. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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