RE: [TCLUG:179] A Linux newbie needs some advice

[Hans Umhoefer <spudling@acm.cs.umn.edu>]

> Go through /bin and with the help of the man pages identify what each file
> does.

There's no better way.

> ls -l	directory with details
> cd ~		change directory to root / home.
> cd ../	change directory up one level
> cd ./	and down one level (I get confused here /\)
> man <topic>  	help manual <topic>
> man man		help help
> cat <file> |more	type <file> to screen with dos \p flag
> :q			while reading a man page or cat file, quit
> :b			while reading a man page go back a screen
> 
> ps -ef		what processes e.g. daemons are running
> kill			stop the process
> 
> updatedb		build a database of all files on computer
> locate <file> |more		locate where <file> is with \p flag
> 
> alias		why not?
> 
> Well this is all about as accurate as a bad reporter so would everyone
> please correct my errors and mis-statements here, and add what is missing.
> 
> For example a description of what the ls -l output means, such as rwx, hard
> and soft links, permissions etc?

the best way to learn about the output from a command is to read the man
page on it. 

Hard and soft (symbolic) links

A symbolic (sym) link is like an alias for mac users and a shortcut for
win95. Basically file names are merely references to certain inodes
(sections on the hard disk). A hard link is the main pointer, if you
delete this the file is gone. Sym links effectually point to the hard link
(I'm not sure exactly how the system handles it). Sym links allow you to
have a single file in more than one directory or give it more than one
file name. Benefits include: taking up less space, if you edit the file in
one place it will change every where it is sym linked too. The command to
make a sym link is 
ln -s
the -s denotes a symbolic link

Some things to clear up

./ specifies the current directory so cd ./ would tell the shell to change
directory to the current directory. Comes in handy when moving files but
is not really useful with cd.

> Unix IS user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are.

hehe

--
Hans D Umhoefer (spudling@acm.cs.umn.edu)