Section 10.3.1 on Page [*]. Before You Can Compile the Package,

you’ll need to have gcc, libc6-dev, and other relevant “-dev” packages installed; most of these are listed in the devel area in dselect.

With the appropriate packages installed, cd into the directory that tar created for you. At this point, you’ll need to read the installation instructions. Most programs provide an INSTALL or README file that will tell you how to proceed.

13. Advanced Topics

By now, you should have a strong base for which to build your GNU/Linux skills on. In this chapter we cover some very useful information regarding some advanced GNU/Linux features.

13.1 Regular Expressions

A regular expression is a description of a set of characters. This description can be used to search through a file by looking for text that matches the regular expression. Regular expressions are analogous to shell wildcards (see section 6.6 on page [*]), but they are both more complicated and more powerful.

A regular expression is made up of text and metacharacters. A metacharacter is just a character with a special meaning. Metacharacters include the following: . * [] - \^ $.

If a regular expression contains only text (no metacharacters), it matches that text. For example, the regular expression “my regular expression” matches the text “my regular expression,” and nothing else. Regular expressions are usually case sensitive.

You can use the egrep command to display all lines in a file that contain a regular expression. Its syntax is as follows:

egrep ’regexp’ filename1 ...

The single quotation marks are not always needed, but they never hurt.

For example, to find all lines in the GPL that contain the word GNU, you type

egrep ’GNU’ /usr/doc/copyright/GPL

egrep will print the lines to standard output. If you want all lines that contain freedom followed by some indeterminate text, followed by GNU, you can do this:

egrep ’freedom.*GNU’ /usr/doc/copyright/GPL

The . means “any character,” and the * means “zero or more of the preceding thing,” in this case “zero or more of any character.” So .* matches pretty much any text at all. egrep only matches on a line-by-line basis, so freedom and GNU have to be on the same line.

Here’s a summary of regular expression metacharacters:

. Matches any single character except newline.

* Matches zero or more occurrences of the preceding thing. So the expression a* matches zero or more lowercase a, and .* matches zero or more characters.

^ Anchors your search at the beginning of the line. The expression ^The matches The when it appears at the beginning of a line; there can’t be spaces or other text before The. If you want to allow spaces, you can permit 0 or more space characters like this: ^ *The.

$ Anchors at the end of the line. end$ requires the text end to be at the end of the line, with no intervening spaces or text.

() You can use parentheses to group parts of the regular expression, just as you do in a mathematical expression.

|| means “or.” You can use it to provide a series of alternative expressions. Usually you want to put the alternatives in parentheses, like this: c(ad|ab|at)matches cad or cab or cat. Without the parentheses, it would match cad or ab or at instead

\ Escapes any special characters; if you want to find a literal *, you type \*. The slash means to ignore *’s usual special meaning.

Here are some more examples to help you get a feel for things:

c.pe matches cope, cape, caper.

c\ .pe matches c.pe, c.per.

sto*p matches stp, stop, stoop.

car.*n matches carton, cartoon, carmen.

xyz.* matches xyz and anything after it; some tools, like egrep, only match until the end of the line.

^The matches The at the beginning of a line.

atime$ matches atime at the end of a line.

^Only$ matches a line that consists solely of the word Only—no spaces, no other characters, nothing. Only Only is allowed.

brn matches barn, born, burn.

Ver[D-F] matches VerD, VerE, VerF.

Ver[^0-9] matches Ver followed by any non-digit.

the matches their, therr, there, theie.

13.2 Advanced Files

Now that you have a basic understanding of files, it is time to learn more advanced things about them.

13.2.1 The Real Nature of Files: Hard Links and Inodes

Each file on your system is represented by an inode (for Information Node; pronounced “eye-node”). An inode contains all the information about the file. However, the inode is not directly visible. Instead, each inode is linked into the filesystem by one or more hard links. Hard links contain the name of the file and the inode number. The inode contains the file itself, i.e., the location of the information being stored on disk, its access permissions, the file type, and so on. The system can find any inode if it has the inode number.

A single file can have more than one hard link. What this means is that multiple filenames refer to the same file (that is, they are associated with the same inode number). However, you can’t make hard links across filesystems: All hard references to a particular file (inode) must be on the same filesystem. This is because each filesystem has its own set of inodes, and there can be duplicate inode numbers on different filesystems.

Because all hard links to a given inode refer to the same file, you can make changes to the file, referring to it by one name, and then see those changes when referring to it by a different name. Try this:

cd; echo "hello" > firstlink

cd to your home directory and create a file called firstlink containing the word “hello.” What you’ve actually done is redirect the output of echo (echo just echoes back what you give to it), placing the output in firstlink. See the chapter on shells for a full explanation.

cat firstlink

Confirms the contents of firstlink.

ln firstlink secondlink

Creates a hard link: secondlink now points to the same inode as firstlink.

cat secondlink

Confirms that secondlink is the same as firstlink.

ls -l

Notice that the number of hard links listed for firstlink and secondlinkfiles!inodes is 2.

echo "change" >> secondlink

This is another shell redirection trick (don’t worry about the details). You’ve appended the word “change” to secondlink. Confirm this with cat secondlink.

cat firstlink

firstlink also has the word “change” appended! That’s because firstlink and secondlink refer to the same file. It doesn’t matter what you call it when you change it.

chmod a+rwx firstlink

Changes permissions on firstlink. Enter the command ls -l to confirm that permissions on secondlink were also changed. This means that permissions information is stored in the inode, not in links.

rm firstlink

Deletes this link. This is a subtlety of rm. It really removes links, not files. Now type ls -l and notice that secondlink is still there. Also notice that the number of hard links for secondlink has been reduced to one.

rm secondlink

Deletes the other link. When there are no more links to a file, Linux deletes the file itself, that is, its inode.

All files work like this—even special types of files such as devices (e.g. /dev/hda).

A directory is simply a list of filenames and inode numbers, that is, a list of hard links. When you create a hard link, you’re just adding a name-number pair to a directory. When you delete a file, you’re just removing a hard link from a directory.

13.2.2 Types of Files

One detail we’ve been concealing up to now is that the Linux kernel considers nearly everything to be a file. That includes directories and devices: They’re just special kinds of files.

As you may remember, the first character of an ls -l display represents the type of the file. For an ordinary file, this will be simply -. Other possibilities include the following:

ddirectory lsymbolic link bblock device ccharacter device pnamed pipe ssocket

Symbolic Links

Symbolic links (also called “symlinks” or “soft links”) are the other kind of link besides hard links. A symlink is a special file that “points to” a hard link on any mounted filesystem. When you try to read the contents of a symlink, it gives the contents of the file it’s pointing to rather than the contents of the symlink itself. Because directories, devices, and other symlinks are types of files, you can point a symlink at any of those things.

So a hard link is a filename and an inode number. A file is really an inode: a location on disk, file type, permissions mode, etc. A symlink is an inode that contains the name of a hard link. A symlink pairs one filename with a second filename, whereas a hard link pairs a filename with an inode number.

All hard links to the same file have equal status. That is, one is as good as another; if you perform any operation on one, it’s just the same as performing that operation on any of the others. This is because the hard links all refer to the same inode. Operations on symlinks, on the other hand, sometimes affect the symlink’s own inode (the one containing the name of a hard link) and sometimes affect the hard link being pointed to.

There are a number of important differences between symlinks and hard links.

Symlinks can cross filesystems. This is because they contain complete filenames, starting with the root directory, and all complete filenames are unique. Because hard links point to inode numbers, and inode numbers are unique only within a single filesystem, they would be ambiguous if the filesystem wasn’t known.

You can make symlinks to directories, but you can’t make hard links to them. Each directory has hard links—its listing in its parent directory, its . entry, and the .. entry in each of its subdirectories—but to impose order on the filesystem, no other hard links to directories are allowed. Consequently, the number of files in a directory is equal to the number of hard links to that directory minus two (you subtract the directory’s name and the . link). comparing!hard links and symlinks You can only make a hard link to a file that exists, because there must be an inode number to refer to. However, you can make a symlink to any filename, whether or not there actually is such a filename.

Removing a symlink removes only the link. It has no effect on the linked-to file. Removing the only hard link to a file removes the file.

Try this:

cd; ln -s /tmp/me MyTmp

cd to your home directory. ln with the -s option makes a symbolic link - in this case, one called MyTmp that points to the filename /tmp/me.

ls -l MyTmp

Output should look like this:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 havoc havoc 7 Dec 6 12:50 MyTmp -> /tmp/me

The date and user/group names will be different for you, of course. Notice that the file type is l, indicating that this is a symbolic link. Also notice the permissions: Symbolic links always have these permissions. If you attempt to chmod a symlink, you’ll actually change the permissions on the file being pointed to.

chmod 700 MyTmp

You will get a No such file or directory error, because the file /tmp/me doesn’t exist. Notice that you could create a symlink to it anyway.

mkdir /tmp/me

Creates the directory /tmp/me.

chmod 700 MyTmp

Should work now.

touch MyTmp/myfile

Creates a file in MyTmp.

ls /tmp/me

The file is actually created in /tmp/me.

rm MyTmp

Removes the symbolic link. Notice that this removes the link, not what it points to. Thus you use rm not rmdir.

rm /tmp/me/myfile; rmdir /tmp/me

Lets you clean up after yourself. symlinks!removing

Device Files

Device files refer to physical or virtual devices on your system, such as your hard disk, video card, screen, and keyboard. An example of a virtual device is the console, represented by /dev/console.

There are two kinds of devices:character and block. Character devices can be accessed one character at a time. Remember the smallest unit of data that can be written to or read from the device is a character (byte).

Block devices must be accessed in larger units called blocks, which contain a number of characters. Your hard disk is a block device.

You can read and write device files just as you can from other kinds of files, though the file may well contain some strange incomprehensible-to-humans gibberish. Writing random data to these files is probably a bad idea. Sometimes it’s useful, though. For example, you can dump a postscript file into the printer device /dev/lp0 or send modem commands to the device file for the appropriate serial port.

/dev/null / / / /dev/null is a special device file that discards anything you write /to it. If you don’t want something, throw it in /dev/null. It’s essentially a bottomless pit. If you read /dev/null, you’ll get an end-of-file (EOF) character immediately. /dev/zero is similar, except that you read from it you get the \0 character (not the same as the number zero).

Named Pipes (FIFOs)

A named pipe is a file that acts like a pipe. You put something into the file, and it comes out the other end. Thus it’s called a FIFO, or First-In-First-Out, because the first thing you put in the pipe is the first thing to come out the other end.

If you write to a named pipe, the process that is writing to the pipe doesn’t terminate until the information being written is read from the pipe. If you read from a named pipe, the reading process waits until there’s something to read before terminating. The size of the pipe is always zero: It doesn’t store data, it just links two processes like the shell |. However, because this pipe has a name, the two processes don’t have to be on the same command line or even be run by the same user.

You can try it by doing the following:

cd; mkfifo mypipe

Makes the pipe.

echo "hello" > mypipe &

Puts a process in the background that tries to write “hello” to the pipe. Notice that the process doesn’t return from the background; it is waiting for someone to read from the pipe.

cat mypipe

At this point, the echo process should return, because cat read from the pipe, and the cat process will print hello.

rm mypipe

You can delete pipes just like any other file.

Sockets

Sockets are similar to pipes, only they work over the network. This is how your computer does networking. You may have heard of “WinSock,” which is sockets for Windows.

We won’t go into these further because you probably won’t have occasion to use them unless you’re programming. However, if you see a file marked with type son your computer, you know what it is.

13.2.3 The proc Filesystem

The Linux kernel makes a special filesystem available, which is mounted under /proc on Debian systems. This is a “pseudo-filesystem” because it doesn’t really exist on any of your physical devices.

The proc filesystem contains information about the system and running processes. Some of the “files” in /proc are reasonably understandable to humans (try typing cat /proc/meminfo or cat /proc/cpuinfo); others are arcane collections of numbers. Often, system utilities use these to gather information and present it to you in a more understandable way.

People frequently panic when they notice one file in particular— /proc/kcore —which is generally huge. This is (more or less) a copy /of the contents of your computer’s memory. It’s used to debug the kernel. It doesn’t actually exist anywhere, so don’t worry about its size.

If you want to know about all the things in /proc, type man 5 proc.

13.2.4 Large-Scale Copying

Sometimes you may want to copy one directory to another location. Maybe you’re adding a new hard disk and you want to copy /usr/local to it. There are several ways you can do this.

The first is to use cp. The command cp -a will tell cp to do a copy preserving all the information it can. So, you might use

cp -a /usr/local /destination

However, there are some things that cp -a won’t catch. So, the best way to do a large copy job is to chain two tar commands together, like so:

Sparse files and hard links are two examples.

tar -cSpf - /usr/local | tar -xvSpf - -C /destination

The first tar command will archive the existing directory and pipe it to the second. The second command will unpack the archive into the location you specify with -C.

13.3 Security

Back in section 7.1 on page [*], we discussed file permissions in Linux. This is a fundamental way to keep your system secure. If you are running a multi-user system or a server, it is important to make sure that permissions are correct. A good rule of thumb is to set files to have the minimum permissions necessary for use.

If you are running a network server, there are some other things to be aware of as well. First, you ought to uninstall or turn off any network services you’re not using. A good place to start is the file /etc/inetd.conf; you can probably disable some of these. For most /network services, it’s also possible to control who has access to them; the /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny files (documented in man 5 hosts_access) can control who has access to which services. You also ought to keep up-to-date with patches or updates to Debian; these can be found on your nearest Debian FTP mirror.

Some other commonsense rules apply:

◼ Never tell anyone your password. ◼ Never send your password in cleartext across the Internet by using something like telnet or FTP. Instead, use encrypted protocols or avoid logging in remotely. ◼ Avoid using root as much as possible. ◼ Don’t install untrusted software, and don’t install it as root. ◼ Avoid making things world-writable whenever possible. /tmp is one exception to this rule.

While this is probably not of as much use to somebody not running a server, it is still pays to know a bit about security. Debian’s security mechanism is what protects your system from many viruses.

13.4 Software Development with Debian

Debian makes a great platform for software development and programming. Among the languages and near-languages it supports are: C, C++, Objective-C, Perl, Python, m4, Ada, Pascal, Java, awk, Tcl/Tk, SQL, assembler, Bourne shell, csh, and more. Writing programs is beyond the scope of this book, but here are some of the more popular development programs in Debian:

gcc The GNU C Compiler, a modern optimizing C compiler.

g++ The C++ compiler from the gcc line.

cpp The C preprocessor from gcc.

perl The Perl interpreter. Perl is a great “glue” language.

gdb GNU Debugger, used to debug programs in many different languages.

gprof Used for profiling, this program helps you to find ways to improve the performance of your programs.

emacs GNU Emacs is a programmers’ editor and IDE.

as The GNU Assembler.

II. Reference

A. Reading Documentation and Getting Help

A.1 Kinds of Documentation

On Debian systems, you can find documentation in at least the following places:

◼ man pages, read with the man command. ◼ info pages, read with the info command. ◼ The /usr/doc/package directories, where package is the name of the Debian package.

Tip: zless is useful for reading the files in /usr/doc; see section 8.1 on page [*] for details.

◼ /usr/doc/HOWTO/contains the Linux Documentation Project’s HOWTO documents, if you’ve installed the Debian packages containing them. ◼ Many commands have an -h or -help option. Type the command name followed by one of these options to try it. ◼ The Debian Documentation Project has written some manuals. ◼ The Debian support page has a FAQ and other resources. You can also try the Linux web site.

http://www.debian.org/~elphick/ddp/

http://www.debian.org/support/

http://www.linux.org

The confusing variety of documentation sources exists for many reasons. For example, info is supposed to replace man, but man hasn’t disappeared yet. However, it’s nice to know that so much documentation exists!

So where to look for help? Here are some suggestions:

◼ Use the man pages and the -help or -h option to get a quick summary of a command’s syntax and options. Also use man if a program doesn’t yet have an info page. ◼ Use info if a program has info documentation. ◼ If neither of those works, look in /usr/doc/packagename. ◼ /usr/doc/packagename often has Debian-specific information, even if there’s a man page or info page. ◼ Use the HOWTOs for instructions on how to set up a particular thing or for information on your particular hardware. For example, the Ethernet HOWTO has a wealth of information on Ethernet cards, and the PPP HOWTO explains in detail how to set up PPP. ◼ Use the Debian Documentation Project manuals for conceptual explanations and Debian-specific information. ◼ If all else fails, ask someone. See section A.1.3 on page [*]. Using man pages is discussed above in section 5.1 on page [*]. It’s very simple: press the space bar to go to the next page, and press q to quit reading. Using info, viewing files in /usr/doc, and asking for help from a person are all discussed in the remainder of this chapter.

A.1.1 Using info

info is the GNU documentation viewer. Some programs provide documentationin info format, and you can use info to view that documentation. You can start up the viewer by simply typing info, or by supplying a topic as well:

info emacs

You can also bring up the information on info itself, which includes a tutorial, like so:

info info

Now, you may navigate with these keys:

arrows

Move the cursor around the document

m RET

Select the menu item that’s at the cursor

Move “up” in the document

Move to the next page

Move to the previous page

Search for something

Go to a specific page

Quit info

You might notice that the top line of the screen indicates the next, previous, and “up” pages, corresponding nicely to the actions for the n, p, and u keys.

A.1.2 HOWTOs

In addition to their books, the Linux Documentation Project has made a series of short documents describing how to set up particular aspects of GNU/Linux. For instance, the SCSI-HOWTO describes some of the complications of using SCSI—a standard way of talking to devices—with GNU/Linux. In general, the HOWTOs have more specific information about particular hardware configurations and will be more up to date than this manual.

There are Debian packages for the HOWTOs. doc-linux-text contains the various HOWTOs in text form; the doc-linux-html package contains the HOWTOs in (surprise!) browsable HTML format. Note also that Debian has packaged translations of the HOWTOs in various languages that you may prefer if English is not your native language. Debian has packages for the German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Swedish and Chinese versions of the HOWTOs. These are usually available in the package doc-linux-languagecode, where languagecode is fr for French, es for Spanish, etc. If you’ve installed one of these, you should have them in /usr/doc/HOWTO. However, you may be able to find more recent /versions on the Net at the LDP homepage.

http://www.metalab.unc.edu/LDP/

A.1.3 Personal Help

The correct place to ask for help with Debian is the debian-user mailing list at debian-user@lists.debian.org. If you know how to use IRC (Internet Relay Chat), you can use the #debian channel on irc.debian.org. You can find general GNU/Linux help on the comp.os.linux.* USENET hierarchy. It is also possible to hire paid consultants to provide guaranteed support services. The Debian website has more information on many of these resources.

http://www.debian.org/

Again, please do not ask the authors of this book for help. We probably don’t know the answer to your specific problem anyway; if you mail debian-user, you will get higher-quality responses, and more quickly.

Always be polite and make an effort to help yourself by reading the documentation. Remember, Debian is a volunteer effort and people are doing you a favor by giving their time to help you. Many of them charge hundreds of dollars for the same services during the day.

Tips for asking questions

◼ Read the obvious documentation first. Things like command options and what a command does will be covered there. This includes manpages and info documentation. ◼ Check the HOWTO documents if your question is about setting up something such as PPP or Ethernet. ◼ Try to be sure the answer isn’t in this book. ◼ Don’t be afraid to ask, after you’ve made a basic effort to look it up. ◼ Don’t be afraid to ask for conceptual explanations, advice, and other things not often found in the documentation. ◼ Include any information that seems relevant. You’ll almost always want to mention the version of Debian you’re using. You may also want to mention the version of any pertinent packages: The command dpkg -l packagename will tell you this. It’s also useful to say what you’ve tried so far and what happened. Please include the exact error messages, if any. ◼ Don’t apologize for being new to Linux. There’s no reason everyone should be a GNU/Linux expert to use it, any more than everyone should be a mechanic to use a car. ◼ Don’t post or mail in HTML. Some versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer will post in HTML rather than plain text. Most people will not even read these posts because the posts are difficult to read in most mail programs. There should be a setting somewhere in the preferences to disable HTML. ◼ Be polite. Remember that Debian is an all-volunteer effort, and anyone who helps you is doing so on his or her time out of kindness. ◼ Re-mail your question to the list if you’ve gotten no responses after several days. Perhaps there were lots of messages and it was overlooked. Or perhaps no one knows the answer—if no one answers the second time, this is a good bet. You might want to try including more information the second time. ◼ Answer questions yourself when you know the answer. Debian depends on everyone doing his or her part. If you ask a question, and later on someone else asks the same question, you’ll know how to answer it. Do so!

A.1.4 Getting Information from the System

When diagnosing problems or asking for help, you’ll need to get information about your system. Here are some ways to do so:

◼ Examine the files in /var/log/. ◼ Examine the output of the dmesg command. ◼ Run uname -a.

B. Troubleshooting

In Debian, as in life, things don’t always work as you might expect or want them to. While Debian has a well-deserved reputation for being rock-solid and stable, sometimes its reaction to your commands may be unexpected. Here, we try to shed some light on the most common problems that people encounter.

B.1 Common Difficulties

This section provides some tips for handling some of the most frequently experienced difficulties users have encountered.

B.1.1 Working with Strangely-Named Files

Occasionally, you may find that you have accidentally created a file that contains a character not normally found in a filename. Examples of this could include a space, a leading hyphen, or maybe a quotation mark. You may find that accessing, removing, or renaming these files can be difficult.

Here are some tips to help you:

◼ Try enclosing the filename in single quotation marks, like this: less ’File With Spaces.txt’ ◼ Insert a ./ before the filename: less ’./-a strange file.txt’ ◼ Use wildcards: less File?With?Spaces.txt ◼ Use a backslash before each unusual character: less File\ With\ Spaces.txt

B.1.2 Printing

One common source of trouble is the printing system in Debian. Traditionally, printing has been a powerful but complex aspect of Unix. However, Debian makes it easier. An easy way to print is with the package called magicfilter. magicfilter will ask you a few questions about your printer and then configure it for you. If you are having troubles printing, give magicfilter a try.

B.1.3 X Problems

Many questions revolve around X. Here are some general tips for things to try if you are having difficulties setting up the X Window system:

◼ For mouse problems, run XF86Setup and try the PS/2, Microsoft, MouseSystems, and Logitech options. Most mice will fit under one of these. Also, the device for your mouse is /dev/psaux for PS/2 mice and a serial port such as /dev/ttyS0 for serial mice. ◼ If you don’t know what video chipset you have, try running SuperProbe; it can often figure this out for you. ◼ If your screen doesn’t have a lot of color, try selecting a different video card or tell X how much video RAM you have. ◼ If your screen goes blank or has unreadable text when you start X, you probably selected an incorrect refresh rate. Go back to XF86Setup or xf86config and double-check those settings. ◼ xvidtune can help if the image on the screen is shifted too far to the left or right, is too high or low, or is too narrow or wide. ◼ xdpyinfo can give information about a running X session. ◼ XF86Setup can set your default color depth. ◼ You can select your default window manager by editing /etc/X11/window-managers. / ◼ /var/log/xdm-errors can contain useful information if you are having trouble getting xdm to start properly.

As a final reminder, try the XF86Setup or xf86config tools for configuring or reconfiguring X for your hardware.

B.2 Troubleshooting the Boot Process

If you have problems during the boot process, such as the kernel hangs during the boot process, the kernel doesn’t recognize peripherals you actually have, or drives are not recognized properly, the first things to check are the boot parameters. They can be found by pressing F1 when booting from the rescue disk.

Often, problems can be solved by removing add-ons and peripherals and then booting again. Internal modems, sound cards, and Plug-n-Play devices are especially problematic.

Tecras and other notebooks, and some non-portables fail to flush the cache when switching on the A20 gate, which is provoked by bzImage kernels but not by zImage kernels. If your computer suffers from this problem, you’ll see a message during boot saying A20 gating failed. In this case, you’ll have to use the ‘tecra’ boot images.

If you still have problems, please submit a bug report. Send an email to submit@bugs.debian.org. You must include the following as the first lines of the email:

Package: boot-floppies Version: version

Make sure you fill in version with the version of the boot-floppies set that you used. If you don’t know the version, use the date you downloaded the floppies, and include the distribution you got them from (e.g., “stable” or “frozen”).

You should also include the following information in your bug report:

architecture i386

model your general hardware vendor and model

memory amount of RAM

scsi SCSI host adapter, if any

cd-rom CD-ROM model and interface type, i.e., ATAPI

network card network interface card, if any

pcmcia details of any PCMCIA devices

Depending on the nature of the bug, it also might be useful to report the disk model, the disk capacity, and the model of video card.

In the bug report, describe what the problem is, including the last visible kernel messages in the event of a kernel hang. Describe the steps you performed that put the system into the problem state.

C. Booting the System

This appendix describes what happens during the GNU/Linux boot process.

How you boot your system depends on how you set things up when you installed Debian. Most likely, you just turn the computer on. But you may have to insert a floppy disk first.

Linux is loaded by a program called LILO, or LInux LOader. LILO can also load other operating systems and ask you which system you’d like to load.

The first thing that happens when you turn on an Intel PC is that the BIOS executes. BIOS stands for Basic Input Output System. It’s a program permanently stored in the computer on read-only chips. It performs some minimal tests and then looks for a floppy disk in the first disk drive. If it finds one, it looks for a “boot sector” on that disk and starts executing code from it, if there is any. If there is a disk but no boot sector, the BIOS will print a message like this: Non-system disk or disk error. Removing the disk and pressing a key will cause the boot process to resume.

If there isn’t a floppy disk in the drive, the BIOS looks for a master boot record (MBR) on the hard disk. It will start executing the code found there, which loads the operating system. On GNU/Linux systems, LILO can occupy the MBR and will load GNU/Linux.

Thus, if you opted to install LILO on your hard drive, you should see the word LILO as your computer starts up. At that point, you can press the left Shift key to select which operating system to load or press Tab to see a list of options. Type in one of those options and press Enter. LILO will boot the requested operating system.

If you don’t press the Shift key, LILO will automatically load the default operating system after about 5 seconds. If you like, you can change what system LILO loads automatically, which systems it knows how to load, and how long it waits before loading one automatically.

If you didn’t install LILO on your hard drive, you probably created a boot disk. The boot disk will have LILO on it. All you have to do is insert the disk before you turn on your computer, and the BIOS will find it before it checks the MBR on the hard drive. To return to a non-Linux OS, take out the boot disk and restart the computer. From Linux, be sure you follow the proper procedure for restarting; see section 4.5 on page [*] for details.

LILO loads the Linux kernel from disk and then lets the kernel take over. (The kernel is the central program of the operating system, which is in control of all other programs.) The kernel discards the BIOS and LILO.

On non-Intel platforms, things work a little differently. But once you boot, everything is more or less the same.

Linux looks at the type of hardware it’s running on. It wants to know what type of hard disks you have, whether or not you have a bus mouse, whether or not you’re on a network, and other bits of trivia like that. Linux can’t remember things between boots, so it has to ask these questions each time it starts up. Luckily, it isn’t asking you these questions—it’s asking the hardware! While it boots, the Linux kernel will print messages on the screen describing what it’s doing.

The query process can cause problems with your system, but if it was going to, it probably would have when you first installed GNU/Linux. If you’re having problems, consult the installation instructions or ask questions on a mailing list.

The kernel merely manages other programs, so once it is satisfied everything is okay, it must start another program to do anything useful. The program the kernel starts is called init. After the kernel starts init, it never starts another program. The kernel becomes a manager and a provider of services.

Once init is started, it runs a number of scripts (files containing commands), which prepare the system to be used. They do some routine maintenance and start up a lot of programs that do things like display a login prompt, listen for network connections, and keep a log of the computer’s activities.

D. The GNU General Public License

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2, June 1991

Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software-to make sure the software is free for all its users. This General Public License applies to most of the Free Software Foundation’s software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author’s protection and ours, we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors’ reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone’s free use or not licensed at all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".

Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program (independent of having been made by running the Program). Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program’s source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.

You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.

2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.

c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when run, you must cause it, when started running for such interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on the Program is not required to print an announcement.)

These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.

Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or collective works based on the Program.

In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the scope of this License.

3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.

6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients’ exercise of the rights granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this License.

7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.

If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other circumstances.

It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is implemented by public license practices. Many people have made generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed through that system in reliance on consistent application of that system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot impose that choice.

This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to be a consequence of the rest of this License.

8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.

9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

NO WARRANTY

11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/ OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

<one line to give the program’s name and a brief idea of what it does.>

Copyright (C) 19yy <name of author>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:

Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type ‘show w’.

This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type ‘show c’ for details.

The hypothetical commands ‘show w’ and ‘show c’ should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may be called something other than ‘show w’ and ‘show c’; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items-whatever suits your program.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:

Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program ‘Gnomovision’ (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.

<signature of Ty Coon>, 1 April 1989 Ty Coon, President of Vice

This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.

Index

$ (dollar sign) regular expression Regular Expressions () (parentheses) regular expression Regular Expressions (caret) regular expression Regular Expressions * (regular expression) Regular Expressions * (wildcard) Filename Expansion . (regular expression) Regular Expressions / (slash) root directory Files and Directories | Files and Directories /bin directory Files Present and Their /etc (directory) system-wide configuration System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration /etc directory Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their /etc/X11/Xsession modifying Customizing Your X Startup /root directory Files Present and Their /sbin directory Files Present and Their /user directory Files Present and Their /var directory Files Present and Their /tmp directory Files Present and Their ? wildcard Filename Expansion [] (brackets) regular expression Regular Expressions (tilde) Using Files: A Tutorial absolute filenames Files and Directories | Using Files: A Tutorial abstractions Introduction to X Access screen dselect Access accessing files Mode filesystems Mounting a Filesystem Help file (installation) Select accounts ordinary user Create an Ordinary User | Create an Ordinary User permissions Permissions | Permissions example sessions Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice file mode Mode | Mode | Mode file ownership File Ownership | File Ownership root user Working as Root | Working as Root superuser Set the Root Password user logging in First Steps | First Steps plans Managing Your Identity | Managing Your Identity Acknowledgments no title activating swap partition Initialize and Activate a | Initialize and Activate a ae no title ae (text editor) Text Editors | Using ae alias Aliases aliases Aliases Alt key Conventions | Conventions APM Shutting Down APM (Advanced Power Management) Shutting Down application software What Is Debian? applications cfdisk Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk configuration files Configuration Files dbootstrap Step-by-Step Installation network configuration Configure the Network dselect Select and Install Profiles | Introduction | Introduction Access screen Access multi-CD installation Access multi-NFS, multi-mount installation Access package states Select | Select Update screen Update | Select | Select | Select | Select exiting How to Read This file managers Introduction to X GNU documentation viewer Using info | Using info gzip File Compression with gzip | File Compression with gzip multitasking A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating system binaries Files Present and Their tasks Select and Install Profiles | Select and Install Profiles text editores Text Editors | Text Editors text editors ae Using ae archiving utilities Backup Tools arguments The Command Line and arranging hard drive Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background asking technical questions Personal Help | Tips for asking questions assigning job numbers to command lines Managing Processes with bash authentication shadow passwords Shadow Password Support automatic filesystem mounting /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount | /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount backing up disks Last Chance to Back backups performing Before You Start utilities Backup Tools GNU tar tar base system no title | no title configuring Debian Installation Steps | Choosing Your Installation Media installation Install the Base System | Configure the Base System bash Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash commands aliases Aliases environment variables setting Environment Variables | Environment Variables Info help system displaying Managing Processes with bash binary executables comparing to source code Viewing Text Files binary files Working with Text Files viewing Viewing Text Files BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) Booting the System black-and-white display selecting Select Color or Monochrome block devices Device Files | /dev/null blocks Device Files bold face typographical conventions Conventions boot floppies creating Make a Boot Floppy boot loaders Before You Start LILO Make Linux Bootable Directly boot partition PC Disk Limitations boot process LILO (Linux Loader) Booting the System query process Booting the System troubleshooting Troubleshooting the Boot Process booting Debian Booting Debian from CD-ROM Choosing Your Installation Media from floppies Booting from Floppies operating systems multiple Make Linux Bootable Directly smoke test The Moment of Truth Bourne shell The Shell bug reports submitting Troubleshooting the Boot Process built-in dependencies packages Select | Select built-in programs Where Commands Reside: The buttons mouse operation The Mouse C shell The Shell canceling selections (dselect) Select cd Using Files: A Tutorial cd command Using Files: A Tutorial | Using Files: A Tutorial CD-ROM booting from Choosing Your Installation Media CD-ROMs mounting Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM unmounting Example: Mounting a CD-ROM CDs multi-CD installation Access | Access multi-NFS, multi-mount installation Access cfdisk Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk Change Directory see cd character devices Device Files | /dev/null characters metacharacters Regular Expressions clients X clients Introduction to X network transparency Introduction to X X windows system X Clients | X Clients selecting Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup closing programs How to Read This color display selecting Select Color or Monochrome Comand Line History no title command history Command History and Editing command line Command History and Editing | Command History and Editing | no title | Describing the Command Line | Describing the Command Line structure The Command Line and command lines job numbers assigning Managing Processes with bash command-line shell The Shell | The Shell commands aliases Aliases arguments The Command Line and Bash wildcards Tab Completion cd Using Files: A Tutorial | Using Files: A Tutorial documentation Kinds of Documentation | Kinds of Documentation info Using info | Using info egrep Regular Expressions ls Using Files: A Tutorial | Using Files: A Tutorial | Dot Files and ls -a man less Environment Variables mkdir Using Files: A Tutorial more Using Files: A Tutorial parameters The Command Line and shell commands typing First Steps su Working as Root whoami Working as Root commercial software comparing to proprietary What Is Free Software? comparing binary and text files Viewing Text Files crackers and hackers What Is Free Software? hard links and symlinks Symbolic Links programs and processes Processes software commercial and proprietary What Is Free Software? system-wide and user-specific configuration System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration compiling packages Compiling Software compressing files File Compression with gzip | File Compression with gzip Configuration Base system no title comparing system-wide and user-specific System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration Device drivers no title Modules no title networking Ethernet Ethernet PPP The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial PCMCIA no title | Configure PCMCIA Support system-wide /etc directory Files Present and Their automatic filesystem mounting /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount | /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount networking Networking | PPP | Preparation user-specific dotfiles System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration configuring base system Debian Installation Steps | Choosing Your Installation Media device drivers Configure Device Driver Modules keyboard Configure the Keyboard network Configure the Network packages Configure connections networking Ethernet Ethernet PPP PPP | Preparation | The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial consoles A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating virtual consoles Virtual Consoles | Virtual Consoles controllers SCSI partitions, naming Device Names in Linux controlling processes The Shell | The Shell conventions typographical Conventions | Conventions spaces Conventions copy-and-paste mouse operation (X) The Mouse copying large-scale Large-Scale Copying | Large-Scale Copying crackers comparing to hackers What Is Free Software? creating accounts ordinary user Create an Ordinary User | Create an Ordinary User superuser Set the Root Password directories Using Files: A Tutorial disk images Creating Floppies from Disk | Creating Floppies from Disk plans Managing Your Identity | Managing Your Identity csh (C shell) The Shell current working directories Using Files: A Tutorial Current Working Directory Using Files: A Tutorial customizing X windows system Customizing Your X Startup cylinder translation PC Disk Limitations daemon Processes dbootstrap Step-by-Step Installation network configuration Configure the Network Debian booting Booting Debian from CD-ROM Choosing Your Installation Media Web site What Is Free Software? Debian base system Debian Installation Steps | Choosing Your Installation Media Debian mailing list Personal Help | Personal Help deleting directories Using Files: A Tutorial files Using Files: A Tutorial hard links The Real Nature of named pipes Named Pipes (FIFOs) symlinks Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links Deleting Files see rm dependencies packages Select | Select deselect package maintenance dselect Develcomp (profile) Planning Use of the developing Free Software Social Contract What Is Free Software? software free software What Is Free Software? | What Is Free Software? development Who Creates Debian? device drivers configuring Configure Device Driver Modules device files Device Files | /dev/null Device Names no title devices Device Names in Linux | Device Names in Linux abstractions Introduction to X base system installing Install the Base System | Configure the Base System block devices Device Files | /dev/null character devices Device Files | /dev/null daemons Processes files symlinks Symbolic Links filesystems Concepts automatic mounting /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount | /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount hard links The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of mount points Mounting a Filesystem mounting Mounting a Filesystem | Mounting a Filesystem | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip proc The proc Filesystem symlinks Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links naming Device Names in Linux output redirecting stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and | stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and PCMCIA configuring Configure PCMCIA Support printers troubleshooting Printing SCSI drives partitions Device Names in Linux swap partitions Recommended Partitioning Scheme | Recommended Partitioning Scheme Dialup profile Planning Use of the Directories no title | Files and Directories | Files and Directories | Files and Directories | Files Present and Their /etc Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their system-wide configuration System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration /root Files Present and Their /tmp Files Present and Their /user Files Present and Their /var Files Present and Their contents, displaying Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their copying Large-Scale Copying | Large-Scale Copying creating Using Files: A Tutorial current working directory Using Files: A Tutorial file systems mount points Mounting a Filesystem filename expansion patterns Filename Expansion | Filename Expansion files hard links The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of inodes The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of locating Finding Files | Finding Files symlinks Symbolic Links filesystems Concepts mounting Mounting a Filesystem | Mounting a Filesystem | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip hard links removing The Real Nature of home directory Files Present and Their modes Mode parent directories Using Files: A Tutorial paths Files and Directories permissions example session Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice removing Using Files: A Tutorial search path (shell) Where Commands Reside: The | Where Commands Reside: The shortcut directories Using Files: A Tutorial symlinks Symbolic Links system-wide files, modifying Files Present and Their disk blocks scanning Initialize and Activate a disk cache Shutting Down disk space installation requirements Memory and Disk Space disks backing up Last Chance to Back boot disks LILO Booting the System boot floppies creating Make a Boot Floppy filesystems mount points Mounting a Filesystem mounting Mounting a Filesystem | Mounting a Filesystem | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip floppies booting from Booting from Floppies images writing to floppies Creating Floppies from Disk | Creating Floppies from Disk removable mounting filesystem Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip displaying directory contents Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their file contents Determining a File’s Contents files filename expansion pattern Filename Expansion Info help system Managing Processes with bash mounted filesystems Example: Mounting a CD-ROM text files Viewing Text Files displays ae (text editor) Using ae dselect Access screen Access X windows system windows manager Introduction to X dividing partitions Lossless Repartitioning documentation Kinds of Documentation | Kinds of Documentation GNU General Public License The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public HOWTOs HOWTOs info Using info | Using info DOS (Disk Operating System) partitioning Partitioning from DOS or | Lossless Repartitioning | Debian Installation Steps Dotfiles no title | Dot Files and ls -a | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration dpkg no title package maintenance dpkg dselect Select and Install Profiles | no title | Introduction | Introduction | Access | no title Access menu no title Access screen Access multi-CD installation Access package states Select | Select packages configuring Configure installing Install | Install Select no title Select screen Select | Select | Select | Select | Select exiting Select Update no title Update screen Update dump Backup Tools dump (backup utility Backup Tools editing text Text Editors | Text Editors Editors no title egrep command Regular Expressions Emacs (text editor) Text Editors | Text Editors email bug reports troubleshooting Troubleshooting the Boot Process Debian mailing list Personal Help | Personal Help environment variables importing Environment Variables environment variables no title | Environment Variables bash setting Environment Variables | Environment Variables PATH Where Commands Reside: The | Where Commands Reside: The proxy servers setting Access environments Environment Variables error messages standard error stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and X windows system troubleshooting Troubleshooting Ethernet configuration Ethernet example session permissions Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice execute permission Mode executing programs search path Where Commands Reside: The | Where Commands Reside: The exiting ae (text editor) Using ae programs How to Read This Select screen (dselect) Select X windows system Leaving the X Environment | Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup expansion patterns Filename Expansion | Filename Expansion see also wildcards Filename Expansion exporting shell variables Environment Variables variables to environment Environment Variables ext2 filesystem Concepts extended partitions PC Disk Limitations | Device Names in Linux FIFO (first-in-first-out) Named Pipes (FIFOs) file manager Using a File Manager file managers icon-based Introduction to X file pagers text files viewing Viewing Text Files file systems Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background filename expansion pattern Filename Expansion filename expansion patterns Filename Expansion files no title | Files and Directories | Files and Directories | Files and Directories /etc/X11/Xsession modifying Customizing Your X Startup access Mode binary Working with Text Files viewing Viewing Text Files compressing File Compression with gzip | File Compression with gzip configuration files Configuration Files contents displaying Determining a File’s Contents current working directory Using Files: A Tutorial deleting Using Files: A Tutorial device files Device Files | /dev/null disk images Creating Floppies from Disk | Creating Floppies from Disk dotfiles Dot Files and ls -a | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration Editors no title hard links The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of inodes The Real Nature of large-scale copying Large-Scale Copying | Large-Scale Copying locating Finding Files | Finding Files moving Using Files: A Tutorial named pipes Named Pipes (FIFOs) naming conventions troubleshooting Working with Strangely-Named Files permissions Permissions | Permissions | Security example sessions Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice mode Mode | Mode | Mode ownership File Ownership | File Ownership plans creating Managing Your Identity | Managing Your Identity regular expressions Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions sockets Sockets symlinks Symbolic Links removing Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links temporary Files Present and Their Text no title editing Text Editors | Text Editors | Using ae viewing Viewing Text Files text files Working with Text Files uncompressing File Compression with gzip filesystems Filesystems automatic mounting /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount | /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount backing up Backup Tools GNU tar tar ext2 Concepts hard links The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of deleting The Real Nature of listing Example: Mounting a CD-ROM mount points Mounting a Filesystem mounting Mounting a Filesystem | Mounting a Filesystem | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip proc The proc Filesystem symlinks Symbolic Links finding documentation Kinds of Documentation | Kinds of Documentation files Finding Files | Finding Files system information Getting Information from the finger information plans creating Managing Your Identity FIPS Lossless Repartitioning | Lossless Repartitioning floppies boot floppies creating Make a Boot Floppy booting from Booting from Floppies disk images writing Creating Floppies from Disk | Creating Floppies from Disk filesystem mounting Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip filesystems Mounting a Filesystem Floppy Disks no title fonts selecting Starting the X Environment xterm increasing size Starting the X Environment Free Software What Is Free Software? developing What Is Free Software? Social Contract What Is Free Software? Free Software Foundation What Is Free Software? fully-qualified filenames Files and Directories functionality What Is Debian? General Public License The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public glossary Glossary GNOME desktop project Introduction to X GNU documentation viewer Using info | Using info GNU General Public License The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public GNU Midnight Commander Using a File Manager GNU Project What Is Debian? GNU tar tar GNU tar (backup utility Backup Tools GNU/Linux multiuser environment A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating graphical user interfaces see GUIs The X Window System | Introduction to X GUIs abstractions Introduction to X icon-based file managers Introduction to X X Window The X Window System | Introduction to X X windows system clients X Clients | X Clients clients, selecting Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup customizing Customizing Your X Startup exiting Leaving the X Environment | Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup mouse operation The Mouse starting Starting the X Environment troubleshooting Troubleshooting | X Problems xdm Starting the X Environment gzip File Compression with gzip | File Compression with gzip Hacker Ethic What Is Free Software? hackers What Is Free Software? hard disk Linux partition initializing Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition partitioning PC BIOS PC Disk Limitations swap partition initializing Initialize and Activate a | Initialize and Activate a hard disks partitioning Lossless Repartitioning | Debian Installation Steps | Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk partitions mounting Initialize a Linux Partition scanning Initialize and Activate a hard drive organizing Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background partition boot partition PC Disk Limitations partitioning Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background cylinder translation PC Disk Limitations root partition Background swap partition Background hard drives filesystems Mounting a Filesystem LILO operating system, booting Booting the System partitioning swap partitions Recommended Partitioning Scheme | Recommended Partitioning Scheme partitions mounting Mount a Previously-Initialized Partition hard links The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of comparing to symlinks Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links deleting The Real Nature of symlinks Symbolic Links hardware abstractions Introduction to X device files Device Files | /dev/null video cards support for Supported Hardware Hardware, supported no title Help file (installation) accessing Select help system HOWTOs HOWTOs hierarchies Concepts filesystems Concepts mount points Mounting a Filesystem mounting Mounting a Filesystem | Mounting a Filesystem | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip History see Command Line History home directories Files Present and Their home directory Using Files: A Tutorial HOWTOs HOWTOs icon-based file managers Introduction to X images (disk) writing to floppies Creating Floppies from Disk | Creating Floppies from Disk importing variables to environment Environment Variables info no title | Using info | Using info Info help system Managing Processes with bash initializing Linux partition Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition swap partition Initialize and Activate a | Initialize and Activate a inodes The Real Nature of | The Real Nature of hard links removing The Real Nature of Installation backups, performing Before You Start base system Install the Base System | Configure the Base System base system, configuring Debian Installation Steps | Choosing Your Installation Media boot floppies creating Make a Boot Floppy CD-ROM no title device drivers configuring Configure Device Driver Modules disks backing up Last Chance to Back dselect Introduction Access screen Access Floppies no title hard disks partitioning Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk hard drive partitioning Background | Background partitioning Partitioning Your Hard Drive Help file accessing Select kernel Install Operating System Kernel keyboard configuration Configure the Keyboard Linux partition initialization Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition main menu Debian GNU/Linux Installation Main master boot record Make Linux Bootable Directly Media no title memory requirements Memory and Disk Space Menu no title monitor display color, selecting Select Color or Monochrome multi-NFS, multi-mount Access multicd Access | Access network configuring Configure the Network packages Package Installation with dselect partitioning Partitioning Prior to Installation | Partitioning from DOS or | Lossless Repartitioning | Debian Installation Steps PCMCIA support configuring Configure PCMCIA Support Prerequisites no title profiles Planning Use of the selecting Select and Install Profiles root password setting Set the Root Password smoke test The Moment of Truth swap partition initialization Initialize and Activate a | Initialize and Activate a tasks selecting Select and Install Profiles time zone specifying Configure the Base System installations network workstations Information You Will Need operating systems, multiple Before You Start installing packages Install | Install Internet Debian mailing list Personal Help | Personal Help online manual viewing Environment Variables IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Debian mailing list Personal Help | Personal Help ISPs PPP PPP | Preparation italics typographical conventions Conventions job Managing Processes with bash job numbers assigning to command lines Managing Processes with bash jobs Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash listing Managing Processes with bash starting Managing Processes with bash status displaying Managing Processes with bash suspending Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash terminating Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash kernel boot process troubleshooting Troubleshooting the Boot Process installing Install Operating System Kernel PCMCIA removing Remove PCMCIA virtual consoles Virtual Consoles | Virtual Consoles kernel:LILO (Linux Loader) Booting the System | Booting the System key combinations dselect Select keyboard configuring Configure the Keyboard killing jobs Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash X server Leaving the X Environment Korn shell The Shell languages programming Software Development with Debian | Software Development with Debian LANs Ethernet configuration Ethernet large-scale copying Large-Scale Copying | Large-Scale Copying legal documentation GNU General Public License The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public licenses GNU General Public License The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public LILO Make Linux Bootable Directly LILO (Linux Loader) Booting the System | Booting the System limitations partitions PC Disk Limitations Linux devices Device Names in Linux | Device Names in Linux | Device Names in Linux GNU General Public License The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public | The GNU General Public kernel command line Describing the Command Line | Describing the Command Line disk cache Shutting Down virtual console Virtual Consoles | Virtual Consoles Linux Documentation Project Supported Hardware HOWTOs HOWTOs Linux native partition creating Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk Linux partition initializing Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition Linux partitions mounting Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition Linux swap partition creating Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk listing aliases Aliases jobs Managing Processes with bash mounted filesystems Example: Mounting a CD-ROM processes Processes locating documentation Kinds of Documentation | Kinds of Documentation files Finding Files | Finding Files system information Getting Information from the logging in First Steps | First Steps logical partitions PC Disk Limitations | Device Names in Linux long form options The Command Line and ls Using Files: A Tutorial | no title ls command Using Files: A Tutorial | Using Files: A Tutorial | Dot Files and ls -a mailing list Debian Personal Help | Personal Help main menu installation Debian GNU/Linux Installation Main mainenance packages What a Package Maintenance | What a Package Maintenance deselect dselect dpkg dpkg man less command Environment Variables man pages The Command Line and managing files Using a File Manager manual startup X windows system Starting the X Environment master boot record installation Make Linux Bootable Directly memory disk cache Shutting Down installation requirements Memory and Disk Space swap partitions Recommended Partitioning Scheme | Recommended Partitioning Scheme menus installation Debian GNU/Linux Installation Main Partition a Hard Disk Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk messages error standard error stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and metacharacters regular expressions Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions mkdir command Using Files: A Tutorial mode (files) Mode | Mode | Mode modifier keys Conventions | Conventions modifying files hard links The Real Nature of modularity Introduction to X modules device drivers configuring Configure Device Driver Modules installation Install Operating System Kernel monitor display color selecting Select Color or Monochrome monochrome display selecting Select Color or Monochrome more command Using Files: A Tutorial mount points Mounting a Filesystem mounting CD-ROM Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM filesystems Mounting a Filesystem | Mounting a Filesystem | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Example: Mounting a CD-ROM | Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip automatic /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount | /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount floppy disks Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip initialized partitions Mount a Previously-Initialized Partition partitions Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition mouse operation X windows system The Mouse moving files Using Files: A Tutorial msdos filesystem Concepts multi-NFS, multi-mount installation Access multi_cd installation Access | Access multiple operating systems booting Make Linux Bootable Directly multitasking A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating | A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating processes Processes Multiuser A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating multiuser environment GNU/Linux A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating multiuser environments virtual console Virtual Consoles | Virtual Consoles mv command Using Files: A Tutorial named pipes Named Pipes (FIFOs) naming devices Device Names in Linux | Device Names in Linux | Device Names in Linux naming conventions files troubleshooting Working with Strangely-Named Files navigating dbootstrap Step-by-Step Installation nedit (text editor Text Editors netowrks devices output, redirecting stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and | stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and network configuring Configure the Network Network Configuration no title network transparency Introduction to X networking Networking Ethernet configuration Ethernet PPP PPP | Preparation configuration The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial sockets Sockets networks servers partitioning Recommended Partitioning Scheme terminals A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating virtual console Virtual Consoles | Virtual Consoles workstations installation Information You Will Need X servers Introduction to X online manual builtin programs Where Commands Reside: The text, paging Environment Variables viewing Environment Variables Open Source Software What Is Free Software? operating system booting LILO (Linux Loader) Booting the System kernel installing Install Operating System Kernel operating systems What Is Debian? backup tools Backup Tools GNU tar tar boot loaders Before You Start Debian booting Booting Debian functionality What Is Debian? GNU Linux multiuser environment A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating installation partitioning Partitioning Prior to Installation | Partitioning from DOS or | Lossless Repartitioning | Debian Installation Steps LILO Make Linux Bootable Directly modularity Introduction to X multiple installations Before You Start multiple, booting Make Linux Bootable Directly root password setting Set the Root Password swap partitions Background X windows system troubleshooting X Problems options (commands) The Command Line and ordinary user accounts Create an Ordinary User | Create an Ordinary User organization files Files and Directories | Files and Directories organizing files Concepts hard drive Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background ouput redirecting pipelines stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and output redirecting stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and | stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and | stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and reversing stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and overriding package dependencies Select ownership (files) File Ownership | File Ownership packages Glossary canceling selection (dselect) Select compiling Compiling Software configuring Configure Debian base system Debian Installation Steps | Choosing Your Installation Media dependencies Select | Select development Who Creates Debian? installation Package Installation with dselect multi-CD Access | Access multi-NFS, multi-mount Access installing Install | Install maintenance utilities What a Package Maintenance | What a Package Maintenance deselect dselect dpkg dpkg profiles Planning Use of the see also dselect Introduction | Introduction selecting Select and Install Profiles | Select | Select | Select states (dselect) Select | Select PAGER environment variable Environment Variables parameters The Command Line and parent directories Using Files: A Tutorial partition boot partition PC Disk Limitations Initialization no title Swap no title Lossless no title Partitioning no title | Device Names in Linux cylinder translation PC Disk Limitations hard disks Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk hard drive Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background root partition Background swap partition Background Linux partition initializing Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition PC BIOS PC Disk Limitations SCSI drives PC Disk Limitations servers Recommended Partitioning Scheme swap partition initializing Initialize and Activate a | Initialize and Activate a swap partitions Recommended Partitioning Scheme | Recommended Partitioning Scheme partitions mounting Initialize a Linux Partition | Initialize a Linux Partition | Mount a Previously-Initialized Partition surface scanning Initialize and Activate a passwords logging in First Steps | First Steps root password setting Set the Root Password shadow passwords Shadow Password Support superuser Working as Root PATH no title paths Files and Directories PC BIOS PC Disk Limitations PCMCIA no title configuring Configure PCMCIA Support removing Remove PCMCIA Permissions no title | Permissions | Permissions | Security access Mode example session Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice file ownership File Ownership | File Ownership hard links The Real Nature of mode Mode | Mode | Mode PID Processes PID (Process Identification Number) Processes pipe operators stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and pipeline Managing Processes with bash pipelines stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and output reversing stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and pipes named pipes Named Pipes (FIFOs) plans Managing Your Identity | Managing Your Identity PPP configuration PPP | Preparation wvdial The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial primary partitions PC Disk Limitations printenv Environment Variables | Environment Variables Printing no title troubleshooting Printing proc filesystem The proc Filesystem process groups Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash Process Management no title Processes no title | Processes boot process troubleshooting Troubleshooting the Boot Process comparing to programs Processes controlling The Shell | The Shell daemons Processes environments Environment Variables jobs listing Managing Processes with bash starting Managing Processes with bash suspending Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash terminating Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash named pipes Named Pipes (FIFOs) PID (Process Identification Number) Processes redirection operators stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and | stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and standard input stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and standard output stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and profiles Planning Use of the | Planning Use of the selecting Select and Install Profiles | Select and Install Profiles programming Software Development with Debian | Software Development with Debian programs bash aliases Aliases BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) Booting the System built-in Where Commands Reside: The cfdisk Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk comparing to processes Processes dbootstrap Step-by-Step Installation network configuration Configure the Network dselect Select and Install Profiles | Introduction | Introduction Access screen Access multi-CD installation Access multi-NFS, multi-mount installation Access package states Select | Select packages, configuring Configure packages, installing Install | Install Update screen Update | Select | Select | Select | Select executing search path Where Commands Reside: The | Where Commands Reside: The exiting How to Read This file managers Introduction to X functionality What Is Debian? gzip File Compression with gzip | File Compression with gzip multitasking A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating packages maintenance utilities What a Package Maintenance | What a Package Maintenance | dpkg | dselect shell The Shell | The Shell software development Software Development with Debian | Software Development with Debian tasks Select and Install Profiles | Select and Install Profiles text editors Text Editors | Text Editors ae Using ae wvdial PPP configuration The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial X clients X Clients | X Clients Prompt, Changing Environment Variables | Environment Variables prompts shell prompts First Steps proprietary software comparing to commercial What Is Free Software? proxy servers environment variables setting Access PS1 Environment Variables | Environment Variables pwd Using Files: A Tutorial pwd command Using Files: A Tutorial | Using Files: A Tutorial query process Booting the System questions technical support Personal Help | Tips for asking questions quitting ae (text editor) Using ae X windows system Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup RAM disk cache Shutting Down RAM (Random Access Memory) installation requirements Memory and Disk Space reading device files Device Files redirecting output stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and pipelines stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and Redirection no title redirection operators stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and hard links The Real Nature of output reversing stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and regular expressions Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions reinitializing swap partition Initialize and Activate a removable disks mounting filesystem Removable Disks (Floppies, Zip removing directories Using Files: A Tutorial hard links The Real Nature of PCMCIA Remove PCMCIA symlinks Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links repartitioning from Windows Partitioning from DOS or | Lossless Repartitioning hard drive Partitioning Your Hard Drive | Background | Background requirements installation memory Memory and Disk Space restrictions partitions PC Disk Limitations reversing output stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and rm Using Files: A Tutorial root directory Files and Directories | Files and Directories root partition Background root password setting Set the Root Password root user Working as Root | Working as Root see also superuser Files Present and Their saving edited files (ae) Using ae scanning hard disk Initialize and Activate a screen display color selecting Select Color or Monochrome screens ae (text editor) Using ae dselect Select Select | Select | Select | Select | Select Update Update X windows system windows manager Introduction to X scrolling commands Command History and Editing SCSI drives partitioning PC Disk Limitations partitions Device Names in Linux search path Where Commands Reside: The | Where Commands Reside: The security backups, performing Before You Start passwords logging in First Steps | First Steps shadow passwords Shadow Password Support permissions Permissions | Permissions | Security example session Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice file mode Mode | Mode | Mode file ownership File Ownership | File Ownership root password setting Set the Root Password root user Working as Root | Working as Root Select screen (dselect) Select | Select | Select | Select selecting color display Select Color or Monochrome fonts, xterm Starting the X Environment monochrome display Select Color or Monochrome packages Select and Install Profiles | Select | Select | Select see also dselect Introduction | Introduction profiles Select and Install Profiles | Select and Install Profiles X clients Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup Server profile Planning Use of the servers partitioning Recommended Partitioning Scheme proxy servers environment variables, setting Access X server killing Leaving the X Environment X servers Introduction to X clients X Clients | X Clients network transparency Introduction to X sh (Bourne shell) The Shell shadow passwords Shadow Password Support sharing software What Is Free Software? | What Is Free Software? Shell no title | The Shell | The Shell | no title built-in programs Where Commands Reside: The filename expansion patterns Filename Expansion output reversing stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and redirection operator stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and | stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and search path Where Commands Reside: The | Where Commands Reside: The shell commands typing First Steps shell prompt command history Command History and Editing command line Command History and Editing | Command History and Editing shells Bourne shell The Shell C shell The Shell command lines job numbers, assigning Managing Processes with bash current working directory Using Files: A Tutorial environments Environment Variables jobs suspending Managing Processes with bash pipelines stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and process groups Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash redirection operators hard links The Real Nature of variables exporting Environment Variables xterms Starting the X Environment shortcut directories Using Files: A Tutorial shortcuts aliases Aliases Shutdown no title shutting down Shutting Down sites Web Debian What Is Free Software? Free Software Foundation What Is Free Software? Multi Disk HOWTO Recommended Partitioning Scheme video cards, support for Supported Hardware smoke test The Moment of Truth Social Contract What Is Free Software? | What Is Free Software? | What Is Free Software? sockets Sockets soft links Symbolic Links software applications What Is Debian? development Who Creates Debian? free developing What Is Free Software? Social Contract What Is Free Software? Free Software What Is Free Software? Open Source What Is Free Software? packages mainenance utilities What a Package Maintenance | dpkg | dselect sofware development Software Development with Debian | Software Development with Debian Source code Viewing Text Files comparing to binary executables Viewing Text Files spaces typographical convention Conventions specifying time zone Configure the Base System splitting partitions Lossless Repartitioning Stallman, Richard M. Why Software Should be Free What Is Free Software? standard error stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and standard input stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and standard output stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and starting ae (text editor) Using ae jobs Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash X windows system Starting the X Environment startup boot process BIOS Booting the System query process Booting the System X windows system customizing Customizing Your X Startup states packages (dselect) Select | Select status jobs displaying Managing Processes with bash stdin no title stdout no title structure command line The Command Line and directories Files and Directories su command Working as Root subdirectories filename expansion patterns Filename Expansion | Filename Expansion submitting bug reports Troubleshooting the Boot Process superuser Working as Root | Working as Root home directory Files Present and Their superuser account Set the Root Password surface scanning hard disks Initialize and Activate a suspending jobs Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash swap partition Background initializing Initialize and Activate a | Initialize and Activate a swap partitions Recommended Partitioning Scheme | Recommended Partitioning Scheme Linux swap partition creating Partition a Hard Disk | Partition a Hard Disk symlinks Symbolic Links comparing to hard links Symbolic Links | Symbolic Links removing Symbolic Links syntax commands The Command Line and | Describing the Command Line | Describing the Command Line file searches Finding Files system binaries Files Present and Their system clock setting Configure the Base System system configuration Debian Installation Steps | Choosing Your Installation Media dbootstrap Step-by-Step Installation system-wide configuration System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration /etc directory Files Present and Their automatic filesystem mounting /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount | /etc/fstab: Automating the Mount networking Networking Ethernet Ethernet PPP PPP | Preparation | The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial packages selecting Select | Select | Select permissions file mode Mode | Mode | Mode file ownership File Ownership X windows system customizing Customizing Your X Startup system-wide configuratoin System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration Taper Backup Tools taper (backup utility) Backup Tools tar Backup Tools | no title tar (tape archiver tar tasks Select and Install Profiles | Select and Install Profiles tcsh The Shell technical support asking questions Personal Help | Tips for asking questions temporary files Files Present and Their Terminal A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating terminals A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating consoles A Multiuser, Multitasking Operating terminating jobs Managing Processes with bash | Managing Processes with bash testing installation smoke test The Moment of Truth text bold face typographical conventions Conventions fonts xterm, selecting Starting the X Environment italicized typographical conventions Conventions online manual paging Environment Variables output reversing stdin, stdout, Pipelines, and regular expressions Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions wildcards - Filename Expansion ? Filename Expansion file searches Finding Files filename expansion patterns Filename Expansion text editors Text Editors ae Using ae text files Working with Text Files | no title viewing Viewing Text Files time zone specifying Configure the Base System tools backups Backup Tools GNU tar tar FIPS Lossless Repartitioning | Lossless Repartitioning troubleshooting boot process Troubleshooting the Boot Process files naming conventions Working with Strangely-Named Files printing Printing X windows system Troubleshooting | X Problems type Where Commands Reside: The typing Bash commands wildcards Tab Completion command line Command History and Editing | Command History and Editing commands aliases Aliases modifier keys Conventions | Conventions shell commands First Steps wildcards ? Filename Expansion filename expansion pattern Filename Expansion typographical conventions Conventions | Conventions bold face Conventions italics Conventions modifier keys Conventions | Conventions spaces Conventions uncompressing files File Compression with gzip unmounting CD-ROMs Example: Mounting a CD-ROM Update screen (dselect) Update user accounts logging in First Steps | First Steps ordinary user Create an Ordinary User | Create an Ordinary User permission Permissions | Permissions permissions example session Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice | Permissions in Practice file ownership File Ownership | File Ownership mode Mode | Mode | Mode plans Managing Your Identity | Managing Your Identity root user Working as Root | Working as Root superuser Set the Root Password user-specific configuration System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration | System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration dotfiles System-Wide Versus User-Specific Configuration utilities archiving Backup Tools backup tools Backup Tools GNU tar tar dbootstrap network configuration Configure the Network dselect Select and Install Profiles | Introduction | Introduction Access screen Access multi-CD installation Access multi-NFS, multi-mount installation Access package states Select | Select packages, configuring Configure packages, installing Install | Install Update screen Update | Select | Select | Select | Select file manager Using a File Manager FIPS Lossless Repartitioning | Lossless Repartitioning GNU documentation viewer Using info | Using info gzip File Compression with gzip | File Compression with gzip package maintenance What a Package Maintenance | What a Package Maintenance deselect dselect dpkg dpkg system binaries Files Present and Their tasks Select and Install Profiles | Select and Install Profiles text editors Text Editors | Text Editors ae Using ae variables Environment Variables exporting Environment Variables shell exporting Environment Variables vi (text editor) Text Editors | Text Editors video cards support for Supported Hardware viewing directory contents Files Present and Their | Files Present and Their file contents Using Files: A Tutorial | Determining a File’s Contents files filename expansion pattern Filename Expansion Info help system Managing Processes with bash job status Managing Processes with bash mounted filesystems Example: Mounting a CD-ROM online manual Environment Variables text files Viewing Text Files Virtual Consoles no title | Virtual Consoles | Virtual Consoles virtual devices Device Files | /dev/null web sites Debian What Is Free Software? | Personal Help | Personal Help Free Software Foundation What Is Free Software? Multi Disk HOWTO Recommended Partitioning Scheme Web sites:video cards, support for Supported Hardware whoami command Working as Root Why Software Should be Free (Stallman, Richard M.) What Is Free Software? wildcards no title | Filename Expansion * Filename Expansion ? Filename Expansion Bash commands Tab Completion file searches Finding Files filename expansion pattens Filename Expansion regular expressions Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions | Regular Expressions window managers Introduction to X Windows partitioning Partitioning from DOS or | Lossless Repartitioning | Debian Installation Steps Work profile Planning Use of the workstations installation Information You Will Need write permission Mode writing disk images to floppies Creating Floppies from Disk | Creating Floppies from Disk to device files Device Files to named pipes Named Pipes (FIFOs) wvdial PPP configuration The Easy Way: wvdial | The Easy Way: wvdial X clients Introduction to X network transparency Introduction to X selecting Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup X servers Introduction to X X Window The X Window System | Introduction to X X windows system clients X Clients | X Clients selecting Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup customizing Customizing Your X Startup exiting Leaving the X Environment | Customizing Your X Startup | Customizing Your X Startup mouse operation The Mouse network transparency Introduction to X starting Starting the X Environment troubleshooting Troubleshooting | X Problems xdm Starting the X Environment X, troubleshooting no title xcoral (text editor) Text Editors xdm (X Display Manager) Starting the X Environment xterm font size, increasing Starting the X Environment fonts selecting Starting the X Environment xterms Starting the X Environment Zip Disks no title

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Debian GNU/Linux: Guide to Installation and Usage

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