Free Unix and Linux Ebook

Practical UNIX & Internet Security

2009-12-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

By Simson Garfinkel & Gene Spafford

This book is divided into six parts; it includes 27 chapters and 7 appendixes.

Part I, Computer Security Basics, provides a basic introduction to security policy. The chapters are written to be accessible to both users and administrators. Chapter 1, Introduction, provides a history of the UNIX operating system and an introduction to UNIX security. It also introduces basic terms we use throughout the book. Chapter 2, Policies and Guidelines, examines the role of setting good policies to guide protection of your systems. It also describes the trade-offs that must be made to account for cost, risk, and corresponding benefits.

Part II, User Responsibilities, provides a basic introduction to UNIX host security. The chapters are written to be accessible to both users and administrators. Chapter 3 is about UNIX user accounts. It discusses the purpose of passwords, explains what makes good and bad passwords, and describes how the crypt( ) password encryption system works. Chapter 4, Users, Groups, and the Superuser, and the Superuser, describes how UNIX groups can be used to control access to files and devices. It also discusses the UNIX superuser and the role that special users play. Chapter 5, The UNIX Filesystem, discusses the security provisions of the UNIX filesystem and tells how to restrict access to files and directories to the file's owner, to a group of people, or to everybody on the computer system. Chapter 6, Cryptography, discusses the role of encryption and message digests in your security. It includes a discussion of several popular encryption schemes, including the PGP mail package

Part III, System Security, is directed primarily towards the UNIX system administrator. It describes how to configure UNIX on your computer to minimize the chances of a break-in, as well as to limit the opportunities for a nonprivileged user to gain superuser access. Chapter 7, Backups, discusses how and why to make archival backups of your storage. It includes discussions of backup strategies for different types of organizations. Chapter 8, Defending Your Accounts, describes ways that a computer cracker might try to initially break into your computer system. By knowing these "doors" and closing them, you increase the security of your system. Chapter 9, Integrity Management, discusses how to monitor your filesystem for unauthorized changes. This includes coverage of the use of message digests and read-only disks, and the configuration and use of the Tripwire utility. Chapter 10, Auditing and Logging, discusses the logging mechanisms that UNIX provides to help you audit the usage and behavior of your system. Chapter 11, Protecting Against Programmed Threats, is about computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. This chapter contains detailed tips that you can use to protect yourself from these electronic vermin. Chapter 12, Physical Security. What if somebody gets frustrated by your super-secure system and decides to smash your computer with a sledgehammer? This chapter describes physical perils that face your computer and its data and discusses ways of protecting them. Chapter 13, Personnel Security, examines concerns about who you employ and how they fit into your overall security scheme.

Part IV, Network and Internet Security, is about the ways in which individual UNIX computers communicate with one another and the outside world, and the ways that these systems can be subverted by attackers to break into your computer system. Because many attacks come from the outside, this part of the book is vital reading for anyone whose computer has outside connections. Chapter 14, Telephone Security, describes how modems work and provides step-by-step instructions for testing your computer's modems to see if they harbor potential security problems. Chapter 15, UUCP, is about the UNIX-to-UNIX copy system, which can use standard phone lines to copy files, transfer electronic mail, and exchange news. This chapter explains how UUCP works and tells you how to make sure that it can't be subverted to damage your system. Chapter 16, TCP/IP Networks, provides background on how TCP/IP networking programs work and describes the security problems they pose. Chapter 17, TCP/IP Services, discusses the common IP network services found on UNIX systems, coupled with common problems and pitfalls. Chapter 18, WWW Security, describes some of the issues involved in running a World Wide Web server without opening your system to security problems. The issues discussed here should also be borne in mind when operating any other kind of network-based information server. Chapter 19, RPC, NIS, NIS+, and Kerberos, discusses a variety of network information services. It covers some of how they work, and common pitfalls. Chapter 20, NFS, describes how Sun Microsystems' Network Filesystem works and its potential security problems.

Part V, Advanced Topics, discusses issues that arise when organizational networks are interconnected with the Internet. It also covers ways of increasing your security through better programming. Chapter 21, Firewalls, describes how to set up various types of firewalls to protect an internal network from an external attacker. Chapter 22, Wrappers and Proxies, describes a few common wrapper and proxying programs to help protect your machine and the programs within it without requiring access to source code. Chapter 23, Writing Secure SUID and Network Programs, describes common pitfalls when writing your own software. It gives tips on how to write robust software that will resist attack from malicious users.

Part VI, Handling Security Incidents, contains instructions about what to do if your computer's security is compromised. This part of the book will also help system administrators protect their systems from authorized users who are misusing their privileges. Chapter 24, Discovering a Break-in, contains step-by-step directions to follow if you discover that an unauthorized person is using your computer. Chapter 25, Denial of Service Attacks and Solutions, describes ways that legitimate, authorized users can make your system inoperable, ways that you can find out who is doing what, and what to do about it. Chapter 26, Computer Security and U.S. Law. Occasionally the only thing you can do is sue or try to have your attackers thrown into jail. This chapter describes the legal recourse you may have after a security breach and discusses why legal approaches are often not helpful. It also covers some emerging concerns about running server sites connected to a wide area network such as the Internet. Chapter 27, Who Do You Trust?, is the concluding chapter that makes the point that somewhere along the line, you need to trust a few things, and people. However, are you trusting the right ones?

Part VII, Appendixes, contains a number of useful lists and references. Appendix A, UNIX Security Checklist, contains a point-by-point list of many of the suggestions made in the text of the book. Appendix B, Important Files, is a list of the important files in the UNIX filesystem and a brief discussion of their security implications. Appendix C, UNIX Processes, is a technical discussion of how the UNIX system manages processes. It also describes some of the special attributes of processes, including the UID, GID, and SUID. Appendix D lists books, articles, and magazines about computer security. Appendix E, Electronic Resources, is a brief listing of some significant security tools to use with UNIX, including directions on where to find them on the Internet. Appendix F, Organizations, contains the names, telephone numbers, and addresses of organizations that are devoted to seeing computers become more secure. Appendix G, Table of IP Services, lists all of the common TCP/IP protocols, along with their port numbers and suggested handling by a firewall.

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Linux Cluster HOWTO

2009-11-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

Linux Cluster HOWTO is written by Ram Samudrala. This document describes how we set up our Linux computing clusters for high-performance computing which we need for our research.

Unlike other documentation that talks about setting up clusters in a general way, this is a specific description of how our lab is setup and includes not only details the compute aspects, but also the desktop, laptop, and public server aspects.

Following are the topic covered in this Linux cluster documentation.

Hardware: Node hardware, Server hardware, Desktop and terminal hardware, Miscellaneous/accessory hardware, Putting-it-all-together hardware, Costs
Software: Operating system: Linux, of course, Networking software, Parallel processing software, Costs
Set up, configuration, and maintenance: Disk configuration, Linux Package configuration, Linux Operating system installation and maintenance, Known hardware issues, Known software issues
Performing tasks on the Linux cluster: Rough benchmarks, Uptimes

Linux Kernel Development

2009-11-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

Linux Kernel Development is written by Greg Kroah-Hartman, Jonathan Corbet and Amanda McPherson. This linux ebook explains you about linux kernel development, how fast it is going, who is doing kernel developments, why they are doing and who is sponsoring it, etc.

The kernel which forms the core of the Linux system is the result of one of the largest cooperative software projects ever attempted. Regular 2-3 month releases deliver stable updates to Linux users, each with significant new features, added device support, and improved performance. The rate of change in the kernel is high and increasing, with over 10,000 patches going into each recent kernel release. These releases each contain the work of over 1000 developers representing around 200 corporations.

Since 2005, over 5000 individual developers from nearly 500 different companies have contributed to the kernel. The Linux kernel, thus, has become a common resource developed on a massive scale by companies which are fierce competitors in other areas.

A number of changes have been noted since this paper was first published in 2008:

We have seen a roughly 10% increase in the number of developers contributing to each kernel release cycle.
The rate of change has increased significantly; the number of lines of code added to the kernel
each day has nearly tripled.
The kernel code base has grown by over 2.7 million lines
The overall picture shows a robust development community which continues to grow both in size and in productivity.

Introduction
The Linux kernel is the lowest level of software running on a Linux system. It is charged with managing the hardware, running user programs, and maintaining the overall security and integrity of the whole system. It is this kernel which, after its initial release by Linus Torvalds in 1991, jump-started the development of Linux as a whole. The kernel is a relatively small part of the software on a full Linux system (many other large components come from the GNU project, the GNOME and KDE desktop projects, the X.org project, and many other sources), but it is the core which determines how well the system will work and is the piece which is truly unique to Linux.

Introduction to Linux : A Hands on Guide

2009-11-26T10:51:00.000-08:00

Introduction to Linux : A hands on Guide is written by Machtelt Garrels. This linux ebook covers linux history, properties of linux, linux absolute basics, linux files and file system, linux file security, linux partitions, linux processes, I/O redirection, Linux text editors, X window system, linux shell environment, linux graphics, linux printing, linux backup techniques, linux networking, network security, sound and video, and more.

Why this guide?
Many people still believe that learning Linux is difficult, or that only experts can understand how a Linux system works. Though there is a lot of free documentation available, the documentation is widely scattered on the Web, and often confusing, since it is usually oriented toward experienced UNIX or Linux users. Today, thanks to the advancements in development, Linux has grown in popularity both at home and at work. The goal of this guide is to show people of all ages that Linux can be simple and fun, and used for all kinds of purposes.

Who should read this book?
This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter. For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. We hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own. Everybody who wants to get a "CLUE", a Command Line User Experience, with Linux (and UNIX in general) will find this book useful.

Oracle Unbreakable Linux FAQ

2009-11-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

Following are the linux faq covered in this oracle unbreakable linux article.

What is Oracle Unbreakable Linux?
What does Oracle deliver with Unbreakable Linux support?
Who can take advantage of Oracle’s Linux support?
How can Oracle provide enterprise-quality support for Linux while lowering cost?
Why is Oracle offering Linux support?
How does Oracle work with the Linux community?
Does Oracle run its business and product development on Linux?
How much do I pay for Linux support from Oracle?
Does Oracle indemnify users against intellectual property infringement claims?
Is Oracle taking Red Hat’s source code?
What happens to third party application certification if I start using Oracle’s Linux Support?
What happens if Red Hat does not take Oracle's patches in their release?
Which hardware platforms does Oracle support?
How can I find out which third party providers have endorsed Oracle?
What is the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN)?
How can users manage their Linux servers once they download patches from ULN?
Is cluster software included with Unbreakable Linux support?
How does Oracle support Linux x86, Linux x86-64, and Linux Itanium architectures?
What Red Hat code does Oracle Enterprise Linux offer – AS, ES or WS?
Does Oracle provide support for Red Hat Global File System (GFS), Red Hat Cluster Suite (RHCS), or Red Hat Application Server (RHAS)?
What is the transition path for existing Red Hat and Novell Linux users?
When switching to Unbreakable Linux support for my current Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations, am I required to remove any Red Hat logos or other Red Hat files from my system?
Will Oracle continue to support other operating systems?
Will Oracle continue to support customers that are using Oracle products on Red Hat RHEL, Novell SLES,and Asianux?
How do I get more information and purchase Linux support from Oracle?

Electronic Guide to ARMLinux for Developers - the book online

2008-12-27T03:40:00.000-08:00

By aleph1.co.uk

Preface
We hope you find this book useful. If you have bought it along with another Aleph One Product such as the LART development kit, or Aleph ARMLinux, then please take the time to read it so that you know what you have, where to start, how to install, and where to turn if you have problems.

Introduction
This book tries to cover a range of hardware and aspects of ARMLinux. It assumes that you are at least a competent computer user, more likely an experienced developer, but perhaps not very familiar with GNU/Linux or the ARM and its development platforms.

There are many things that are specific to different items of hardware, and many things that are common across various devices. We have tried to avoid too much repetition, but we have also tried to make the text reasonably linear in the hardware chapters. This is inevitably a compromise. In general you should find that reading through the relevant hardware chapter will get you going, but will not go into much depth about why you are doing things and what other options there might be at each stage. We refer to other chapters that have more details on each aspect (using JFlash, patching the kernel, etc) throughout these texts. If you have feedback on the book we'd be very happy to have it, so as to improve future versions - see Chapter 13.

In a fast-moving field like this, this book will always be a work-in-progress. We give the current state of the art at the time of writing, but recognise that this will soon change. Thus we try to provide links to the places online where you can get the latest info. When you find things that are out of date, of just plain wrong, please tell us.

There will be future editions covering more devices and more subject areas. Things that will definately be in the next release are coverage of porting the kernel to a new ARM device, more information for developers using a Windows host PC rather than a Linux one, and more on debugging and simulation techniques....

Advanced Introduction to UNIX/linux

2006-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

by Claude Cantin

The UNIX operating system has a number of ways to process a number of programs for the same user, simultaneously. Programs can be run in the background, they can be run by cron, they can be run at a specific time using at, they can be run in the background without interruption on logout, or they can simply be run in the foreground, as an interactive job.

This chapter describes ways of running programs in some kind of batch process.

&: Background

Programs can be sent to the background to be processed, while the user keeps doing interactive work in the foreground. Sending a job to the background is done by ending the command line with an ampersand (&).

When a job is sent to the background, the prompt immediately reappears, allowing the user to continue work in the foreground. At completion of the background job, a message will be displayed, announcing termination of the process.

NOTE: before leaving UNIX, all jobs running in the background mode should be allowed to complete; if the terminal used was connected to a serial port of the UNIX system and background jobs were still running, attempting to leave UNIX would potentially hang the port and stop other users from using it!!

If jobs are to be allowed to continue running upon exiting the interactive UNIX session, then the batch command should have been used instead of the & function.

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Unix for Advanced Users

2006-12-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

Unix Workstation Support Group

Indiana University

http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/

These are notes to be used in conjunction with the "Unix for Advanced Users" course offered by the Unix Workstation Support Group at Indiana University. If you are interested in taking this class, please visit our registration page.

Introduction

Unix today is a mature operating system, and is used heavily in a large variety of scientific, engineering, and mission critical applications. Interest in Unix has grown substantially in recent years because of the proliferation of the Linux (a Unix look-alike) operating system. This section briefly describes the history of Unix, why it is considered a good operating environment, and the marriage between Unix and C.

History of Unix
The Unix operating system found its beginnings in MULTICS ( Multiplexed Operating and Computing System). The MULTICS project began in the mid 1960s as a joint effort by General Electric, Massachusetts Institute for Technology and Bell Laboratories. In 1969 Bell Laboratories pulled out of the project.

One of Bell Laboratories people involved in the project was Ken Thompson. He liked the potential MULTICS had, but felt it was too complex and that the same thing could be done in simpler way. In 1969 he wrote the first version of Unix, called UNICS. UNICS stood for Uniplexed Operating and Computing System. Although the operating system has changed, the name stuck and was eventually shortened to Unix.

Ken Thompson teamed up with Dennis Ritchie, who wrote the first C compiler. In 1973 they rewrote the Unix kernel in C. The following year a version of Unix known as the Fifth Edition was first licensed to universities. The Seventh Edition, released in 1978, served as a dividing point for two divergent lines of Unix development. These two branches are known as SVR4 (System V) and BSD.

Ken Thompson spent a year's sabbatical with the University of California at Berkeley. While there he and two graduate students, Bill Joy and Chuck Haley, wrote the first Berkely version of Unix, which was distributed to students. This resulted in the source code being worked on and developed by many different people. The Berkeley version of Unix is known as BSD, Berkeley Software Distribution. From BSD came the vi editor, C shell, virtual memory, Sendmail, and support for TCP/IP.

For several years SVR4 was the more conservative, commercial, and well supported. Today SVR4 and BSD look very much alike. Probably the biggest cosmetic difference between them is the way the ps command functions.

The Linux operating system was developed as a Unix look alike and borrows from both BSD and SVR4.

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The UNIX/Linux Operating System Networking/Internet

2006-12-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

by Claude Cantin

Connecting to UNIX/Linux from MS Windows-based Systems

Although these course notes are for UNIX/Linux, many people use PCs running a Microsoft-based operating system such as Windows 95/98/2000/NT to access their UNIX/Linux servers. Traditionally they have relied on "stock" programs like telnet and ftp to access their systems. They have also used tools like Eudora or Outlook to read their UNIX mail.

Since the spring of 2001, all communication done with UNIX/Linux must be done through a secure channel. Between UNIX/Linux systems, that secure channel is created when using ssh and scp.

The Research Computing Support Group (RCSG) has put together a series of tools people can install on their PCs, to access the UNIX/Linux systems both within NRC, and from the NRC dial-up access.

The tools covered include putty and WinSCP:

putty is a SSH-based telnet-like client. It allows for secure communication between Windows and UNIX/linux, much the same way ssh does on the UNIX/linux platforms.
It has a wide range of configuration for fonts, colours, behaviour. If you run X on your PC, putty allows the tunnelling of X applications (option must be enabled within putty).
Its basic installation requirement is the download of one executable .exe file, but the full package includes command and batch capable utilities.
WinSCP is the UNIX/linux equivalent of scp. Graphical-based, it allows for the safe/encrypted transfer of files to/from Windows and UNIX/linux platforms.

More details about those tools, as well as downloadeable modules may be found at http://www.nrc.ca/imsb/rcsg/ras/ssh-clients.html

That web page also explains how GUI-based PC FTP tools, how mail tools like Eudora and Outlook, may be safely used, through the secure channel created by SSH.

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UNIX and Linux sed

2006-12-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

This tutorial is meant as a brief introductory guide to sed that will help give the beginner a solid foundation regarding how sed works. It's worth noting that the tutorial also omits several commands, and will not bring you to sed enlightenment in itself. To reach sed enlightenment, your best bet is to follow the seders mailing list. to do that , send email to Al Aab

Prerequisites

It is assumed that the reader is familiar with regular expressions. If this is not the case, read the grep tutorial which includes information on regular expressions. On this page, we just give a brief revision.

Sed regular expressions

The sed regular expressions are essentially the same as the grep regular expressions. They are summarized below.

^ matches the beginning of the line

$ matches the end of the line

. Matches any single character

For Sed - An Introduction and Tutorial by Bruce Barnett

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Awk by example, Part 2

2006-12-14T03:18:00.000-08:00

By Daniel Robbins

In this sequel to his previous intro to awk, Daniel Robbins continues to explore awk, a great language with a strange name. Daniel will show you how to handle multi-line records, use looping constructs, and create and use awk arrays. By the end of this article, you'll be well versed in a wide range of awk features, and you'll be ready to write your own powerful awk scripts.

Multi-line records

Awk is an excellent tool for reading in and processing structured data, such as the system's /etc/passwd file. /etc/passwd is the UNIX user database, and is a colon-delimited text file, containing a lot of important information, including all existing user accounts and user IDs, among other things. In my previous article, I showed you how awk could easily parse this file. All we had to do was to set the FS (field separator) variable to ":".

By setting the FS variable correctly, awk can be configured to parse almost any kind of structured data, as long as there is one record per line. However, just setting FS won't do us any good if we want to parse a record that exists over multiple lines. In these situations, we also need to modify the RS record separator variable. The RS variable tells awk when the current record ends and a new record begins.

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Awk by example, Part 3

2006-12-14T03:22:00.000-08:00

String functions and ... checkbooks

By Daniel Robbins

In this conclusion to the awk series, Daniel introduces you to awk's important string functions, and then shows you how to write a complete checkbook-balancing program from scratch. Along the way, you'll learn how to write your own functions and use awk's multidimensional arrays. By the end of this article, you'll have even more awk experience, allowing you to create more powerful scripts.

Formatting output
While awk's print statement does do the job most of the time, sometimes more is needed. For those times, awk offers two good old friends called printf() and sprintf(). Yes, these functions, like so many other awk parts, are identical to their C counterparts. printf() will print a formatted string to stdout, while sprintf() returns a formatted string that can be assigned to a variable. If you're not familiar with printf() and sprintf(), an introductory C text will quickly get you up to speed on these two essential printing functions. You can view the printf() man page by typing "man 3 printf" on your Linux system.

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Gawk

2006-12-14T03:26:00.000-08:00

By Paul Rubin and Jay Fenlason

Gawk is the GNU Project's implementation of the AWK programming language. It conforms to the definition of the language in the POSIX 1003.2 Command Language And Utilities Standard. This version in turn is based on the description in The AWK Programming Language, by Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger, with the additional features found in the System V Release 4 version of UNIX awk. Gawk also provides more recent Bell Laboratories awk extensions, and a number of GNU-specific extensions.

Pgawk is the profiling version of gawk. It is identical in every way to gawk, except that programs run more slowly, and it automatically produces an execution profile in the file awkprof.out when done. See the --profile option, below.

The command line consists of options to gawk itself, the AWK program text (if not supplied via the -f or --file options), and values to be made available in the ARGC and ARGV pre-defined AWK variables.

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Getting started with awk

2006-12-14T03:37:00.000-08:00

HMC Computer Science Department

This qref is written for a semi-knowledgable UNIX user who has just come up against a problem and has been advised to use awk to solve it. Perhaps one of the examples can be quickly modified for immediate use.

awk reads from a file or from its standard input, and outputs to its standard output. You will generally want to redirect that into a file, but that is not done in these examples just because it takes up space. awk does not get along with non-text files, like executables and FrameMaker files. If you need to edit those, use a binary editor like hexl-mode in emacs.

The most frustrating thing about trying to learn awk is getting your program past the shell's parser. The proper way is to use single quotes around the program, like so:

>awk '{print $0}' filename

The single quotes protect almost everything from the shell. In csh or tcsh, you still have to watch out for exclamation marks, but other than that, you're safe.

The second most frustrating thing about trying to learn awk is the lovely error messages:

awk '{print $0,}' filename
awk: syntax error near line 1
awk: illegal statement near line 1

gawk generally has better error messages. At least it tells you where in the line something went wrong:

gawk '{print $0,}' filename
gawk: cmd. line:1: {print $0,}
gawk: cmd. line:1: ^ parse error

So, if you're having problems getting awk syntax correct, switch to gawk for a while.

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An Introduction to the UNIX Make Utility

2006-12-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

mtsu.edu

This paper is a short introduction to the UNIX make utility. The intended audience is computer science students at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) of intermediate ability level, if you're taking CSCI 217 this paper will be of use to you. Although make can be used in conjunction with most programming languages all examples given here use C++ as this is the most common programming language used at MTSU. It is assumed that you have a good understanding of a C++ compiler. As an introduction this paper intends to teach the reader how to use the most common features of make. A more comprehensive guide may be found by examining the list of references provided.

Layout guide
Throughout the paper various text styles will be used to add meaning and focus on key points. All references to the make utility, file names and any sample output use the fixed font style, i.e. fixed font example. If the example is prefixed with a percent character ( % ) it is a UNIX C-shell command line. Words that are key to make terminology are highlighted in bold when they occur for the first time.

Overview
The make utility is a software engineering tool for managing and maintaining computer programs. Make provides most help when the program consists of many component files. As the number of files in the program increases so to does the compile time, complexity of compilation command and the likelihood of human error when entering command lines, i.e. typos and missing file names.

By creating a descriptor file containing dependency rules, macros and suffix rules, you can instruct make to automatically rebuild your program whenever one of the program's component files is modified. Make is smart enough to only recompile the files that were affected by changes thus saving compile time.

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Introduction to make

2006-12-14T03:55:00.000-08:00

nersc.gov

The UNIX make utility facilitates the creation and maintenance of executable programs from source code. This tutorial will introduce the simple usage of the make utility with the goal of building an executable program from a series of source code files.

The UNIX make utility facilitates the creation and maintenance of executable programs from source code. make keeps track of the commands needed to build the code and when changes are made to a source file, recompiles only the necessary files. make creates and updates programs with a minimum of effort.

A small initial investment of time is needed to set up make for a given software project, but afterward, recompiling and linking is done consistently and quickly by typing one command: make, instead of issuing many complicated command lines that invoke the compiler and linker.
This tutorial will introduce the simple usage of the make utility with the goal of building an executable program from a series of source code files. Most of the varied, subtle, and complex features of make are the subject of entire books and are not covered here. See the NERSC UNIX Resources page for more information.

This tutorial assumes that you have some familiarity with UNIX, text editors and compiling programs from source code.

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Vim Cookbook

2006-12-14T04:18:00.000-08:00

by Steve Oualline

This is the Vim cookbook page. It contains short recipes for doing many simple and not so simple things in Vim. You should already know the basics of Vim, however each command is explained in detail.

Each set of instructions is a complete package. Feel free to pick and choose what you need.

Character twiddling
If you type fast your fingers can easily get ahead of your mind. Frequently people transpose characters. For example the word "the" comes out "teh".

To swap two characters, for example "e" with "h", put the cursor on the cursor on the "e" and type xp.

The "x" command deletes a character (the "e") and the "p" pastes it after the cursor (which is now placed over the "h".)

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Gtk2-Perl Tutorial

2006-12-14T04:49:00.000-08:00

GTK2-Perl is the collective name for a set of perl bindings for GTK+ 2.x and various related libraries. These modules make it easy to write Gtk and Gnome applications using a natural, perlish, object-oriented syntax.

GTK+ is a GUI toolkit for developing graphical applications that run on POSIX systems such as Linux, Windows and MacOS X (provided that an X server for MacOS X has been installed). It provides a comprehensive set of widgets, and supports Unicode and bidirectional text. It links into the Gnome Accessibility Framework through the ATK library.

Perl is a stable, multi-platform programming language, used throughout the entire Internet and in many mission-critical environments.

GTK2-Perl is part of the official GNOME Platform Bindings

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Motif Programming

2006-12-14T05:14:00.000-08:00

By A. D. Marshall

This book introduces the fundamentals of Motif programming and addreses wider issues concerning the X Window system. The aim of this book is to provide a practical introduction to writing Motif programs. The key principles of Motif programming are always supported by example programs.

The X Window system is very large and this book does not attempt to detail every aspect of either X or Motif. This book is not intended to be a complete reference on the subject.

The book is organised into logical parts, it begins by introducing the X Window system and Motif and goes on to study individual components in detail in specific Chapters. In the remainder of this Chapter we concentrate on why Motif and related areas are important and give a brief history of the development of Motif.

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XLib Manual

2006-12-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

by The Labs.Com

The X Window System is a network-transparent window system that was designed at MIT. X display servers run on computers with either monochrome or color bitmap display hardware. The server distributes user input to and accepts output requests from various client programs located either on the same machine or elsewhere in the network. Xlib is a C subroutine library that application programs (clients) use to interface with the window system by means of a stream connection. Although a client usually runs on the same machine as the X server it is talking to, this need not be the case.

Xlib --- C Language X Interface is a reference guide to the low-level C language interface to the X Window System protocol. It is neither a tutorial nor a user's guide to programming the X Window System. Rather, it provides a detailed description of each function in the library as well as a discussion of the related background information. Xlib --- C Language X Interface assumes a basic understanding of a graphics window system and of the C programming language. Other higher-level abstractions (for example, those provided by the toolkits for X) are built on top of the Xlib library. For further information about these higher-level libraries, see the appropriate toolkit documentation. The X Window System Protocol provides the definitive word on the behavior of X. Although additional information appears here, the protocol document is the ruling document.

To provide an introduction to X programming, this chapter discusses:

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Programming Linux Games

2006-12-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

Loki Software, Inc.

with John R. Hall

This book is for anyone who wants to learn how to write games for Linux. I assume that you know the basics of working with Linux; if you know enough to start X, open a terminal, copy les around, and re up a text editor, you're good to go. I also assume that you have a reasonable grasp of the C programming language. Flip through the book and see if you can decipher the syntax of the examples. We'll go through all of the necessary library calls, so don't worry if you see a bunch of unfamiliar function names, but you should be able to understand the majority of the actual code. No prior experience with multimedia programming is assumed, so don't worry if you've never had the perverse pleasure of hacking a graphics register or shoving a pixel into memory.
Programming Linux Games

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Linux Configuration and Installation

2006-12-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

By Patrick Volkerding, Kevin Reichard and Eric Foster

Welcome to the Linux operating system and the third edition of Linux Installation and Configuration! Whether you are looking for a version of UNIX that you can run on an inexpensive PC or are just totally disgusted with the antics of Microsoft et al. when it comes to operating systems, we think you’ll get a lot out of this book.

In these pages, you’ll be guided through a Linux installation and configuration process from beginning to end. You’ll also learn about the many unique tools offered by the Linux operating system, as well how to use these tools in a variety of situations.
LINUX® Configuration and Installation

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Slackware Linux Essentials

2006-12-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

By David Cantrell, Logan Johnson and Chris Lumens

The Slackware Linux operating system is a powerful platform for Intel-based computers. It is designed to be stable, secure, and functional as both a high-end server and powerful workstation.

This book is designed to get you started with the Slackware Linux operating system. It's not meant to cover every single aspect of the distribution, but rather to show what it's capable of and give you a basic working knowledge of the system.

As you gain experience with Slackware Linux, we hope you find this book to be a handy reference. We also hope you'll lend it to all of your friends when they come asking about “that cool Slackware Linux operating system you're running”.

While this book may not an edge-of-your-seat novel, we certainly tried to make it as entertaining as possible. With any luck, we'll get a movie deal. Of course, we also hope you are able to learn from it and find it useful.

And now, on with the show.

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Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) Version 3.0.0

2006-12-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

This study guide will help you to prepare for Linux/Unix Exam RH300, Red Hat Certified Engineer. Exam topics include Hardware and installation, configuration and Administration, Kernel Services, Networking Services, X window System, Security, Routers, Firewalls, Clusters and Troubleshooting. The exam has three components: Debug (2.5 hrs), Multiple Choice (1 hr) and server install and network services setup (2.5 ).

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100 Linux Tips and Tricks

2007-01-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

by Patrick Lambert

This book was written for anyone using Linux, from new users to experts who want to explore this wonderful operating system. The tips and tricks in this book were discovered by myself over years of experience using Linux, and learning about it. Some are very basic tips to make your computing life easier, others are advanced tricks that can save you days of work.

I tried to cover all distributions of Linux in this book. I personaly use Slackware and RedHat on PC systems. If you find any error in the book, feel free to contact me so a future second edition could correct them.

This book is divided into 5 chapters. Each chapter covers a specific topic:

Chapter 2 covers installation of Linux. These are tips and tricks useful when installing Linux itself or any new program. Some tips will cover new means of installing Linux on non-typical hardware, others will explain how to take Linux distributions from an FTP server and make your own CD-ROM with them, or where to find Linux CD-ROMs for as little as $2.
Chapter 3 covers hardware related matters. You will learn tips there on how to get your non-PostScript compatible printer to work, or how to get a sound card detected.
Chapter 4 covers software. You will find tips there about all kinds of Linux software, including where to find and how to install the Java Development Kit port, and everything about the Pine mail and news program.
Chapter 5 covers networking in all its forms. There you will see how to setup a PPP connection quickly, without editing all of the configuration files yourself, as well as some nice programs that were made to ease dialup procedures. You will also see tricks on how to make your local LAN network without unexpected problems.
Chapter 6 is the last chapter but covers an important part of Linux: development. Here you will find a lot of tips on how to write powerful scripts to make your system easier to handle, and a full overview of what to do and what you don't want to do in C to avoid problems like memory leaks, and how to allow easy scalability.

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