Linux in a Nutshell, 5/e

Description:

Over the last few years, Linux has grown both as an operating system and a tool for personal and business use. Simultaneously becoming more user friendly and more powerful as a back-end system, Linux has achieved new plateaus: the newer filesystems have solidified, new commands and tools have appeared and become standard, and the desktop--including new desktop environments--have proved to be viable, stable, and readily accessible to even those who don't consider themselves computer gurus.

Whether you're using Linux for personal software projects, for a small office or home office (often termed the SOHO environment), to provide services to a small group of colleagues, or to administer a site responsible for millions of email and web connections each day, you need quick access to information on a wide range of tools. This book covers all aspects of administering and making effective use of Linux systems. Among its topics are booting, package management, and revision control. But foremost in Linux in a Nutshell are the utilities and commands that make Linux one of the most powerful and flexible systems available.

Now in its fifth edition, Linux in a Nutshell brings users up-to-date with the current state of Linux. Considered by many to be the most complete and authoritative command reference for Linux available, the book covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions.

Comprehensive but concise, the fifth edition has been updated to cover new features of major Linux distributions. Configuration information for the rapidly growing commercial network services and community update services is one of the subjects covered for the first time.

But that's just the beginning. The book covers editors, shells, and LILO and GRUB boot options. There's also coverage of Apache, Samba, Postfix, sendmail, CVS, Subversion, Emacs, vi, sed, gawk, and much more. Everything that system administrators, developers, and power users need to know about Linux is referenced here, and they will turn to this book again and again.

 

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1

Preface

1. Introduction

     The Excitement of Linux

     Distribution and Support
     Commands on Linux

     What This Book Offers

     Sources and Licenses

     Beginner's Guide

2. System and Network Administration Overview

     Common Commands

     Overview of Networking

     Overview of TCP/IP

     Overview of Firewalls and Masquerading
     Overview of NFS

     Overview of NIS

     Administering NIS

     RPC and XDR

3. Linux Commands

     Alphabetical Summary of Commands

4. Boot Methods

     The Boot Process

     LILO: The Linux Loader

     GRUB: The Grand Unified Bootloader

     GRUB Commands

     Dual-Booting Linux and Windows NT/2000/XP

     Boot-Time Kernel Options

     initrd: Using a RAM Disk

5. Package Management

     The Red Hat Package Manager

     Yum: Yellowdog Updater Modified

     up2date: Red Hat Update Agent

     The Debian Package Manager

6. The Bash Shell and Korn Shell

     Overview of Features

     Invoking the Shell

     Syntax

     Functions

     Variables

     Arithmetic Expressions

     Command History

     Job Control

     Command Execution

     Restricted Shells

     Built-in Commands (Bash and Korn Shells)

7. Pattern Matching

     Filenames Versus Patterns

     Metacharacters

     Metacharacters, Listed by Program

     Examples of Searching

8. The Emacs Editor

     Conceptual Overview

     Command-Line Syntax

     Summary of Commands by Group

     Summary of Commands by Key

     Summary of Commands by Name

9. The vi, ex, and vim Editors

     Conceptual Overview

     Command-Line Syntax

     Review of vi Operations

     vi Commands

     vi Configuration

     ex Basics

     Alphabetical Summary of ex Commands

10. The sed Editor

     Conceptual Overview

     Command-Line Syntax

     Syntax of sed Commands

     Group Summary of sed Commands

     Alphabetical Summary of sed Commands

11. The gawk Programming Language

     Conceptual Overview

     Command-Line Syntax

     Patterns and Procedures

     Built-in Variables

     Operators

     Variable and Array Assignment

     User-Defined Functions

     Gawk-specific Features

     Implementation Limits

     Group Listing of awk Functions and Commands

     Alphabetical Summary of awk Functions and Commands

     Source Code

12. Source Code Management: An Overview

     Introduction and Terminology

     Usage Models

     Source Code Management Systems

     Other Source Code Management Systems

13. The Concurrent Versions System (CVS)

     Conceptual Overview

     Command-Line Syntax and Options

     Dot Files

     Environment Variables

     Keywords and Keyword Modes

     Dates

     CVSROOT Variables

     Alphabetical Summary of Commands

14. The Subversion Version Control System

     Conceptual Overview

     Obtaining Subversion

     Using Subversion: A Quick Tour

     The Subversion Command Line Client: svn

     Repository Administration: svnadmin

     Examining the Repository: svnlook

     Providing Remote Access: svnserve

     Other Subversion Components

Index