From b76270bf9e6dd375e495fec92140a79a79415d27 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Patrick J Volkerding Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 08:58:23 +0000 Subject: Slackware 13.1 Wed May 19 08:58:23 UTC 2010 Slackware 13.1 x86_64 stable is released! Lots of thanks are due -- see the RELEASE_NOTES and the rest of the ChangeLog for credits. The ISOs are on their way to replication, a 6 CD-ROM 32-bit set and a dual-sided 32-bit/64-bit x86/x86_64 DVD. We are taking pre-orders now at store.slackware.com, and offering a discount if you sign up for a subscription. Consider picking up a copy to help support the project. Thanks again to the Slackware community for testing, contributing, and generally holding us to a high level of quality. :-) Enjoy! --- misc/slackbook/html/shell.html | 166 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 166 insertions(+) create mode 100644 misc/slackbook/html/shell.html (limited to 'misc/slackbook/html/shell.html') diff --git a/misc/slackbook/html/shell.html b/misc/slackbook/html/shell.html new file mode 100644 index 000000000..aa259c8c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/misc/slackbook/html/shell.html @@ -0,0 +1,166 @@ + + + + +The Shell + + + + + + + + +
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Slackware Linux Essentials
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Chapter 8 The Shell

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Table of Contents
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8.1 Users
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8.2 The Command Line
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8.3 The Bourne Again Shell (bash)
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8.4 Virtual Terminals
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In a graphical environment, the interface is provided by a program that creates +windows, scrollbars, menus, etc. In a commandline environment, the user interface is +provided by a shell, which interprets commands and generally makes things useable. +Immediately after logging in (which is covered in this chapter), users are put into a +shell and allowed to go about their business. This chapter serves as an introduction to +the shell, and to the most common shell among Linux users-- the Bourne Again Shell +(bash). For more detailed information on anything in this chapter, check out the bash(1) man page.

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8.1 Users

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8.1.1 Logging In

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So you've booted, and you're looking at something that looks like this:

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+Welcome to Linux 2.4.18
+Last login: Wed Jan   1 15:59:14 -0500 2005 on tty6.
+darkstar login:
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Hmm.. nobody said anything about a login. And what's a darkstar? Don't worry; you +probably didn't accidentally fire up a hyperspace comm-link to the Empire's artificial +moon. (I'm afraid the hyperspace comm-link protocol isn't currently supported by the +Linux kernel. Maybe the 2.8 kernel branch will at last provide this oft looked-for +support.) No, darkstar is just the name of one of our computers, and its name gets +stamped on as the default. If you specified a name for your computer during setup, you +should see it instead of darkstar.

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As for the login... If this is your first time, you'll want to log in as root. You'll be prompted for a password; if you set one during the +setup process, that's what it's looking for. If not, just hit enter. That's it-- you're +in!

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8.1.2 Root: The Superuser

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Okay, who or what is root? And what's it doing with an account on your system?

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Well, in the world of Unix and similar operating systems (like Linux), there are users +and then there are users. We'll go into this in more detail later, but the important +thing to know now is that root is the user above all users; root is all-powerful and all-knowing, and nobody disobeys root. It just isn't +allowed. root is what we call a “superuser”, and +rightly so. And best of all, root is you.

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Cool, huh?

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If you're not sure: yes, that's very cool. The catch is, though, that root is +inherently allowed to break anything it so desires. You might want to skip ahead to Section 12.1.1 and +see about adding a user; then login as that user and work from there. The traditional +wisdom is that it's best to only become the superuser when absolutely necessary, so as to +minimize the possibility of accidentally breaking something.

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By the way, if you decide you want to be root while you're logged in as someone else, +no problem. Just use the su(1) command. You'll be asked for root's password and then it will make you root until you exit or logout. You can also become any other user using su, provided you know that user's password: su +logan, for instance, would make you me.

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root is allowed to su to any user, without requiring their +password.

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