Linux basics

25 ottobre 2018 1
Summary

 What is Linux?
 Linux basics
 Using Linux
What is Linux?

 A fully-networked 32/64-bit Unix-

like operating system
► UnixTools Like sed, awk, and grep
► Compilers Like C, C++, Fortran, Smalltalk
► Network Tools Like telnet, ftp, ping

 Multi-user, Multitasking,
Multiprocessor
 It can have the X Windows GUI
 Includes the Source Code
What is Linux?

 Where did it come from?

► Linus Torvalds created it with assistance
from programmers around the world
► First posted on Internet in 1991
► Linux 1.0 in 1994; 2.2 in 1999
► Today used on 7-10 million computers
► Open source: thousands of programmers
working to enhance it
What is Linux?

 How do you get it?

► Download it from the internet
► From a “Distribution” (e.g. RedHat, Debian,
Backtrack)
• Linux kernel
• X Windows system and GUI
• Web, e-mail, FTP servers
• Installation and configuration support
• 3rd party apps
• Hardware support
What is Linux?

 Why is it significant?
► Growing popularity
► Powerful
• Includes a large number of network/hacking
tools
► It's “free”
• Licensed under GPL
• Vendors are distributors who package Linux
Linux basics
 Users and groups
► Users are identified by user identifications
(UIDs), each of which is associated with an
integer in the range of 0 to 4.294.967.295
(hex FFFFFFFF). Users with UID=0 are
given superuser privileges
► Users are placed in groups, identified by
group identifications (GIDs). Each GID is
associated with an integer in the range
from 0 to 4.294.967.295
► Use id to display your user and group
information
Linux basics

 Users and groups

► Groups define functional
areas/responsibilities
► They allow a collection of users to share
files
► A user can belong to multiple groups
► You can see what groups you belong to
using the groups command
Linux basics

 The Linux system

User commands
Shell
Kernel File Systems
Device Drivers
Hardware
Linux basics

 The Linux system

► User commands include executable
programs and scripts
► The shell interprets user commands. It is
responsible for finding the commands and
starting their execution. Several different
shells are available. Bash is popular
► The kernel manages the hardware
resources for the rest of the system
Linux basics

 The Linux file system

Linux basics

 The Linux file system

► Linux files are stored in a single rooted,
hierarchical file system
• Data files are stored in directories (folders)
• Directories may be nested as deep as needed
• Directories can be mount points where to attach
a different file system, either local or remote
Linux basics

 The Linux file system

► Naming files
• Files are named by naming each containing
directory starting at the root ( / )
• This is known as the pathname
• e.g. /etc/passwd
► One directory is designated as the current
working directory
• if you omit the leading / then path name is
relative to the current working directory
• Use pwd to find out where you are in the file-
system
Linux basics

 The Linux file system

► Some file names are special
• / the root directory (not to be confused with the
root user)
• . the current directory
• .. the parent (previous) directory
• ~ my home directory
► Examples
• ./a same as a
• ../jane/x go up one level then look in
directory jane for file x
Linux basics

 The Linux file system

► Special files (continued)
• /etc/passwd contains all users and
passwords, if /etc/shadow is not used
(must be readable by everyone)
• /etc/shadow contains all users and
passwords in newer distributions
(only root users can read it)
Linux basics

 The Linux file system

► Special directories
• /home all users' home directories are stored
here
• /bin /usr/bin system commands
• /sbin /usr/sbin commands used by
sysadmins
• /etc all sorts of configuration files
• /var logs, spool directories etc.
• /dev device files
• /proc special system files
Linux basics

 Shells
► An interface between the Linux system and
the user
► Used to call programs and commands
► An interpreter
► Powerful programming language
• Shell scripts
► Many available
• bsh, ksh, csh, bash, tcsh
Linux basics

 Another definition of a shell

►A shell is any program that takes input from
the user, translates it into instructions that
the operating system can understand, and
conveys the operating system's output
back to the user
• i.e. Any user interface
• Character Based vs Graphics Based
Linux basics

 Shell is not an integral part of OS

► UNIX among first to separate
► GUI is not required
• Servers usually do not have a graphic GUI
► Default shell can be configured
Linux basics

 Environment variables
► Environment variables are global settings
that control the function of the shell and
other Linux programs. They are sometimes
referred to global shell variables.
► Examples:
• VAR=/home/fred/doc
• export TERM=ansi
• SYSTEMNAME=`uname -n`
Linux basics

 Using environment Variables

► echo $VAR
► cd $VAR
► cd $HOME
► echo “Running on $SYSTEMNAME”

 Displaying
► set
► export

 Vars can be retrieved by scripts or

programs
Linux basics

 Some important Environment

variables
► HOME
• Your home directory (often abbreviated as “~”)
► TERM
• The type of terminal you are running (for
example vt100, xterm, and ansi)
► PWD
• Current working directory
► PATH
• List of directories to search for commands
Linux basics

 PATH environment variable

► Controls where commands are found
• PATH is a list of directory pathnames separated
by colons. For example:
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/
usr/local/bin:/home/scully/bin
• If a command does not contain a slash, the
shell tries finding the command in each
directory in PATH. The first match is the
command that will run
Linux basics

 BASH history
► The user's home directory contains the
shell history file
► .bash_history or .sh_history
► It contains the last typed commands
► It could contain usernames/passwords in
cleartext if the users typed them on the
command line
Linux basics

 BASH history

► How many .bash_history files are there in a

given system?
Linux basics

 File permissions
► Every file
• Is owned by someone
• Belongs to a group
• Has certain access permissions for owner,
group and others
• Default permissions determined by umask
► There are no “negative” permissions.
• i.e. it's not possibile to assign read permission
of a file to all users of a group but one: the file is
either readable by all users in the group or by
none of them
Linux basics

 File permissions (continued)

► Every user has a UID (login name), GID
(login group) and membership of a
“groups” list
• The UID is who you are (name and number)
• The GID is the initial “login group” you normally
belong to
• The groups list is the file groups you can
access via group permissions
Linux basics

 File permissions (continued)

► Linux provides three kinds of permissions
• Read - users with read permission may read
the file or list the directory
• Write - users with write permission may write to
the file or new files to the directory
• Execute - users with execute permission may
execute the file or lookup a specific file within a
directory
 Linux basics

 File permissions (continued)

► The long version of a file listing (ls -l) will
display the file permissions
► e.g. -rwxrwxrwx

- rwx rwx rwx

Directory flag Owner Group Other
(d=directory permissions permissions permissions
l=link)
Linux basics

 Linux device handling

► Devices are the way linux talks to the world
► Devices are special files in /dev directory
► Each /dev file has a major and minor
number
• Major defines the device type
• Minor defines device within that type
• Drivers register a device type
Linux basics

 File Systems
► Linux supports many different types of file
systems
► Most commonly, ext2, ext3, reiserFS
► Other file systems: ntfs (WinNT), ISO9660
(CD-ROM), vfat (Win9x), and many others
Linux basics

 File Systems
► mount – mounts a file system that lives on
a device to the main file tree
► /etc/fstab used to establish boot time
mounting
Linux basics

 Processes
► Processes are created in a hierarchical
structure whose depth is limited only by the
virtual memory available to the virtual
machine
► A process may control the execution of any
of its descendants by suspending or
resuming it, altering its relative priority, or
even terminating it
Linux basics

 Processes (continued)
► Termination of a process by default causes
termination of all its descendants;
termination of the root process causes
termination of the session
► Linux assigns a process ID (PID) to the
process
Linux basics
 Processes (continued)
► Foreground
• When a command is executed from the prompt
and runs to completion, at which time the
prompt returns, it is said to run in the
foreground
► Background
• When a command is executed from the prompt
with the token “&” at the end of the command
line and the prompt immediately returns while
the command continues, it is said to run in the
background
Linux basics

 Processes (continued)
► Daemons
• Background processes for system
administration are referred to as “daemons”
• These processes are usually started during the
boot process
• The processes are not assigned any terminals
since normally they are not interactive
Linux basics

 Processes (continued)
► PID
• A process ID is a unique identifier assigned to a
process while it runs
• Each time you run a process, it has a different
PID (it takes a long time for a PID to be reused
by the system)
• You can use the PID to track the status of a
process with the ps command or the jobs
command
• You can terminate a process with the kill
command followed by its PID
Linux basics

 Questions
► Is a shell the same thing as an MS-DOS
command prompt?
► Where are the users' home directories
located?
► Where are password files located?
Using Linux

 Important note
► Do not login as root unless you have to
► Root is the system superuser
• Normal protection mechanisms can be
overriden
• Careless use can cause damage
• Has access to everything by default
Using Linux

 Getting help
► The Linux equivalent of HELP is man
(manual)
► Use man -k <keyword> to find all
commands with that keyword
► Use man <command> to display help for
that command
• The output is presented one page at a time
Using Linux

 Linux command basics

► To execute a command, type its name and
arguments at the command line
► e.g. ls -l /etc
• ls command name
• -l option (flag)
• /etc argument
Using Linux

 UNIX concept of “standard files”

► Standard input (where a command gets its
input) – default is the terminal
► Standard output (where a command writes
its output) - default is the terminal
► Standard error (where a command writes
error messages) – default is the terminal
Using Linux

 Redirecting output
► The output of a command may be sent
(piped) to a file
• ls -l > output
 Redirecting input
► The input of a command may come (be
piped) from a file
• wc < input
Using Linux

 Connecting commands with pipes

► The output of one command can become
the input of another
► e.g. ps -a | grep netscape | wc
-l
• “|” is used to separate stages
• The output of the ps command is sent to grep
• grep takes input and searches for “netscape”,
passing these lines to wc
• wc takes this input and counts the lines, its
output going to the console
Using Linux

 Command options
► Command options allow you to control a
command to a certain degree
► Conventions
• Usually begin with a single dash and are a
single letter (“-l”)
• Sometimes have double dashes followed by a
keyword (“--help”)
• Sometimes follow no pattern at all
Using Linux

 Common commands
► pwd - print (display) the working directory
► cd <dir> - change the current working
directory to <dir>
► ls - list the files in the current working
directory
► ls -l - list the files in the current working
directory in long format
► cp <fromfile> <tofile> - copy from
the <fromfile> to the <tofile>
Using Linux

 Common commands (continued)

► mv <fromfile> <tofile> -
move/rename the <fromfile> to the <tofile>
► rm <file> - remove the file named <file>

► mkdir <newdir> - make a new directory

named <newdir>
► rmdir <dir> - remove an (empty)
directory named <dir>
► who – Lists who is currently logged on to
the system
Using Linux

 Common commands (continued)

► whoami – reports which user you are
currently logged on as
► ps – lists your processes on the system

► ps aux – lists all the processes on the

system
► echo “a string to be echoed” -
echoes a string (or list of arguments) to the
terminal
Using Linux

 Common commands (continued)

► find – Searches a given file hierarchy
specified by path, finding files that match
the criteria given by expression
► grep – Searches files for one or more
pattern arguments. It does plain string,
basic regular expression, and extended
regular expression searching
► kill – sends a signal to a process or
process group
Using Linux

 Common commands (continued)

► su <accountname> – switch user
accounts. You will be prompted for a
password. When this command completes,
you will be logged into the new account.
Type exit to return to the previous account
► su – Switch to the root user account. Do
not do this lightly
Using Linux

 Questions
► Who is root?
► What does the man command do?

► What is the difference between cd goofy

and cd /goofy?