Linux cheat sheet | Hacker News Reader

Linux cheat sheet

github.com

80 pointsjnazario29 comments

I've long had this website bookmarked in my browser toolbar. It is excellent both as a quick reference and as an in-depth guide to commands:

http://cb.vu/unixtoolbox.xhtml

Hey all, yes, I am the author of the cheat sheet. You all spotted a ton of typos that I hadn't even noticed. Thank you! I have just been flooded with patches. I am trying to sort through them now. Thank you for all of your work.

I know it may seem odd to GPL a list of commands. My intention was to build up a minimal reference sheet covering just what people need to know to get started with Linux Dev, but also with a special attempt to include obscure and useful features that may benefit old-timers perusing this reference.

I have since attempted to address the Ubuntu/Debian centric perspective of the sheet. I also addressed the comments about "&&" and "ssh -X" I will also expand the section on "tar."

-William Hackmore

Can I find out what files a process is using, and what files are most used at the moment? It would help debug heavy load moments, when the disk becomes less responsive.

To find out what files a given process is using:

  lsof -p PID

where "PID" is the process id of the process in question.

As for which files are most used at the moment, I'm not sure. However, "iotop" will show you which processes are using the most io at the moment.

Most used files:

  lsof -n | grep REG | awk '{print $9}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -n

ls -a should be ls -la if you want "maximum information" (not really maximum)

Also, ifconfig is deprecated.

I'm yet to see any of these command line tips show (GNU) tar with the -a (--auto-compress) tag

    # compress a file, tar will automatically compress it according to the file extension you use
    tar -caf archive.tar.gz file1 file2 ...
    
    # extract a file, again tar will automatically pass it through the right decompression program
    tar -xaf archive.tar.gz

I think it's faster to Google something than to use these kind of lists. Of course, there's value from skimming through the list once.

What package is md5deep from? I've never seen it, but had several use-cases for it.

What's wrong with:

  find . -type f -exec md5sum {} \;

It has a lot of useful options http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/md5deep.html

Nothing is, that's what I end up doing.

The "md5deep" package contains several different hashes including the actual md5deep program but also whirlpooldeep etc.

I can't believe a list of commands is GPL licensed, this is ridiculous...

By the letter of the law, the arrangement is copyrightable, though the information itself is not, in the same way that the arrangement of a phone book is copyrightable even though the phone numbers are not. Yes, it is ridiculous.

> the arrangement of a phone book is copyrightable

Not in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_v._Rural

http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/499_US_340.htm

You just posted links that agree with the person you're replying too - that a list of numbers is not copyrightable but arranging that list in a particular way becomes copyrightable.

> The court ruled that Rural's directory was nothing more than an alphabetic list of all subscribers to its service, which it was required to compile under law, and that no creative expression was involved. The fact that Rural spent considerable time and money collecting the data was irrelevant to copyright law, and Rural's copyright claim was dismissed.

Therefore, the arrangement was not copyrightable, as it was a simple alphabetic listing with no creativity.

> In regard to collections of facts, O'Connor states that copyright can only apply to the creative aspects of collection: the creative choice of what data to include or exclude, the order and style in which the information is presented, etc., but not on the information itself. If Feist were to take the directory and rearrange them it would destroy the copyright owned in the data.

The arrangement was copyrightable. An alphabetic list isn't, but arranging that list turns it into something copyrightable.

> An alphabetic list isn't

And this, and nothing else, is what we're talking about.

Here's the post that I responded to.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5342078

> the arrangement of a phone book is copyrightable

An alphabetical list is not copyrightable, but you can arrange a phonebook to make it copyrightable.

The arrangement of a phonebook can be copyrightable.

Interesting, there is mention to execution control but doesn't cite

[command] && [command]

and

[command] || [command]

Good stuff, except this, ssh -x [username]@[ipaddress] is the opposite of what he wanted to do, it's ssh -X. -x disables forwarding.

ssh -Y would probably be an even better choice for this sort of document, lest the end user find themselves going 'Why the heck isn't this working?'.

Nice work, would be a good guide for *nix (ok mostly linux) command line beginners to have around.

Which I guess is entirely the point :)

since when Linux is equivalent to Ubuntu?

and why git/mysql stuff are included for linux cheat sheet?

Huh. Way to use github.

Like all git novices, they forgot "git add."

Linux is not limited to the Debian flavors.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com