Ubuntu Linux Toolbox

Christopher Negus has more than 25 years of experience teaching and writing about Linux and UNIX. He has authored dozens of books on Linux, including the best-selling »Red Hat Linux Bible«, »Linux Bible«, the »Linux Toys« series, and the »Linux Toolbox« series. Awards for Christopher's writing include »Best Linux book of the year« for his Red Hat Linux 8 Bible, as voted by readers of Linux World magazine. For the Linux Journal 2009 Readers' Choice Awards, his Linux Bible was voted one of the top five »Favorite Linux Books of All Time«.

Introduction xix
Chapter 1: Starting with Ubuntu Linux 1
Ubuntu, Debian, and Linux 2
Understanding Ubuntu Releases 3
Ubuntu Compared to Other Linux Distributions 3
Finding Ubuntu Resources 5
Ubuntu Software 7
Focusing on Linux Commands 7
Finding Commands 9
Reference Information in Ubuntu 11
Using help Messages 12
Using man Pages 12
Using info Documents 15
Summary 15
Chapter 2: Installing Ubuntu and Adding Software 17
Obtaining and Installing Ubuntu 17
Preparing to Install 18
Choosing Installation Options 19
Answering Installation Questions 19
Working with Debian Software Packages 20
Working with Software Packages 22
Enabling More Repositories for apt 23
Adding Software Collections with tasksel 24
Managing Software with APT 25
Finding Packages with APT 27
Installing Packages with APT 27
Upgrading Packages with APT 28
Upgrading a Single Package with APT 28
Removing Packages with APT 29
Cleaning Up Packages with APT 29
Downloading Packages with APT 30
Managing Software with dpkg 30
Installing a Package with dpkg 32
Removing a Package with dpkg 32
Extracting Files from a .deb File with dpkg 32
Querying Information about .deb Packages 33
Managing Software with aptitude 35
Updating and Upgrading Packages
with aptitude 37
Querying Information about Packages with aptitude 37
Installing Packages with aptitude 38
Removing Packages with aptitude 38
Cleaning Up Packages with aptitude 39
Useful Combinations of Options with aptitude 39
Verifying Installed Packages with debsums 41
Building deb Packages 44
Summary 47
Chapter 3: Using the Shell 49
Terminal Windows and Shell Access 49
Using Terminal Windows 49
Using Virtual Consoles 51
Using the Shell 52
Using Bash History 53
Using Command Line Completion 54
Redirecting stdin and stdout 54
Using alias 57
Watching Commands 58
Watching Files 58
Acquiring Super User Power 58
Delegating Power with sudo 59
Using the su Command 61
Using Environment Variables 62
Creating Simple Shell Scripts 64
Editing and Running a Script 64
Adding Content to Your Script 65
Summary 68
Chapter 4: Working with Files 69
Understanding File Types 69
Using Regular Files 69
Using Directories 71
Using Symbolic and Hard Links 71
Using Device Files 72
Using Named Pipes and Sockets 73
Setting File/Directory Permissions 73
Changing Permissions with chmod 74
Setting the umask 76
Changing Ownership 76
Traversing the Filesystem 77
Copying Files 79
Changing File Attributes 80
Searching for Files 82
Finding Files with locate 82
Locating Files with find 83
Using Other Commands to Find Files 85
Finding Out More about Files 86
Listing Files 86
Verifying Files 86
Summary 88
Chapter 5: Manipulating Text 89
Matching Text with Regular Expressions 89
Editing Text Files 90
Using the JOE Editor 91
Using the Pico and nano Editors 92
Graphical Text Editors 94
Listing, Sorting, and Changing Text 94
Listing Text Files 94
Paging through Text 95
Paginating Text Files with pr 96
Searching for Text with grep 97
Replacing Text with sed 99
Translating or Removing Characters with tr 101
Checking Differences between Two Files with diff 101
Using awk and cut to Process Columns 104
Converting Text Files to Different Formats 105
Summary 105
Chapter 6: Playing with Multimedia 107
Working with Audio 107
Playing Music 107
Adjusting Audio Levels 109
Ripping CD Music 110
Encoding Music 111
Streaming Music 114
Converting Audio Files 116
Transforming Images 117
Getting Information about Images 117
Converting Images 118
Converting Images in Batches 119
Playing with Video 121
Playing Video Files 121
Summary 123
Chapter 7: Administering Filesystems 125
Understanding Filesystem Basics 125
Creating and Managing Filesystems 127
Partitioning Hard Disks 127
Working with Filesystem Labels 131
Formatting a Filesystem 132
Viewing and Changing Filesystem Attributes 133
Creating and Using Swap Partitions 135
Mounting and Unmounting Filesystems 136
Mounting Filesystems from the fstab File 136
Mounting Filesystems with the mount Command 138
Unmounting Filesystems with umount 140
Checking Filesystems 141
Creating Encrypted Filesystems 143
Checking RAID Disks 146
Finding Out about Filesystem Use 147
Logical Volume Manager 149
Creating LVM Volumes 149
Using LVM Volumes 151
Growing the LVM Volume 152
Shrinking an LVM Volume 153
Removing LVM Logical Volumes and Groups 153
Summary 154
Chapter 8: Backups and Removable Media 155
Backing Up Data to Compressed Archives 155
Creating Backup Archives with tar 155
Using Compression Tools 157
Listing, Joining, and Adding Files to tar Archives 160
Deleting Files from tar Archives 160
Backing Up over Networks 161
Backing Up tar Archives over ssh 161
Backing Up Files with rsync 162
Backing Up with unison 164
Backing Up to Removable Media 165
Creating Backup Images with mkisofs 165
Burning Backup Images with cdrecord 168
Making and Burning DVDs with growisofs 170
Summary 170
Chapter 9: Checking and Managing Running Processes 171
Listing Active Processes 172
Viewing Active Processes with ps 172
Watching Active Processes with top 177
Finding and Controlling Processes 179
Using pgrep to Find Processes 179
Using fuser to Find Processes 180
Changing Running Processes 181
Scheduling Realtime Processes 188
Summary 189
Chapter 10: Managing the System 191
Monitoring Resources 191
Monitoring Memory Use 192
Monitoring CPU Usage 196
Monitoring Storage Devices 198
Mastering Time 201
Changing Time/Date with Graphical Tools 201
Displaying and Setting Your System Clock 202
Displaying and Setting Your Hardware Clock 203
Using Network Time Protocol to
Set Date/Time 204
Managing the Boot Process 205
Understanding the GRUB Boot Loader 205
Modifying the GRUB Boot Loader 206
Controlling Startup and Run Levels 207
Straight to the Kernel 209
Poking at the Hardware 211
Summary 213
Chapter 11: Managing Network Connections 215
Configuring Networks from the GUI 215
Managing Network Interface Cards 216
Managing Network Connections 221
Starting and Stopping Ethernet Connections 221
Viewing Ethernet Connection Information 223
Using Wireless Connections 225
Checking Name Resolution 226
Troubleshooting Network Problems 228
Checking Connectivity to a Host 228
Checking Address Resolution Protocol 229
Tracing Routes to Hosts 231
Displaying netstat Connections and Statistics 233
Other Useful Network Tools 234
Summary 235
Chapter 12: Accessing Network Resources 237
Running Commands to Browse the Web 237
Transferring Files 239
Downloading Files with wget 239
Transferring Files with cURL 241
Transferring Files with FTP Commands 241
Using SSH Tools to Transfer Files 243
Using Windows File Transfer Tools 246
Sharing Remote Directories 246
Sharing Remote Directories with NFS 246
Sharing Remote Directories with Samba 248
Sharing Remote Directories with SSHFS 251
Chatting with Friends in IRC 252
Using Text-Based E-mail Clients 253
Managing E-mail with mail 254
Managing E-mail with mutt 256
Summary 257
Chapter 13: Doing Remote System Administration 259
Doing Remote Login and Tunneling with SSH 259
Using Legacy Communications Tools 260
Configuring SSH 261
Logging in Remotely with ssh 262
Using byobu and screen for Remote Shells 267
Managing Remote Shells with Screen 268
Using byobu to Manage Remote Shells 270
Using a Remote Windows Desktop 272
Connecting to a Windows Desktop with Remmina 272
Connecting to a Windows Desktop with rdesktop 274
Using Remote Linux Desktop and Applications 274
Sharing Desktops Using VNC 275
Setting Up the VNC Server 276
Starting Up the VNC Client 277
Using VNC on Untrusted Networks with SSH 277
Summary 278
Chapter 14: Locking Down Security 279
Working with Users and Groups 279
Managing Users the GUI Way 280
Adding User Accounts 280
Changing useradd Defaults 281
Modifying User Accounts 282
Deleting User Accounts 283
Managing Passwords 283
Adding Groups 286
Checking on Users 286
Configuring the Built-In Firewall 288
Understanding iptables Firewalls 289
Listing iptables Rules 291
Setting Other Firewall Rules 292
Saving and Reloading Firewall Rules 294
Using Advanced Security Features 294
Summary 295
Chapter 15: Setting Up a Virtualization Host
and Virtual Machines 297
Can Your Computer Support Virtualization? 298
Checking for CPU Virtualization Support 298
Enabling Virtualization Support in the BIOS 299
Is the Host Computer 32- or 64-Bit? 300
Checking Available RAM and Disk Space 300
Adding Virtualization Software 301
Adding Your User Account to libvirtd 302
Managing Virtual Machines with virt-manager 302
Creating a Virtual Machine in virt-manager 304
Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines with virt-manager 305
Managing Virtual Machines with Commands 306
Creating a Virtual Machine with virt-install 306
Starting and Stopping Virtual Machines with virsh 308
Summary 309
Appendix A: Using vi or Vim Editors 311
Starting and Quitting the vi Editor 311
Moving Around in vi 313
Changing and Deleting Text in vi 314
Using Miscellaneous Commands 314
Modifying Commands with Numbers 315
Using ex Commands 315
Working in Visual Mode 316
Appendix B: Shell Special Characters and Variables 317
Using Special Shell Characters 317
Using Shell Variables 318
Appendix C: Getting Information from /proc 321
Viewing /proc Information 321
Changing /proc Information 325
Index 327