December 9, 2008 - Reading time: 2 minutes

Here’s a great tutorial for bash scripting: https://linuxconfig.org/bash-scripting-tutorial

If you’re doing any work with Linux or OS X computers, knowing even a little bit of bash can save you a whole lot of work. You can write automated backup scripts, you can scan for faulty permissions… the list is endless. You’ll end up building a toolbox of common scripts that you will use in multiple places.

Only one thing wasn’t given much attention on that page, so I thought I’d point it out:

for next Loop

Usually, your programming syntax is cleaner if you avoid the for next construct and stick to the for each construct instead, however, with bash scripting you often need to work with that crazy little numerical iterator for changing things like file names (e.g. backup1, backup2, …). So you should get familiar with the seq command. It creates an array, going either forwards or backwards, and then bash’s for next loop iterates over that array.

Here’s the seq syntax:

seq [OPTION]... FIRST LAST
seq [OPTION]... FIRST INCREMENT LAST


And here’s how you might iterate backwards over an array:

LIST=`seq $NUMBER_OF_ROLLBACK_FILES_TO_PRESERVE -1 1`;
for I in $LIST; do
echo "I is $I";
done


Now get over to https://linuxconfig.org/bash-scripting-tutorial and start learning.

November 27, 2008 - Reading time: 8 minutes

I’m a big fan of Fedora Linux and have been a user since the Red Hat days. I cut my Linux teeth on Fedora Core 1 (I still have the install discs). Though I’ve tried many other distros, I tend to return to Fedora.

Fedora 10 was released a few days ago. I just installed it, and decided to address a few common issues typical users may face. A few of you may remember that I did the same thing for Fedora Core 6. Here we go.

For the purposes of this guide, I’m using GNOME on an i686 machine. Read more

November 11, 2008 - Reading time: 2 minutes

I always forget the exact commands required to extracting my little tarballs onto my Linux system after downloading them. But wait! Before you go downloading a tarball, try to download a pre-compiled package using a package management tool like Yum, APT, Aptitude, Pacman, Portage, Yast, etc.. You will save LOTS of time by doing this. However, for the sake of this post, let’s pretend you’ve entered the grim and dark world of un-compiled packages, and now you must must make the sacred journey into adulthood by downloading and compiling your own packages. (There’s still time to back out… are you sure there isn’t a pre-compiled package out there?)

Unpacking a .gz File

For this example, let’s say that you’ve downloaded the file ImageMagick-6.4.4-10.tar.gz (e.g. by using the wget utility or by uploading the package to your Linux server).

tar -zxvf ImageMagick-6.4.4-10.tar.gz

This will extract the file to the current directory.

* You may need preface the commands using the sudo command… as in “sudo make me a sandwich“. You may also want to read the man page: man tar

After Unpacking…

cd into the new directory and read the documentation! It’s a bummer, but when you roll your own stuff here, you gotta RTFM. That’s just part of the sacred ritual. Be glad it’s not adult circumcision we’re talking about.

In a nutshell, the compilation process usually goes a little something like this:

1. ./configure [with options listed]
2. make
3. make install

Each of these steps may take a while… compiling and testing and such. Go get some coffee.

September 26, 2008 - Reading time: 6 minutes

You may have noticed that OpenOffice is great. You also may have noticed that this greatness runs out when you get to Impress. My primary complaint (Oh there are many, most of them “known issues” at the open office site for years) is a lack of anti-aliasing on shapes. In a business situation, a presentation on par with the expectations of 1995 will only get you so far.