The online help for the installation system is of course quite limited due
to space limitations. However, the help that is available isn't really
enough for new users who are just being exposed to *nix for the first time.
We can't take on the job of *nix education within the installer, but I think
a few k would really be a good investment for new users. I'm willing to
scrounge a few k from other places if need be...
Let's add a new 'help' command (hard linked to man and info) that just does
nano-tiny -T15 -v /help.txt
My proposed help.txt is attached (it looks best when viewed with the above
command). It's around 6500 bytes uncompressed. We might be able to leave out
some of the help lines and trim a few bytes, probably there are some
commands that new users shouldn't be using anyway. I already left out
commands that would seem to be useful or safe only within scripts. OTOH
maybe having a syntax prompt is helpful even for experienced people, for
infrequently-used system setup commands. This file was compiled from the
commands available in the powerpc installer system, probably there are a few
others needed for i386 etc.
The busybox commands do have a one-line response for --help already, but
often times that one line is less than helpful - try cp, mount, and umount
for example. It would make more sense to dispense with those, or collect any
really valuable information together into one place people can quickly
browse thru or search.
--
Chris Tillman
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The installer environment provides limited versions of the following
commands. Additional help may be available by typing "<command> --help".
The ^ in nano's help line means "hold the Control key and type ...".
ae see nano-tiny
ar create, modify, and extract from archive files
ash the shell program initiated by Execute a Shell or
Ctrl-Alt-F2
cat list the contents of a directory or file to std output
cd change the working directory; "cd .." moves up a level,
"cd /<path>" full path, "cd <path>" relative path
cfdisk create or modify Linux partitions with i386-style
partition tables
chgrp change the group associated with the file permissions or
directory; "chgrp <grp> <target>"
chmod change permissions associated with a file or directory;
"chmod 0444 <target>"
chown change the ownership of a file or directory;
"chown <new-owner> <target>"
chroot make the root directory something other than / on
the file system; "chroot <root-now> <new-root>"
chvt change tty (similar to Left-Alt Fn); "chvt5" creates
tty5 or brings it to the front
clear clear the terminal screen
cp copy source file or file-list to target file or
directory; "cp <source> <target>"
cut show the result of cutting a file vertically;
"cut -f 1 <this-file>" gives the first column only
date show the system date and time, or set it using
"date <MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]>"
dbootstrap the installation program (runs after installer boot)
dd copy file converting formats;
"dd if=<source filename> of=<target location>"
ddisk see fdisk
depmod create a dependency makefile for modprobe
df show free disk space for all mounted partitions
dhclient-2.2.x dhcp client
dmesg show the messages from the most recent system boot
du show disk usage; "du -h --max-depth=3 <directory>"
to list sizes in megabytes up to 3 levels deep
e2fsck check for and correct ext2 filesystem disk errors
echo show a line of text
edit see nano-tiny
eject eject removable disks; "eject --floppy",
"eject --cdrom", "eject /dev/sdb4"
emacs see nano-tiny
env show the environment variables and their values
exit terminate the shell and return to the installer
expr show the result of evaluating an expression
fdisk create or modify i386-style disk partitions
fgrep see grep
find look for files in a directory tree;
"find / -name <filename>", "find /bin -name e*"
free show used and free system memory and swapped memory
fuser show the pids of processes using a file or fs
grep search for a regular expression; -i case insensitive
"grep <regexp> <file or file-list>"
gunzip see gzip
gzip compress/decompress a file in .gz format;
-d decompress, -l list only, -c to std output
halt shut down the computer (only executable by root user)
head show the first several lines of a file or file-list;
"head -n 20 <filename>"
help see man
id show information about a specified user, or the user of
the current process
ifconfig manually configure kernel-resident network interfaces
info see man
insmod dynamically load a kernel module;
"insmod <module-filename>" (filename ends with .o)
kill terminate a specified process;
"kill <pid>" (use ps to identify the pid)
killall terminate all processes executing a given command;
"killall -HUP <command-name>"
klogd log kernel error messages to std error or a file
ksyms show exported kernel symbols (related to loadable
kernel modules)
lilo install i386 bootloader
ln create a hard (or soft) link to an existing file or
directory; "ln -s <target> <link-name>"
logger allow shell command to make entries in the system logs
ls show the contents of a directory;
-l long format, -R recursive, -a show hidden files
lsmod list all loaded kernel modules
mac-fdisk create or modify powerpc-style partitions
man display this mini-manual
md5sum compute or verify the checksum for a file; -c check
mformat format a floppy disk with MS-DOS style formatting
mkdir create a new directory
mke2fs create a new ext2 filesystem; format partition
mkfs.ext2 see mke2fs
mkofboot initialize an Apple_Bootstrap HFS partition and
transfer the configured yaboot bootloader to it
mkswap initialize a swap partition
modprobe high level handling of loadable modules;
-l list, -t type
more present output in pages to allow viewing;
"more <filename>", "ls -l /etc | more"
mount mount a disk partition to a directory;
"mount -t <filesystem type> /dev/hda3 <directory>"
mv move or rename a file or file-list;
"mv <source> <target file or directory>"
nano see nano-tiny
nano-tiny text editor
netstat show the status of the network
nvsetenv set nonvolatile RAM environment variables, use
alone to show current NVRAM state
ofpath show the Open Firmware path corresponding to a
given Linux block device; "ofpath /dev/hda5"
ping request a number of packets from a network host to
test the network; "ping -c 4 www.google.com"
poweroff shut down the computer
ps show the list of processes currently running; "ps -A"
pwd show the current working directory
reboot restart the computer (only executable by root user)
reset clear the terminal screen and reset the terminal
rm permanently remove a file or file-list;
use -i to prompt for confirmation
rmdir remove an empty directory
rmmod remove a dynamically loadable module from the kernel
route show or edit the IP routing table
sed stream editor; "sed -f <script-file> <input-file>"
sh see ash
sort sort, merge, or compare the specified files
sync flush all memory resident changes to disk
tail show the tail end of a file;
"tail <number of lines> <filename>"
tar store and extract files from/to a tar archive file;
"tar -xf <filename.tar>", -c create, -z compress
telnet login to a remote host computer
touch update a file's modification date
tr translate characters from std input to std output
umount unmount a filesystem device from a directory;
"umount /instmnt", "umount /dev/sda"
uname show information about the operating system;
type, hostname, system version, version #, hardware
uniq show the unique lines from a sorted file
(discard duplicate lines)
update-modules generate an automatic update to /etc/modules.conf
uptime show the amount of time the system has been operational
vi see nano-tiny
wc show the character, word and line count of a file or
file list.
which show the path to an executable command
whoami show the login username
yabootconfig configure yaboot (the powerpc bootloader)
ybin save the configured yaboot files; must follow any
change to powerpc boot configuration
zcat perform gunzip to standard output
