J.D.,
Nope. Don't feel bad at all. You picked some universally sticky items.
As far as where to put files... You're right, a discussion or presentation at a
meeting on
this would be a good idea. I could take 15 minutes on that at our February
meeting. Just
to complicate things though, there is quite an ongoing discussion about that (on
the web).
There is such a thing as the: LINUX FILE SYSTEM STANDARD, also know as the
FHS = Filesystem Hierarchy Standard. Here's a quote:
"Red Hat is committed to the Linux File System Standard, a collaborative document
that defines
the names and locations of many files and directories. We will continue to track
the standard to
keep Red Hat Linux compliant."
...
The complete standard can be viewed at:
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/
If you're confused about where files should go in Linux, don't feel like a newbie.
There is an ongong fuss about that and the issue even has it's own web page!
(www.pathname.com)
But there are standard uses throughout unix/linux for: /usr, /bin, /sbin,
/var, /etc, /dev, /lib, /opt, /tmp
and we should explain those. I'll take that on. Good quicki topic for February.
I'd like to see that Windows / Linux filesystem equivalency list.
Wayne
"J.D. Abolins" wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Wayne wrote:
>
> > John, your proposed newbie questions aren't so trivial. I've had my hands
> <snipped>
>
> Oops. Now I don't feel so bad being perplexed by some of these things. <g>
>
> One item that should be relatively simple that I had to deal with
> initially was "Where do I put files that I am downloading or installing?"
>
> This would a be good time to go over the basics of /etc, /bin, /usr, /var,
> /tmp, /home, /opt, ... normative uses. Especially good for those coming in
> from Windows where they are used to C:\Program Files\ and C:\My
> Documents\. In one of the older Linux magazines, there was good summary of
> the dirs and their Windows "equivalents".
>
> > Password recovery is the only easy thing you mentioned. (what's that say for
> > security?) :)
>
> Depends how you secure the machine. Unshadowed passwords can allow you to
> do a crack program against /etc/passwd but you have to get the file first.
> The method I was think of for the newbies is the simple method of booting
> up as a single user and resetting the pw.
>
> The key security warning with this is: If a person can have uninterrupted
> physical access to the machine, security is very difficult. Applies to any
> platform or OS. There have been so many firms that go to a fairly decent
> lenght to use security software on their servers but had the server
> sitting in an open area or an unlocked room.
>
> J.D. Abolins
> Meyda Online -- Infosec & Privacy Studies
> New Website: http://www.MeydaOnline.com
