JM wrote:
> I was wondering.....does Linux have a registry like windows? If so, does
> Linux come with any kind of registry mechanic tool?

Only a malicious organization trying to create an OS monopoly would have
such a thing.

For an application the general configuration file is usually found in /etc
with the same name as the application. For each user there usually a file in
the home directory with the same name but preceded by a . such as .kde or
..joe The one you certainly have are .bashrc .bash_history .bash_logout
..bash_profile.

Files with leading dots are not normally displayed. You can see them by
typing ls -a and by adding an a to any other switches as in ls -lha

--
Consider all the Jews who have died in the West Bank. They would all be
alive today if they were in Israel where they belong.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3915
http://www.giwersworld.org a1

Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its great
to know that no one will be controlling my computer.......especially
Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates fits really well with that
guy. His software gives you a high credit card Bill for something that
isn't that good compared to linux, and then he puts Gates up in your
computer so you can't get to and control everything and he can.
One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you would
have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the configuration
files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up anything. I
personally don't have any experience when it comes to editing
configuration files.
JM

JM <j@ver.net> writes:

>Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its great
>to know that no one will be controlling my computer.......especially
>Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates fits really well with that
>guy. His software gives you a high credit card Bill for something that
>isn't that good compared to linux, and then he puts Gates up in your
>computer so you can't get to and control everything and he can.
>One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
>applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you would

For some yes (eg /etc/fstab which controls how the disks are mounted) For
most it will just mess up the program they are the config files for.


>have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the configuration
>files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up anything. I

Always make a backup of the files before you change them (eg
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig
That way you can recover.

>personally don't have any experience when it comes to editing
>configuration files.

JM wrote:
> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its great
> to know that no one will be controlling my computer.......especially
> Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates fits really well with that
> guy. His software gives you a high credit card Bill for something that
> isn't that good compared to linux, and then he puts Gates up in your
> computer so you can't get to and control everything and he can.
> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you would
> have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the configuration
> files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up anything. I
> personally don't have any experience when it comes to editing
> configuration files.
> JM

Yes, you can shoot yourself in the head pretty seriously. This is why some very good GUI's exist, to sanity check your modifications and keep the bullet pointed away. This capability exists in *ANY* configuration, unless it's been dumbed down so far it's useless.

This is part of why I like Webmin. It's done a lot of the sanity checking for you, with an amazing variety of systems and configurations. It's also why Eric Raymond wrote a famous rant about open source GUI's, involving CUPS and why things should be written as safe for "Aunt Tillie" to use.

Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> JM wrote:
>> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its
>> great to know that no one will be controlling my
>> computer.......especially Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates
>> fits really well with that guy. His software gives you a high credit
>> card Bill for something that isn't that good compared to linux, and
>> then he puts Gates up in your computer so you can't get to and
>> control everything and he can.
>> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
>> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you
>> would have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the
>> configuration files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up
>> anything. I personally don't have any experience when it comes to
>> editing configuration files.
>> JM
>
> Yes, you can shoot yourself in the head pretty seriously. This is why
> some very good GUI's exist, to sanity check your modifications and
> keep the bullet pointed away. This capability exists in *ANY*
> configuration, unless it's been dumbed down so far it's useless.
>
> This is part of why I like Webmin. It's done a lot of the sanity
> checking for you, with an amazing variety of systems and
> configurations. It's also why Eric Raymond wrote a famous rant about
> open source GUI's, involving CUPS and why things should be written as
> safe for "Aunt Tillie" to use.
Thanks for the advice. I don't think I will be editing configuration
files anytime soon. Are there any good websites out there about editing
configuration files and/or Webmin?
JM

JM wrote:
> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its great
> to know that no one will be controlling my computer.......especially
> Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates fits really well with that
> guy. His software gives you a high credit card Bill for something that
> isn't that good compared to linux, and then he puts Gates up in your
> computer so you can't get to and control everything and he can.

From 1984 through 2000 I used DOS and Windows and then switched to linux.
The MS years were a constant opportunity to learn such as learning how to
make crashes less frequent, how to reinstall the OS after the hard disk
crashed, the importance of backing up important data, and a host of other
essential bits of knowledge to keep the computer running. And what I found
that worked in one area had no necessary relation to what worked in another
area and usually did not.

I have never regretted switching to linux.

What you learn about one aspect of linux is useful to all of linux as
consistency of design is a goal of linux.

> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you would
> have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the configuration
> files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up anything. I
> personally don't have any experience when it comes to editing
> configuration files.

Yes you can screw up lots of things.

Rule 1. NEVER become root unless you know what you are doing and that you
have to become root to do it.

Rule 2. Do not violate Rule 1.

That said, if you change something in your home directory it will only
screw up the application for you. Which leads us to Rule 3, make a backup of
what you intend to change so you can put it back the way you found it. And
Rule 4. Regardless of your years of experience as a senior systems
administrator, never violate Rule 3.

As you will eventually screw up like we all have, most applications will
create the home directory files needed when they are first run. So in your
home directory, if you cannot restore the file as it was, simply erase the
file and run the program. This does NOT apply to .bash and other basic files
like .kde and .gnome so be careful.

If all else fails create a new user and as root, copy the needed files from
the newuser account to yours and chown you.you

Ordinarily you should not have to manually change any of these files. And
while learning almost everything can be done with a small script run after
the system is booted.

When all else fails, ask questions here.

--
It is very difficult to explain how the US could fight two world wars to
save the Emperors of India and claim it was fighting for democracy.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3919
http://www.giwersworld.org a1

JM wrote:
> Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
>> JM wrote:
>>> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its
>>> great to know that no one will be controlling my
>>> computer.......especially Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates
>>> fits really well with that guy. His software gives you a high credit
>>> card Bill for something that isn't that good compared to linux, and
>>> then he puts Gates up in your computer so you can't get to and
>>> control everything and he can.
>>> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
>>> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you
>>> would have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the
>>> configuration files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up
>>> anything. I personally don't have any experience when it comes to
>>> editing configuration files.
>>> JM
>>
>> Yes, you can shoot yourself in the head pretty seriously. This is why
>> some very good GUI's exist, to sanity check your modifications and
>> keep the bullet pointed away. This capability exists in *ANY*
>> configuration, unless it's been dumbed down so far it's useless.
>>
>> This is part of why I like Webmin. It's done a lot of the sanity
>> checking for you, with an amazing variety of systems and
>> configurations. It's also why Eric Raymond wrote a famous rant about
>> open source GUI's, involving CUPS and why things should be written as
>> safe for "Aunt Tillie" to use.
> Thanks for the advice. I don't think I will be editing configuration
> files anytime soon. Are there any good websites out there about editing
> configuration files and/or Webmin?
> JM

http:/www.webmin.com. Unfortunately, it's not something easy to centralize in one website: the websites or documentation goes with specific programs or utilities, on things like virtual webhosting, DNS, whatever mail server your Linux distribution uses, etc. If you give us a hint what speciricially you're trying to do, we can point you to the specific docs.

Get a command line open, and type "man man" and then run "info" to get your first serious pokes into open source and free software documentation.

Matt Giwer <jull43@tampabay.REMover.rr.com> writes:

>JM wrote:
>> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its great
>> to know that no one will be controlling my computer.......especially
>> Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates fits really well with that
>> guy. His software gives you a high credit card Bill for something that
>> isn't that good compared to linux, and then he puts Gates up in your
>> computer so you can't get to and control everything and he can.

> From 1984 through 2000 I used DOS and Windows and then switched to linux.
>The MS years were a constant opportunity to learn such as learning how to
>make crashes less frequent, how to reinstall the OS after the hard disk
>crashed, the importance of backing up important data, and a host of other
>essential bits of knowledge to keep the computer running. And what I found
>that worked in one area had no necessary relation to what worked in another
>area and usually did not.

> I have never regretted switching to linux.

> What you learn about one aspect of linux is useful to all of linux as
>consistency of design is a goal of linux.

>> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
>> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you would
>> have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the configuration
>> files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up anything. I
>> personally don't have any experience when it comes to editing
>> configuration files.

> Yes you can screw up lots of things.

Yes, but you can almost always get out of the mess as well. Make backups,
not jsut of everything ( always a good idea) but of the files youare
changing -- then you can go back.
Secondly test on a running system before you reboot. Eg if you change
/etc/fstab, do mount -a and lok at the error reports before you reboot.
Then you can fix them. Almost everthing is testable in situations where the
test does not produce a disaster.



> Rule 1. NEVER become root unless you know what you are doing and that you
>have to become root to do it.

Well, maybe. If you are working on a crucian system yes. On the other hand
if you can stand a crash, go ahead and experiment.

> Rule 2. Do not violate Rule 1.

Nuts.



> That said, if you change something in your home directory it will only
>screw up the application for you. Which leads us to Rule 3, make a backup of
>what you intend to change so you can put it back the way you found it. And
>Rule 4. Regardless of your years of experience as a senior systems
>administrator, never violate Rule 3.

These two I agree with, but do not follow. As I said if you know what
youare doing you can usually rescue yourself.


> As you will eventually screw up like we all have, most applications will
>create the home directory files needed when they are first run. So in your
>home directory, if you cannot restore the file as it was, simply erase the
>file and run the program. This does NOT apply to .bash and other basic files
>like .kde and .gnome so be careful.

Actually it DOES apply to .kde and .gnome. And there isalways a backup
default for .bashrc (/etc/bashrc) which is used if youerase .bashrc



> If all else fails create a new user and as root, copy the needed files from
>the newuser account to yours and chown you.you

> Ordinarily you should not have to manually change any of these files. And
>while learning almost everything can be done with a small script run after
>the system is booted.

> When all else fails, ask questions here.

>--
>It is very difficult to explain how the US could fight two world wars to
>save the Emperors of India and claim it was fighting for democracy.
> -- The Iron Webmaster, 3919
> http://www.giwersworld.org a1

Unruh wrote:
> Matt Giwer <jull43@tampabay.REMover.rr.com> writes:
>
>> JM wrote:
>>> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its great
>>> to know that no one will be controlling my computer.......especially
>>> Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates fits really well with that
>>> guy. His software gives you a high credit card Bill for something that
>>> isn't that good compared to linux, and then he puts Gates up in your
>>> computer so you can't get to and control everything and he can.
>
>> From 1984 through 2000 I used DOS and Windows and then switched to linux.
>> The MS years were a constant opportunity to learn such as learning how to
>> make crashes less frequent, how to reinstall the OS after the hard disk
>> crashed, the importance of backing up important data, and a host of other
>> essential bits of knowledge to keep the computer running. And what I found
>> that worked in one area had no necessary relation to what worked in another
>> area and usually did not.
>
>> I have never regretted switching to linux.
>
>> What you learn about one aspect of linux is useful to all of linux as
>> consistency of design is a goal of linux.
>
>>> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
>>> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you would
>>> have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the configuration
>>> files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess up anything. I
>>> personally don't have any experience when it comes to editing
>>> configuration files.
>
>> Yes you can screw up lots of things.
>
> Yes, but you can almost always get out of the mess as well. Make backups,
> not jsut of everything ( always a good idea) but of the files youare
> changing -- then you can go back.
> Secondly test on a running system before you reboot. Eg if you change
> /etc/fstab, do mount -a and lok at the error reports before you reboot.
> Then you can fix them. Almost everthing is testable in situations where the
> test does not produce a disaster.
>
>
>
>> Rule 1. NEVER become root unless you know what you are doing and that you
>> have to become root to do it.
>
> Well, maybe. If you are working on a crucian system yes. On the other hand
> if you can stand a crash, go ahead and experiment.
>
>> Rule 2. Do not violate Rule 1.
>
> Nuts.
>
>
>
>> That said, if you change something in your home directory it will only
>> screw up the application for you. Which leads us to Rule 3, make a backup of
>> what you intend to change so you can put it back the way you found it. And
>> Rule 4. Regardless of your years of experience as a senior systems
>> administrator, never violate Rule 3.
>
> These two I agree with, but do not follow. As I said if you know what
> youare doing you can usually rescue yourself.
>
>
>> As you will eventually screw up like we all have, most applications will
>> create the home directory files needed when they are first run. So in your
>> home directory, if you cannot restore the file as it was, simply erase the
>> file and run the program. This does NOT apply to .bash and other basic files
>> like .kde and .gnome so be careful.
>
> Actually it DOES apply to .kde and .gnome. And there isalways a backup
> default for .bashrc (/etc/bashrc) which is used if youerase .bashrc
>
>
>
>> If all else fails create a new user and as root, copy the needed files from
>> the newuser account to yours and chown you.you
>
>> Ordinarily you should not have to manually change any of these files. And
>> while learning almost everything can be done with a small script run after
>> the system is booted.
>
>> When all else fails, ask questions here.
>
>> --
>> It is very difficult to explain how the US could fight two world wars to
>> save the Emperors of India and claim it was fighting for democracy.
>> -- The Iron Webmaster, 3919
>> http://www.giwersworld.org a1

Thanks for the rules. I will definitely keep them in mind. The computer
that I will be experimenting with linux on was given to me for free so
if it crashes I can just reload the operating system and not really lose
anything but time.
Also, what is the best backup software for linux? Does linux have a
system restore feature?
JM

JM wrote:
> Unruh wrote:
>> Matt Giwer <jull43@tampabay.REMover.rr.com> writes:
>>
>>> JM wrote:
>>>> Thanks for the info Chris, John, Keith, Nico, Unruh and Matt. Its
>>>> great to know that no one will be controlling my
>>>> computer.......especially Bill Gates. You know, the name Bill Gates
>>>> fits really well with that guy. His software gives you a high credit
>>>> card Bill for something that isn't that good compared to linux, and
>>>> then he puts Gates up in your computer so you can't get to and
>>>> control everything and he can.
>>
>>> From 1984 through 2000 I used DOS and Windows and then switched
>>> to linux. The MS years were a constant opportunity to learn such as
>>> learning how to make crashes less frequent, how to reinstall the OS
>>> after the hard disk crashed, the importance of backing up important
>>> data, and a host of other essential bits of knowledge to keep the
>>> computer running. And what I found that worked in one area had no
>>> necessary relation to what worked in another area and usually did not.
>>
>>> I have never regretted switching to linux.
>>
>>> What you learn about one aspect of linux is useful to all of
>>> linux as consistency of design is a goal of linux.
>>
>>>> One other thing.......can editing the configuration files for
>>>> applications or the OS mess up the computer? I'm assuming that you
>>>> would have to have a decent amount of experience to edit the
>>>> configuration files and know what you are doing so you didn't mess
>>>> up anything. I personally don't have any experience when it comes to
>>>> editing configuration files.
>>
>>> Yes you can screw up lots of things.
>>
>> Yes, but you can almost always get out of the mess as well. Make backups,
>> not jsut of everything ( always a good idea) but of the files youare
>> changing -- then you can go back.
>> Secondly test on a running system before you reboot. Eg if you change
>> /etc/fstab, do mount -a and lok at the error reports before you reboot.
>> Then you can fix them. Almost everthing is testable in situations
>> where the
>> test does not produce a disaster.
>>
>>
>>> Rule 1. NEVER become root unless you know what you are doing and
>>> that you have to become root to do it.
>>
>> Well, maybe. If you are working on a crucian system yes. On the other
>> hand
>> if you can stand a crash, go ahead and experiment.
>>> Rule 2. Do not violate Rule 1.
>>
>> Nuts.
>>
>>
>>
>>> That said, if you change something in your home directory it will
>>> only screw up the application for you. Which leads us to Rule 3, make
>>> a backup of what you intend to change so you can put it back the way
>>> you found it. And Rule 4. Regardless of your years of experience as a
>>> senior systems administrator, never violate Rule 3.
>>
>> These two I agree with, but do not follow. As I said if you know what
>> youare doing you can usually rescue yourself.
>>
>>
>>> As you will eventually screw up like we all have, most
>>> applications will create the home directory files needed when they
>>> are first run. So in your home directory, if you cannot restore the
>>> file as it was, simply erase the file and run the program. This does
>>> NOT apply to .bash and other basic files like .kde and .gnome so be
>>> careful.
>>
>> Actually it DOES apply to .kde and .gnome. And there isalways a backup
>> default for .bashrc (/etc/bashrc) which is used if youerase .bashrc
>>
>>
>>
>>> If all else fails create a new user and as root, copy the needed
>>> files from the newuser account to yours and chown you.you
>>
>>> Ordinarily you should not have to manually change any of these
>>> files. And while learning almost everything can be done with a small
>>> script run after the system is booted.
>>
>>> When all else fails, ask questions here.
>>
>>> --
>>> It is very difficult to explain how the US could fight two world wars to
>>> save the Emperors of India and claim it was fighting for democracy.
>>> -- The Iron Webmaster, 3919
>>> http://www.giwersworld.org a1
>
> Thanks for the rules. I will definitely keep them in mind. The computer
> that I will be experimenting with linux on was given to me for free so
> if it crashes I can just reload the operating system and not really lose
> anything but time.
> Also, what is the best backup software for linux? Does linux have a
> system restore feature?

Mmm. Very good question.

If you have a DvD burner, its probably best to write a script that
actually backs up the entire files system except the ephemera - there
are things that look like files that are 'built' at run time and
aren't../proc is one I recall. The days /dev..as well I think - and then
ignore the boot sector and dump that file system complete onto the DVD.

Rebuilding a crashed machine then becomes no more than getting a basic
bootable Linux that can read the DVD, repartinong the disks and copying
the lot over.

You can go a little wilder than that, and copy the boot sector as well
using 'DD', but since you need a booted copy to use DD, its not that
useful except if you want to clone a system onto another machine with
identical hardware. It does restore partition data automatically tho.

Id be tempted to use DD to recover from a hardware fault, as long as the
disk didn't change. If you need to repartition, than restoring via 'tar'
from a tar archive on DVD is probably better.

YMMV and I am sure there will be other points of view.

Oh, and of course if the hardware gets changed, you nee3d to restore a
lot LESS, as you may need to have configs associated with new hardware.
At that level you need to be picky about what is restored..


Ive spent a day or two with an 'old' disk mounted, cherry picking
through config files top get a newer faster sexier machine to behave
just like the old one, only better ;-)


In the end there is no substitiute for knowledge, and no two case are
the same.

Alway leave the old config file clearly marked as such when you edit it.
so that you can pick through the system and work out whats different
from a raw install.

/etc will net you 90% of the basic configs..its the nearest thing to a
registry there is, but even so programmers have a habit of tagging the
odd file elsewhere, especially if its not that 'system' oriented. And
there is a habit these days of using database files accessed via
database interfaces to store stuff, and those aren't always in /etc either.









> JM