Debian Reference

Osamu Aoki
Copyright 2007-2010 Osamu Aoki This Debian Reference (v2) (2011-02-26 17:58:45 UTC) is intended to provide a broad overview of the Debian system as a post-installation user's guide. It covers many aspects of system administration through shell-command examples for non-developers. Abstract This book is free; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License of any version compliant to the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). Table of Contents Preface 1. Disclaimer 2. What is Debian 3. About this document 3.1. Guiding rules 3.2. Prerequisites 3.3. Conventions 3.4. Debian BTS 3.5. The popcon 3.6. The package size 3.7. Bug reports on this document 4. Some quotes for new users 1. GNU/Linux tutorials 1.1. Console basics 1.1.1. The shell prompt 1.1.2. The shell prompt under X 1.1.3. The root account 1.1.4. The root shell prompt 1.1.5. GUI system administration tools 1.1.6. Virtual consoles 1.1.7. How to leave the command prompt 1.1.8. How to shutdown the system 1.1.9. Recovering a sane console 1.1.10. Additional package suggestions for the newbie 1.1.11. An extra user account 1.1.12. sudo configuration 1.1.13. Play time 1.2. Unix-like filesystem 1.2.1. Unix file basics 1.2.2. Filesystem internals 1.2.3. Filesystem permissions 1.2.4. Control of permissions for newly created files: umask 1.2.5. Permissions for groups of users (group) 1.2.6. Timestamps 1.2.7. Links 1.2.8. Named pipes (FIFOs) 1.2.9. Sockets 1.2.10. Device files 1.2.11. Special device files 1.2.12. procfs and sysfs 1.3. Midnight Commander (MC) 1.3.1. Customization of MC 1.3.2. Starting MC 1.3.3. File manager in MC 1.3.4. Command-line tricks in MC 1.3.5. The internal editor in MC 1.3.6. The internal viewer in MC 1.3.7. Auto-start features of MC 1.3.8. FTP virtual filesystem of MC 1.4. The basic Unix-like work environment 1.4.1. The login shell 1.4.2. Customizing bash 1.4.3. Special key strokes 1.4.4. Unix style mouse operations 1.4.5. The pager 1.4.6. The text editor 1.4.7. Setting a default text editor

1.4.8. Customizing vim 1.4.9. Recording the shell activities 1.4.10. Basic Unix commands 1.5. The simple shell command 1.5.1. Command execution and environment variable 1.5.2. "$LANG" variable 1.5.3. "$PATH" variable 1.5.4. "$HOME" variable 1.5.5. Command line options 1.5.6. Shell glob 1.5.7. Return value of the command 1.5.8. Typical command sequences and shell redirection 1.5.9. Command alias 1.6. Unix-like text processing 1.6.1. Unix text tools 1.6.2. Regular expressions 1.6.3. Replacement expressions 1.6.4. Global substitution with regular expressions 1.6.5. Extracting data from text file table 1.6.6. Script snippets for piping commands 2. Debian package management 2.1. Debian package management prerequisites 2.1.1. Package configuration 2.1.2. Basic precautions 2.1.3. Life with eternal upgrades 2.1.4. Debian archive basics 2.1.5. Package dependencies 2.1.6. The event flow of the package management 2.1.7. First response to package management troubles 2.2. Basic package management operations 2.2.1. apt-get / apt-cache vs. aptitude 2.2.2. Basic package management operations with the commandline 2.2.3. Interactive use of aptitude 2.2.4. Key bindings of aptitude 2.2.5. Package views under aptitude 2.2.6. Search method options with aptitude 2.2.7. The aptitude regex formula 2.2.8. Dependency resolution of aptitude 2.2.9. Package activity logs 2.3. Examples of aptitude operations 2.3.1. Listing packages with regex matching on package names 2.3.2. Browsing with the regex matching 2.3.3. Purging removed packages for good 2.3.4. Tidying auto/manual install status 2.3.5. System wide upgrade 2.4. Advanced package management operations 2.4.1. Advanced package management operations with commandline 2.4.2. Verification of installed package files 2.4.3. Safeguarding for package problems 2.4.4. Searching on the package meta data 2.5. Debian package management internals 2.5.1. Archive meta data 2.5.2. Top level "Release" file and authenticity 2.5.3. Archive level "Release" files 2.5.4. Fetching of the meta data for the package 2.5.5. The package state for APT 2.5.6. The package state for aptitude 2.5.7. Local copies of the fetched packages 2.5.8. Debian package file names 2.5.9. The dpkg command 2.5.10. The update-alternative command 2.5.11. The dpkg-statoverride command 2.5.12. The dpkg-divert command 2.6. Recovery from a broken system 2.6.1. Incompatibility with old user configuration 2.6.2. Different packages with overlapped files 2.6.3. Fixing broken package script 2.6.4. Rescue with the dpkg command 2.6.5. Recovering package selection data 2.7. Tips for the package management

2.7.1. How to pick Debian packages 2.7.2. Packages from mixed source of archives 2.7.3. Tweaking candidate version 2.7.4. Updates and Backports 2.7.5. Automatic download and upgrade of packages 2.7.6. Limiting download bandwidth for APT 2.7.7. Emergency downgrading 2.7.8. Who uploaded the package? 2.7.9. The equivs package 2.7.10. Porting a package to the stable system 2.7.11. Proxy server for APT 2.7.12. Small public package archive 2.7.13. Recording and copying system configuration 2.7.14. Converting or installing an alien binary package 2.7.15. Extracting package without dpkg 2.7.16. More readings for the package management 3. The system initialization 3.1. An overview of the boot strap process 3.2. Stage 1: the BIOS 3.3. Stage 2: the boot loader 3.4. Stage 3: the mini-Debian system 3.5. Stage 4: the normal Debian system 3.5.1. The meaning of the runlevel 3.5.2. The configuration of the runlevel 3.5.3. The runlevel management example 3.5.4. The default parameter for each init script 3.5.5. The hostname 3.5.6. The filesystem 3.5.7. Network interface initialization 3.5.8. Network service initialization 3.5.9. The system message 3.5.10. The kernel message 3.5.11. The udev system 3.5.12. The kernel module initialization 4. Authentication 4.1. Normal Unix authentication 4.2. Managing account and password information 4.3. Good password 4.4. Creating encrypted password 4.5. PAM and NSS 4.5.1. Configuration files accessed by the PAM and NSS 4.5.2. The modern centralized system management 4.5.3. "Why GNU su does not support the wheel group" 4.5.4. Stricter password rule 4.6. Other access controls 4.6.1. sudo 4.6.2. SELinux 4.6.3. Restricting access to some server services 4.7. Security of authentication 4.7.1. Secure password over the Internet 4.7.2. Secure Shell 4.7.3. Extra security measures for the Internet 4.7.4. Securing the root password 5. Network setup 5.1. The basic network infrastructure 5.1.1. The 5.1.2. The 5.1.3. The 5.1.4. The 5.1.5. The domain name hostname resolution network interface name network address range for the LAN network device support

5.2. The modern network configuration for desktop 5.2.1. GUI network configuration tools 5.3. The legacy network connection and configuration 5.4. The network connection method (legacy) 5.4.1. The 5.4.2. The 5.4.3. The 5.4.4. The 5.4.5. The DHCP connection with the Ethernet static IP connection with the Ethernet PPP connection with pppconfig alternative PPP connection with wvdialconf PPPoE connection with pppoeconf

5.5. The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy)

5.5.1. The command syntax simplified 5.5.2. The basic syntax of "/etc/network/interfaces" 5.5.3. The loopback network interface 5.5.4. The network interface served by the DHCP 5.5.5. The network interface with the static IP 5.5.6. The basics of wireless LAN interface 5.5.7. The wireless LAN interface with WPA/WPA2 5.5.8. The wireless LAN interface with WEP 5.5.9. The PPP connection 5.5.10. The alternative PPP connection 5.5.11. The PPPoE connection 5.5.12. The network configuration state of ifupdown 5.5.13. The basic network reconfiguration 5.5.14. The ifupdown-extra package 5.6. The advanced network configuration with ifupdown (legacy) 5.6.1. The ifplugd package 5.6.2. The ifmetric package 5.6.3. The virtual interface 5.6.4. The advanced command syntax 5.6.5. The mapping stanza 5.6.6. The manually switchable network configuration 5.6.7. Scripting with the ifupdown system 5.6.8. Mapping with guessnet 5.7. The low level network configuration 5.7.1. Iproute2 commands 5.7.2. Safe low level network operations 5.8. Network optimization 5.8.1. Finding optimal MTU 5.8.2. Setting MTU 5.8.3. WAN TCP optimization 5.9. Netfilter infrastructure 6. Network applications 6.1. Web browsers 6.1.1. Browser configuration 6.2. The mail system 6.2.1. Modern mail service basics 6.2.2. The mail configuration strategy for workstation 6.3. Mail transport agent (MTA) 6.3.1. The configuration of exim4 6.3.2. The configuration of postfix with SASL 6.3.3. The mail address configuration 6.3.4. Basic MTA operations 6.4. Mail user agent (MUA) 6.4.1. Basic MUA Mutt 6.5. The remote mail retrieval and forward utility 6.5.1. getmail configuration 6.5.2. fetchmail configuration 6.6. Mail delivery agent (MDA) with filter 6.6.1. maildrop configuration 6.6.2. procmail configuration 6.6.3. Redeliver mbox contents 6.7. POP3/IMAP4 server 6.8. The print server and utility 6.9. The remote access server and utility (SSH) 6.9.1. Basics of SSH 6.9.2. Port forwarding for SMTP/POP3 tunneling 6.9.3. Connecting without remote passwords 6.9.4. Dealing with alien SSH clients 6.9.5. Setting up ssh-agent 6.9.6. How to shutdown the remote system on SSH 6.9.7. Troubleshooting SSH 6.10. Other network application servers 6.11. Other network application clients 6.12. The diagnosis of the system daemons 7. The X Window System

7.1. Key packages 7.2. Setting up desktop environment 7.2.1. Debian menu 7.2.2. Freedesktop.org menu 7.2.3. Debian menu under GNOME desktop environment 7.3. The server/client relationship 7.4. The X server 7.4.1. The (re)configuration of the X server 7.4.2. The connection methods to the X server 7.5. Starting the X Window System 7.5.1. Starting X session with gdm 7.5.2. Customizing the X session (classic method) 7.5.3. Customizing the X session (new method) 7.5.4. Connecting a remote X client via SSH 7.5.5. Secure X terminal via the Internet 7.6. Fonts in the X Window 7.6.1. Basic fonts 7.6.2. Additional fonts 7.6.3. CJK fonts 7.7. X applications 7.7.1. X office applications 7.7.2. X utility applications 7.8. The X trivia 7.8.1. Keymaps and pointer button mappings in X 7.8.2. Classic X clients 7.8.3. The X terminal emulator xterm 7.8.4. Running X clients as root 8. I18N and L10N 8.1. The keyboard input 8.1.1. The input method support with IBus 8.1.2. An example for Japanese 8.1.3. Disabling the input method 8.2. The display output 8.3. The locale 8.3.1. Basics of encoding 8.3.2. Rationale for UTF-8 locale 8.3.3. The reconfiguration of the locale 8.3.4. The value of the "$LANG" environment variable 8.3.5. Specific locale only under X Window 8.3.6. Filename encoding 8.3.7. Localized messages and translated documentation 8.3.8. Effects of the locale 9. System tips 9.1. The screen program 9.1.1. The use scenario for screen(1) 9.1.2. Key bindings for the screen command 9.2. Data recording and presentation 9.2.1. The log daemon 9.2.2. Log analyzer 9.2.3. Recording the shell activities cleanly 9.2.4. Customized display of text data 9.2.5. Customized display of time and date 9.2.6. Colorized shell echo 9.2.7. Colorized commands 9.2.8. Recording the editor activities for complex repeats 9.2.9. Recording the graphic image of an X application 9.2.10. Recording changes in configuration files 9.3. Data storage tips 9.3.1. Disk partition configuration 9.3.2. Accessing partition using UUID 9.3.3. Filesystem configuration 9.3.4. Filesystem creation and integrity check 9.3.5. Optimization of filesystem by mount options 9.3.6. Optimization of filesystem via superblock 9.3.7. Optimization of hard disk 9.3.8. Using SMART to predict hard disk failure

9.3.9. Expansion of usable storage space via LVM 9.3.10. Expansion of usable storage space by mounting another partition 9.3.11. Expansion of usable storage space using symlink 9.3.12. Expansion of usable storage space using aufs 9.4. Data encryption tips 9.4.1. Removable disk encryption with dm-crypt/LUKS 9.4.2. Encrypted swap partition with dm-crypt 9.4.3. Automatically encrypting files with eCryptfs 9.4.4. Automatically mounting eCryptfs 9.5. Monitoring, controlling, and starting program activities 9.5.1. Timing a process 9.5.2. The scheduling priority 9.5.3. The ps command 9.5.4. The top command 9.5.5. Listing files opened by a process 9.5.6. Tracing program activities 9.5.7. Identification of processes using files or sockets 9.5.8. Repeating a command with a constant interval 9.5.9. Repeating a command looping over files 9.5.10. Starting a program from GUI 9.5.11. Customizing program to be started 9.5.12. Killing a process 9.5.13. Scheduling tasks once 9.5.14. Scheduling tasks regularly 9.5.15. Alt-SysRq key 9.6. System maintenance tips 9.6.1. Who is on the system? 9.6.2. Warning everyone 9.6.3. Hardware identification 9.6.4. Hardware configuration 9.6.5. System and hardware time 9.6.6. The terminal configuration 9.6.7. The sound infrastructure 9.6.8. Disabling the screen saver 9.6.9. Disabling beep sounds 9.6.10. Memory usage 9.6.11. System security and integrity check 9.7. The kernel 9.7.1. Linux kernel 2.6 9.7.2. Kernel parameters 9.7.3. Kernel headers 9.7.4. Compiling the kernel and related modules 9.7.5. Compiling the kernel source: Debian standard method 9.7.6. Compiling the module source: Debian standard method 9.7.7. Compiling the kernel source: classic method 9.7.8. Non-free hardware drivers 9.8. Virtualized system 9.8.1. Virtualization tools 9.8.2. Virtualization work flow 9.8.3. Mounting the virtual disk image file 9.8.4. Chroot system 9.8.5. Multiple desktop systems 10. Data management 10.1. Sharing, copying, and archiving 10.1.1. Archive and compression tools 10.1.2. Copy and synchronization tools 10.1.3. Idioms for the archive 10.1.4. Idioms for the copy 10.1.5. Idioms for the selection of files 10.1.6. Backup and recovery 10.1.7. Backup utility suites 10.1.8. An example script for the system backup 10.1.9. A copy script for the data backup 10.1.10. Removable storage device 10.1.11. Sharing data via network 10.1.12. Archive media 10.2. The disk image 10.2.1. Making the disk image file 10.2.2. Writing directly to the disk 10.2.3. Mounting the disk image file 10.2.4. Cleaning a disk image file 10.2.5. Making the empty disk image file

10.2.6. Making the ISO9660 image file 10.2.7. Writing directly to the CD/DVD-R/RW 10.2.8. Mounting the ISO9660 image file 10.3. The binary data 10.3.1. Viewing and editing binary data 10.3.2. Manipulating files without mounting disk 10.3.3. Data redundancy 10.3.4. Data file recovery and forensic analysis 10.3.5. Splitting a large file into small files 10.3.6. Clearing file contents 10.3.7. Dummy files 10.3.8. Erasing an entire hard disk 10.3.9. Erasing unused area of an hard disk 10.3.10. Undeleting deleted but still open files 10.3.11. Searching all hardlinks 10.3.12. Invisible disk space consumption 10.4. Data security infrastructure 10.4.1. Key management for GnuPG 10.4.2. Using GnuPG on files 10.4.3. Using GnuPG with Mutt 10.4.4. Using GnuPG with Vim 10.4.5. The MD5 sum 10.5. Source code merge tools 10.5.1. Extracting differences for source files 10.5.2. Merging updates for source files 10.5.3. Updating via 3-way-merge 10.6. Version control systems 10.6.1. Comparison of VCS commands 10.7. CVS 10.7.1. Configuration of CVS repository 10.7.2. Local access to CVS 10.7.3. Remote access to CVS with pserver 10.7.4. Remote access to CVS with ssh 10.7.5. Importing a new source to CVS 10.7.6. File permissions in CVS repository 10.7.7. Work flow of CVS 10.7.8. Latest files from CVS 10.7.9. Administration of CVS 10.7.10. Execution bit for CVS checkout 10.8. Subversion 10.8.1. Configuration of Subversion repository 10.8.2. Access to Subversion via Apache2 server 10.8.3. Local access to Subversion by group 10.8.4. Remote access to Subversion via SSH 10.8.5. Subversion directory structure 10.8.6. Importing a new source to Subversion 10.8.7. Work flow of Subversion 10.9. Git 10.9.1. Configuration of Git client 10.9.2. Git references 10.9.3. Git commands 10.9.4. Git for the Subversion repository 10.9.5. Git for recording configuration history 11. Data conversion 11.1. Text data conversion tools 11.1.1. Converting a text file with iconv 11.1.2. Checking file to be UTF-8 with iconv 11.1.3. Converting file names with iconv 11.1.4. EOL conversion 11.1.5. TAB conversion 11.1.6. Editors with auto-conversion 11.1.7. Plain text extraction 11.1.8. Highlighting and formatting plain text data 11.2. XML data 11.2.1. Basic hints for XML 11.2.2. XML processing 11.2.3. The XML data extraction 11.3. Printable data

11.3.1. Ghostscript 11.3.2. Merge two PS or PDF files 11.3.3. Printable data utilities 11.3.4. Printing with CUPS 11.4. Type setting 11.4.1. roff typesetting 11.4.2. TeX/LaTeX 11.4.3. Pretty print a manual page 11.4.4. Creating a manual page 11.5. The mail data conversion 11.5.1. Mail data basics 11.6. Graphic data tools 11.7. Miscellaneous data conversion 12. Programming 12.1. The shell script 12.1.1. POSIX shell compatibility 12.1.2. Shell parameters 12.1.3. Shell conditionals 12.1.4. Shell loops 12.1.5. The shell command-line processing sequence 12.1.6. Utility programs for shell script 12.1.7. Shell script dialog 12.1.8. Shell script example with zenity 12.2. Make 12.3. C 12.3.1. Simple C program (gcc) 12.4. Debug 12.4.1. Basic gdb execution 12.4.2. Debugging the Debian package 12.4.3. Obtaining backtrace 12.4.4. Advanced gdb commands 12.4.5. Debugging X Errors 12.4.6. Check dependency on libraries 12.4.7. Memory leak detection tools 12.4.8. Static code analysis tools 12.4.9. Disassemble binary 12.5. Flex a better Lex 12.6. Bison a better Yacc 12.7. Autoconf 12.7.1. Compile and install a program 12.7.2. Uninstall program 12.8. Perl short script madness 12.9. Web 12.10. The source code translation 12.11. Making Debian package A. Appendix A.1. The Debian maze A.2. Copyright history A.3. Document format List of Tables 1.1. List of interesting text-mode program packages 1.2. List of informative documentation packages 1.3. List of usage of key directories 1.4. List of the first character of "ls -l" output 1.5. The numeric mode for file permissions in chmod(1) commands 1.6. The umask value examples 1.7. List of notable system-provided groups for file access 1.8. List of notable system provided groups for particular command executions 1.9. List of types of timestamps 1.10. List of special device files 1.11. The key bindings of MC 1.12. The reaction to the enter key in MC 1.13. List of shell programs 1.14. List of key bindings for bash 1.15. List of Unix style mouse operations 1.16. List of basic Unix commands 1.17. 3 parts of locale value 1.18. List of locale recommendations 1.19. List of "$HOME" values

1.20. Shell glob patterns 1.21. Command exit codes 1.22. Shell command idioms 1.23. Predefined file descriptors 1.24. Metacharacters for BRE and ERE 1.25. The replacement expression 1.26. List of script snippets for piping commands 2.1. List of Debian package management tools 2.2. List of Debian archive sites 2.3. List of Debian archive area 2.4. The relationship between suite and codename 2.5. List of key web site to resolving problems with a specific package 2.6. Basic package management operations with the commandline using aptitude(8) and apt-get(8) /apt-cache(8) 2.7. Notable command options for aptitude(8) 2.8. List of key bindings for aptitude 2.9. List of views for aptitude 2.10. The categorization of standard package views 2.11. List of the aptitude regex formula 2.12. The log files for package activities 2.13. List of advanced package management operations 2.14. The content of the Debian archive meta data 2.15. The name structure of Debian packages 2.16. The usable characters for each component in the Debian package names 2.17. The notable files created by dpkg 2.18. List of the default Pin-Priority value for each package source type 2.19. List of the proxy tools specially for Debian archive 3.1. List of boot loaders 3.2. The meaning of GRUB parameters 3.3. List of boot utilities for the Debian system 3.4. List of runlevels and description of their usage 3.5. List of kernel error levels 4.1. 3 important configuration files for pam_unix(8) 4.2. The second entry content of "/etc/passwd" 4.3. List of commands to manage account information 4.4. List of tools to generate password 4.5. List of notable PAM and NSS systems 4.6. List of configuration files accessed by the PAM 4.7. List of insecure and secure services and ports 4.8. List of tools to provide extra security measures 5.1. List of network configuration tools 5.2. List of network address ranges 5.3. List of network connection methods and connection paths 5.4. List of network connection configurations 5.5. List of network connection acronyms 5.6. List of configuration files for the PPP connection with pppconfig 5.7. List of configuration files for the PPP connection with wvdialconf 5.8. List of configuration files for the PPPoE connection with pppoeconf 5.9. List of basic network configuration commands with ifupdown 5.10. List of stanzas in "/etc/network/interfaces" 5.11. List of acronyms for WLAN 5.12. List of terminology for network devices 5.13. List of advanced network configuration commands with ifupdown 5.14. List of environment variables passed by the ifupdown system 5.15. Translation table from obsolete net-tools commands to new iproute2 commands 5.16. List of low level network commands 5.17. List of network optimization tools 5.18. Basic guide lines of the optimal MTU value 5.19. List of firewall tools 6.1. List of web browsers 6.2. List of browser plugin packages 6.3. List of basic mail transport agent related packages for workstation 6.4. List of choices for mail transport agent (MTA) packages in Debian archive 6.5. List of important postfix manual pages 6.6. List of mail address related configuration files 6.7. List of basic MTA operation 6.8. List of mail user agent (MUA) 6.9. List of remote mail retrieval and forward utilities 6.10. List of MDA with filter 6.11. List of POP3/IMAP4 servers 6.12. List of print servers and utilities 6.13. List of remote access server and utilities 6.14. List of SSH authentication protocols and methods 6.15. List of SSH configuration files 6.16. List of SSH client startup examples 6.17. List of free SSH clients for other platforms 6.18. List of other network application servers 6.19. List of network application clients 6.20. List of popular RFCs 7.1. List of key (meta)packages for X Window 7.2. List of server/client terminology 7.3. List of connection methods to the X server 7.4. Table of packages to support X Window font systems 7.5. Table of corresponding PostScript Type 1 fonts

7.6. Table of corresponding TrueType fonts 7.7. Table of key words used in CJK font names to indicate font types 7.8. List of basic X office applications 7.9. List of basic X utility applications 8.1. List of keyboard reconfiguration methods 8.2. List of input method supports with IBus 9.1. List of programs to support interrupted network connections 9.2. List of key bindings for screen 9.3. List of system log analyzers 9.4. Display examples of time and date for the "ls -l" command for lenny 9.5. List of graphic image manipulation tools 9.6. List of packages to record configuration history in VCS 9.7. List of disk partition management packages 9.8. List of filesystem management packages 9.9. List of data encryption utilities 9.10. List of tools for monitoring and controlling program activities 9.11. List of nice values for the scheduling priority 9.12. List of ps command styles 9.13. List of commands for top 9.14. List of frequently used signals for kill command 9.15. List of SAK command keys 9.16. List of hardware identification tools 9.17. List of hardware configuration tools 9.18. List of sound packages 9.19. List of commands for disabling the screen saver 9.20. List of memory sizes reported 9.21. List of tools for system security and integrity check 9.22. List of key packages to be installed for the kernel recompilation on the Debian system 9.23. List of virtualization tools 10.1. List of archive and compression tools 10.2. List of copy and synchronization tools 10.3. List of backup suite utilities 10.4. List of packages which permit normal users to mount removable devices without a matching "/etc/fstab" entry 10.5. List of filesystem choices for removable storage devices with typical usage scenarios 10.6. List of the network service to chose with the typical usage scenario 10.7. List of packages which view and edit binary data 10.8. List of packages to manipulate files without mounting disk 10.9. List of tools to add data redundancy to files 10.10. List of packages for data file recovery and forensic analysis 10.11. List of data security infrastructure tools 10.12. List of GNU Privacy Guard commands for the key management 10.13. List of the meaning of the trust code 10.14. List of GNU Privacy Guard commands on files 10.15. List of source code merge tools 10.16. List of version control system tools 10.17. Comparison of native VCS commands 10.18. Notable options for CVS commands (use as first argument(s) to cvs(1)) 10.19. Notable options for Subversion commands (use as first argument(s) to svn(1)) 10.20. List of git related packages and commands 11.1. List of text data conversion tools 11.2. List of encoding values and their usage 11.3. List of EOL styles for different platforms 11.4. List of TAB conversion commands from bsdmainutils and coreutils packages 11.5. List of tools to extract plain text data 11.6. List of tools to highlight plain text data 11.7. List of predefined entities for XML 11.8. List of XML tools 11.9. List of DSSL tools 11.10. List of XML data extraction tools 11.11. List of XML pretty print tools 11.12. List of Ghostscript PostScript interpreters 11.13. List of printable data utilities 11.14. List of type setting tools 11.15. List of packages to help creating the manpage 11.16. List of packages to help mail data conversion 11.17. List of graphic data tools 11.18. List of miscellaneous data conversion tools 12.1. List of packages to help programing 12.2. List of typical bashisms 12.3. List of shell parameters 12.4. List of shell parameter expansions 12.5. List of key shell parameter substitutions 12.6. List of file comparison operators in the conditional expression 12.7. List of string comparison operators in the conditional expression 12.8. List of packages containing small utility programs for shell scripts 12.9. List of user interface programs 12.10. List of make automatic variables 12.11. List of make variable expansions 12.12. List of advanced gdb commands 12.13. List of memory leak detection tools 12.14. List of tools for static code analysis 12.15. List of Yacc-compatible LALR parser generators 12.16. List of source code translation tools

Preface
This Debian Reference (version 2) (2011-02-26 17:58:45 UTC) is intended to provide a broad overview of Debian system administration as a post-installation user guide. The target reader is someone who is willing to learn shell scripts but who is not ready to read all the C sources to figure out how the GNU/Linux system works.

1. Disclaimer
All warranties are disclaimed. All trademarks are property of their respective trademark owners. The Debian system itself is a moving target. This makes its documentation difficult to be current and correct. Although the current unstable version of Debian system was used as the basis for writing this, some contents may be already outdated by the time you read this. Please treat this document as the secondary reference. This document does not replace any authoritative guides. The author and contributors do not take responsibility for consequences of errors, omissions or ambiguity in this document.

2. What is Debian
The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. It's distribution is characterized by the following. Commitment to the software freedom: Debian Social Contract and Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) Internet based distributed unpaid volunteer effort: http://www.debian.org Large number of pre-compiled high quality softwares Focus on stability and security with easy access to the security updates Focus on smooth upgrade to latest softwares with unstable and testing archives Large number of supported hardware architectures Free Software pieces in Debian come from GNU, Linux, BSD, X, ISC, Apache, Ghostscript, Common Unix Printing System , Samba, GNOME, KDE, Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Vim, TeX, LaTeX, DocBook, Perl, Python, Tcl, Java, Ruby, PHP, Berkeley DB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Exim, Postfix, Mutt, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Plan 9 and many more independent free software projects. Debian integrates this diversity of Free Software into one system.

3. About this document

3.1. Guiding rules
Following guiding rules are followed while compiling this document. Provide overview and skip corner cases. (Big Picture) Keep It Short and Simple. (KISS) Do not reinvent the wheel. (Use pointers to the existing references) Focus on non-GUI tools and consoles. (Use shell examples) Be objective. (Use popcon etc.)

Tip
I tried to elucidate hierarchical aspects and lower levels of the system.

3.2. Prerequisites Warning

You are expected to make good efforts to seek answers by yourself beyond this documentation. This document only gives efficient starting points. You must seek solution by yourself from primary sources. The Debian site at http://www.debian.org for the general information The documentation under the "/usr/share/doc/<package_name>" directory The Unix style manpage: "dpkg -L <package_name> |grep '/man/man.*/'" The GNU style info page: "dpkg -L <package_name> |grep '/info/'" The bug report: http://bugs.debian.org/<package_name> The Debian Wiki at http://wiki.debian.org/ for the moving and specific topics The HOWTOs from The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP) at http://tldp.org/ The Single UNIX Specification from the Open Group's The UNIX System Home Page at http://www.unix.org/ The free encyclopedia from Wikipedia at http://www.wikipedia.org/

Note
For detailed documentation, you may need to install the corresponding documentation package named with "-doc" as its suffix.

3.3. Conventions
This document provides information through the following simplified presentation style with bash(1) shell command examples.

# <command in root account> $ <command in user account> These shell prompts distinguish account used and correspond to set environment variables as: "PS1='\$'" and "PS2=' '". These values are chosen for the sake of readability of this document and are not typical on actual installed system.

Note
See the meaning of the "$PS1" and "$PS2" environment variables in bash(1). Action required by the system administrator is written in the imperative sentence, e.g. "Type Enter-key after typing each command string to the shell." The description column and similar ones in the table may contain a noun phrase following the package short description convention which drops leading articles such as "a" and "the". They may alternatively contain an infinitive phrase as a noun phrase without leading "to" following the short command description convention in manpages. These may look funny to some people but are my intentional choices of style to keep this documentation as simple as possible. These Noun phrases do not capitalize their starting nor end with periods following these short description convention.

Note
Proper nouns including command names keeps their case irrespective of their location. A command snippet quoted in a text paragraph is referred by the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "aptitude safe-upgrade". A text data from a configuration file quoted in a text paragraph is referred by the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "deb-src". A command is referred by its name in the typewriter font optionally followed by its manpage section number in parenthesis, such as bash(1). You are encouraged to obtain information by typing the following. $ man 1 bash A manpage is referred by its name in the typewriter font followed by its manpage section number in parenthesis, such as sources.list(5). You are encouraged to obtain information by typing the following. $ man 5 sources.list An info page is referred by its command snippet in the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "info make". You are encouraged to obtain information by typing the following. $ info make A filename is referred by the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "/etc/passwd". For configuration files, you are encouraged to obtain information by typing the following. $ sensible-pager "/etc/passwd" A directory name is referred by the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "/etc/init.d/". You are encouraged to explore its contents by typing the following. $ mc "/etc/init.d/" A package name is referred by its name in the typewriter font, such as vim. You are encouraged to obtain information by typing the following. $ dpkg -L vim $ apt-cache show vim $ aptitude show vim A documentation may indicate its location by the filename in the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "/usr/share/doc/sysv-rc/README.runlevels.gz" and "/usr/share/doc/base-passwd/users-and-groups.html"; or by its URL, such as http://www.debian.org. You are encouraged to read the documentation by typing the following. $ zcat "/usr/share/doc/sysv-rc/README.runlevels.gz" | sensible-pager $ sensible-browser "/usr/share/doc/base-passwd/users-and-groups.html" $ sensible-browse "http://www.debian.org" An environment variable is referred by its name with leading "$" in the typewriter font between double quotation marks, such as "$TERM". You are encouraged to obtain its current value by typing the following. $ echo "$TERM"

3.4. Debian BTS

Astarisk "*" placed right after each package name is linked to Debian bug tracking system (BTS) of each package.

3.5. The popcon

The popcon data is presented as the objective measure for the popularity of each package. It was downloaded on 2010-12-08 14:47:18 UTC and contains the total submission of 95150 reports over 109197 binary packages and 19 architectures.

Note

Please note that the amd64 unstable archive contains only 30552 packages currently. The popcon data contains reports from many old system installations. The popcon number preceded with "V:" for "votes" is calculated by "100 * (the popcon submissions for the package executed recently on the PC)/(the total popcon submissions)". The popcon number preceded with "I:" for "installs" is calculated by "100 * (the popcon submissions for the package installed on the PC)/(the total popcon submissions)".

Note
The popcon figures should not be considered as absolute measures of the importance of packages. There are many factors which can skew statistics. For example, some system participating popcon may have mounted directories such as "/bin" with "noatime" option for system performance improvement and effectively disabled "vote" from such system.

3.6. The package size

The package size data is also presented as the objective measure for each package. It is based on the "Installed-Size:" reported by "apt-cache show" or "aptitude show" command (currently on amd64 architecture for the unstable release). The reported size is in KiB (Kibibyte = unit for 1024 bytes).

Note
A package with a small numerical package size may indicate that the package in the unstable release is a dummy package which installs other packages with significant contents by the dependency. The dummy package enables a smooth transition or split of the package.

Note
A package size followed by "(*)" indicates that the package in the unstable release is missing and the package size for the experimental release is used instead.

3.7. Bug reports on this document

Please file bug reports on the debian-reference package using reportbug(1) if you find any issues on this document. Please include correction suggestion by "diff -u" to the plain text version or to the source.

4. Some quotes for new users

Here are some interesting quotes from the Debian mailing list which may help enlighten new users. "This is Unix. It gives you enough rope to hang yourself." --- Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels at cistron.nl> "Unix IS user friendly It's just selective about who its friends are." --- Tollef Fog Heen <tollef at add.no>

Chapter 1. GNU/Linux tutorials

I think learning a computer system is like learning a new foreign language. Although tutorial books and documentation are helpful, you have to practice it yourself. In order to help you get started smoothly, I elaborate a few basic points. The powerful design of Debian GNU/Linux comes from the Unix operating system, i.e., a multiuser, multitasking operating system. You must learn to take advantage of the power of these features and similarities between Unix and GNU/Linux. Don't shy away from Unix oriented texts and don't rely solely on GNU/Linux texts, as this robs you of much useful information.

Note
If you have been using any Unix-like system for a while with command line tools, you probably know everything I explain here. Please use this as a reality check and refresher.

1.1. Console basics

1.1.1. The shell prompt
Upon starting the system, you are presented with the character based login screen if you did not install X Window System with the display manager such as gdm. Suppose your hostname is foo, the login prompt looks as follows. foo login: If you did install a GUI environment such as GNOME or KDE, then you can get to a login prompt by Ctrl-AltF1, and you can return to the GUI environment via Alt-F7 (see Section 1.1.6, Virtual consoles below for more). At the login prompt, you type your username, e.g. penguin, and press the Enter-key, then type your password and press the Enter-key again.

Note

Following the Unix tradition, the username and password of the Debian system are case sensitive. The username is usually chosen only from the lowercase. The first user account is usually created during the installation. Additional user accounts can be created with adduser(8) by root. The system starts with the greeting message stored in "/etc/motd" (Message Of The Day) and presents a command prompt. Debian GNU/Linux lenny/sid foo tty1 foo login: penguin Password: Last login: Sun Apr 22 09:29:34 2007 on tty1 Linux snoopy 2.6.20-1-amd64 #1 SMP Sun Apr 15 20:25:49 UTC 2007 x86_64 The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software; the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright. Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law. foo:~$ Here, the main part of the greeting message can be customized by editing the "/etc/motd.tail" file. The first line is generated from the system information using "uname -snrvm". Now you are in the shell. The shell interprets your commands.

1.1.2. The shell prompt under X

If you installed X Window System with a display manager such as GNOME's gdm by selecting "Desktop environment" task during the installation, you are presented with the graphical login screen upon starting your system. You type your username and your password to login to the non-privileged user account. Use tab to navigate between username and password, or use the mouse and primary click. You can gain the shell prompt under X by starting a x-terminal-emulator program such as gnometerminal(1), rxvt(1) or xterm(1). Under the GNOME Desktop environment, clicking "Applications" "Accessories" "Terminal" does the trick. You can also see the section below Section 1.1.6, Virtual consoles. Under some other Desktop systems (like fluxbox), there may be no obvious starting point for the menu. If this happens, just try (right) clicking the center of the screen and hope for a menu to pop-up.

1.1.3. The root account

The root account is also called superuser or privileged user. From this account, you can perform the following system administration tasks. Read, write, and remove any files on the system irrespective of their file permissions Set file ownership and permissions of any files on the system Set the password of any non-privileged users on the system Login to any accounts without their passwords This unlimited power of root account requires you to be considerate and responsible when using it.

Warning
Never share the root password with others.

Note
File permissions of a file (including hardware devices such as CD-ROM etc. which are just another file for the Debian system) may render it unusable or inaccessible by non-root users. Although the use of root account is a quick way to test this kind of situation, its resolution should be done through proper setting of file permissions and user's group membership (see Section 1.2.3, Filesystem permissions).

1.1.4. The root shell prompt

Here are a few basic methods to gain the root shell prompt by using the root password. Type root at the character based login prompt. Click "Applications" "Accessories" "Root Terminal", under the GNOME Desktop environment. Type "su -l" from any user shell prompt. This does not preserve the environment of the current user. Type "su" from any user shell prompt. This preserves some of the environment of the current user.

1.1.5. GUI system administration tools

When your desktop menu does not start GUI system administration tools automatically with the appropriate privilege, you can start them from the root shell prompt of the X terminal emulator, such as gnome-terminal(1), rxvt(1), or xterm(1). See Section 1.1.4, The root shell prompt and Section 7.8.4, Running X clients as root.

Warning
Never start the X display/session manager under the root account by typing in root to the prompt of the display manager such as gdm(1).

Warning
Never run untrusted remote GUI program under X Window when critical information is displayed since it may eavesdrop your X screen.

1.1.6. Virtual consoles

In the default Debian system, there are six switchable VT100-like character consoles available to start the command shell directly on the Linux host. Unless you are in a GUI environment, you can switch between the virtual consoles by pressing the Left-Alt-key and one of the F1 F6 keys simultaneously. Each character console allows independent login to the account and offers the multiuser environment. This multiuser environment is a great Unix feature, and very addictive. If you are under the X Window System, you gain access to the character console 1 by pressing Ctrl-AltF1 key, i.e., the left-Ctrl-key, the left-Alt-key, and the F1-key are pressed together. You can get back to the X Window System, normally running on the virtual console 7, by pressing Alt-F7. You can alternatively change to another virtual console, e.g. to the console 1, from the commandline. # chvt 1

1.1.7. How to leave the command prompt

You type Ctrl-D, i.e., the left-Ctrl-key and the d-key pressed together, at the command prompt to close the shell activity. If you are at the character console, you return to the login prompt with this. Even though these control characters are referred as "control D" with the upper case, you do not need to press the Shift-key. The short hand expression, ^D, is also used for Ctrl-D. Alternately, you can type "exit". If you are at x-terminal-emulator(1), you can close x-terminal-emulator window with this.

1.1.8. How to shutdown the system

Just like any other modern OS where the file operation involves caching data in memory for improved performance, the Debian system needs the proper shutdown procedure before power can safely be turned off. This is to maintain the integrity of files, by forcing all changes in memory to be written to disk. If the software power control is available, the shutdown procedure automatically turns off power of the system. (Otherwise, you may have to press power button for few seconds after the shutdown procedure.) You can shutdown the system under the normal multiuser mode from the commandline. # shutdown -h now You can shutdown the system under the single-user mode from the commandline. # poweroff -i -f Alternatively, you may type Ctrl-Alt-Delete (The left-Ctrl-key, the left-Alt-Key, and the Delete are pressed together) to shutdown if "/etc/inittab" contains "ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t1 -a -h now" in it. See inittab(5) for details. See Section 6.9.6, How to shutdown the remote system on SSH.

1.1.9. Recovering a sane console

When the screen goes berserk after doing some funny things such as "cat <some-binary-file>", type "reset" at the command prompt. You may not be able to see the command echoed as you type. You may also issue "clear" to clean up the screen.

1.1.10. Additional package suggestions for the newbie

Although even the minimal installation of the Debian system without any desktop environment tasks provides the basic Unix functionality, it is a good idea to install few additional commandline and curses based character terminal packages such as mc and vim with apt-get(8) for beginners to get started by the following. # apt-get update ... # apt-get install mc vim sudo ... If you already had these packages installed, no new packages are installed. Table 1.1. List of interesting text-mode program packages package mc * sudo * vim * emacs23 * w3m * popcon size V:12, I:28 6508 V:42, I:71 668 V:15, I:33 1792 V:3, I:4 description A text-mode full-screen file manager A program to allow limited root privileges to users Unix text editor Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor (standard version) Unix text editor Vi IMproved, a programmers text editor (compact version) Text-mode WWW browsers

vim-tiny * V:16, I:92 776 V:24, I:84 1992

13016 GNU project Emacs, the Lisp based extensible text editor (version 23)

gpm *

V:3, I:4

484

The Unix style cut-and-paste on the text console (daemon)

It may be a good idea to read some informative documentations. Table 1.2. List of informative documentation packages package doc-debian * debian-policy * popcon size I:82 I:3 408 3500 1388 776 3736 1224 8616 964 description Debian Project documentation, (Debian FAQ) and other documents Debian Policy Manual and related documents Guidelines and information for Debian developers Debian New Maintainers' Guide History of the Debian Project Debian FAQ Linux HOWTOs and FAQ (text) The Linux System Administrators' Guide

developers-reference I:1.0 * maint-guide * debian-history * debian-faq * doc-linux-text * doc-linux-html * sysadmin-guide * I:0.7 I:0.3 I:66 I:82 I:0.7 I:0.2

62564 Linux HOWTOs and FAQ (html)

You can install some of these packages by the following. # apt-get install package_name

1.1.11. An extra user account

If you do not want to use your main user account for the following training activities, you can create a training user account, e.g. fish by the following. # adduser fish Answer all questions. This creates a new account named as fish. After your practice, you can remove this user account and its home directory by the following. # deluser --remove-home fish

1.1.12. sudo configuration

For the typical single user workstation such as the desktop Debian system on the laptop PC, it is common to deploy simple configuration of sudo(8) as follows to let the non-privileged user, e.g. penguin, to gain administrative privilege just with his user password but without the root password. # echo "penguin ALL=(ALL) ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

Alternatively, it is also common to do as follows to let the non-privileged user, e.g. penguin, to gain administrative privilege without any password. # echo "penguin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >> /etc/sudoers

This trick should only be used for the single user workstation which you administer and where you are the only user.

Warning
Do not set up accounts of regular users on multiuser workstation like this because it would be very bad for system security.

Caution
The password and the account of the penguin in the above example requires as much protection as the root password and the root account.

Caution
Administrative privilege in this context belongs to someone authorized to perform the system administration task on the workstation. Never give some manager in the Admin department of your company or your boss such privilege unless they are authorized and capable.

Note
For providing access privilege to limited devices and limited files, you should consider to use group to provide limited access instead of using the root privilege via sudo(8).

Note
With more thoughtful and careful configuration, sudo(8) can grant limited administrative privileges to other users on a shared system without sharing the root password. This can help with accountability with hosts with multiple administrators so you can tell who did what. On the other hand, you might not want anyone else to have such privileges.

1.1.13. Play time

Now you are ready to play with the Debian system without risks as long as you use the non-privileged user account. This is because the Debian system is, even after the default installation, configured with proper file permissions which prevent non-privileged users from damaging the system. Of course, there may still be some holes which can be exploited but those who worry about these issues should not be reading this section but should be reading Securing Debian Manual. We learn the Debian system as a Unix-like system with the following. Section 1.2, Unix-like filesystem (basic concept) Section 1.3, Midnight Commander (MC) (survival method) Section 1.4, The basic Unix-like work environment (basic method) Section 1.5, The simple shell command (shell mechanism) Section 1.6, Unix-like text processing (text processing method)

1.2. Unix-like filesystem

In GNU/Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, files are organized into directories. All files and directories are arranged in one big tree rooted at "/". It's called a tree because if you draw the filesystem, it looks like a tree but it is upside down. These files and directories can be spread out over several devices. mount(8) serves to attach the filesystem found on some device to the big file tree. Conversely, umount(8) detaches it again. On recent Linux kernels, mount(8) with some options can bind part of a file tree somewhere else or can mount filesystem as shared, private, slave, or unbindable. Supported mount options for each filesystem are available in "/share/doc/linux-doc-2.6.*/Documentation/filesystems/". Directories on Unix systems are called folders on some other systems. Please also note that there is no concept for drive such as "A:" on any Unix system. There is one filesystem, and everything is included. This is a huge advantage compared to Windows.

1.2.1. Unix file basics

Here are some Unix file basics. Filenames are case sensitive. That is, "MYFILE" and "MyFile" are different files. The root directory means root of the filesystem referred as simply "/". Don't confuse this with the home directory for the root user: "/root". Every directory has a name which can contain any letters or symbols except "/". The root directory is an exception; its name is "/" (pronounced "slash" or "the root directory") and it cannot be renamed. Each file or directory is designated by a fully-qualified filename, absolute filename, or path, giving the sequence of directories which must be passed through to reach it. The three terms are synonymous. All fully-qualified filenames begin with the "/" directory, and there's a "/" between each directory or file in the filename. The first "/" is the top level directory, and the other "/"'s separate successive subdirectories, until we reach the last entry which is the name of the actual file. The words used here can be confusing. Take the following fully-qualified filename as an example: "/usr/share/keytables/us.map.gz". However, people also refers to its basename "us.map.gz" alone as a filename. The root directory has a number of branches, such as "/etc/" and "/usr/". These subdirectories in turn branch into still more subdirectories, such as "/etc/init.d/" and "/usr/local/". The whole thing viewed collectively is called the directory tree. You can think of an absolute filename as a route from the base of the tree ("/") to the end of some branch (a file). You also hear people talk about the directory tree as if it were a family tree: thus subdirectories have parents, and a path shows the complete ancestry of a file. There are also relative paths that begin somewhere other than the root directory. You should remember that the directory "../" refers to the parent directory. This terminology also applies to other directory like structures, such as hierarchical data structures. There's no special directory path name component that corresponds to a physical device, such as your hard disk. This differs from RT-11, CP/M, OpenVMS, MS-DOS, AmigaOS, and Microsoft Windows, where the path contains a device name such as "C:\". (However, directory entries do exist that refer to physical devices as a part of the normal filesystem. See Section 1.2.2, Filesystem internals.)

Note
While you can use almost any letters or symbols in a file name, in practice it is a bad idea to do so. It is better to avoid any characters that often have special meanings on the command line, including spaces, tabs, newlines, and other special characters: { } ( ) [ ] ' ` " \ / > < | ; ! # & ^ * % @ $ . If you want to separate words in a name, good choices are the period, hyphen, and underscore. You could also capitalize each word, "LikeThis". Experienced Linux users tend to avoid spaces in filenames.

Note
The word "root" can mean either "root user" or "root directory". The context of their usage should make it clear.

Note
The word path is used not only for fully-qualified filename as above but also for the command search path. The intended meaning is usually clear from the context. The detailed best practices for the file hierarchy are described in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

("/usr/share/doc/debian-policy/fhs/fhs-2.3.txt.gz" and hier(7)). You should remember the following facts as the starter. Table 1.3. List of usage of key directories directory usage of the directory / /etc/ /home/ the root directory system wide configuration files all the home directories for all non-privileged users

/var/log/ system log files

1.2.2. Filesystem internals

Following the Unix tradition, the Debian GNU/Linux system provides the filesystem under which physical data on hard disks and other storage devices reside, and the interaction with the hardware devices such as console screens and remote serial consoles are represented in an unified manner under "/dev/". Each file, directory, named pipe (a way two programs can share data), or physical device on a Debian GNU/Linux system has a data structure called an inode which describes its associated attributes such as the user who owns it (owner), the group that it belongs to, the time last accessed, etc. If you are really interested, see "/usr/include/linux/fs.h" for the exact definition of "struct inode" in the Debian GNU/Linux system. The idea of representing just about everything in the filesystem was a Unix innovation, and modern Linux kernels have developed this idea ever further. Now, even information about processes running in the computer can be found in the filesystem. This abstract and unified representation of physical entities and internal processes is very powerful since this allows us to use the same command for the same kind of operation on many totally different devices. It is even possible to change the way the kernel works by writing data to special files that are linked to running processes.

Tip
If you need to identify the correspondence between the file tree and the physical entity, execute mount(8) with no arguments.

1.2.3. Filesystem permissions

Filesystem permissions of Unix-like system are defined for three categories of affected users. The user who owns the file (u) Other users in the group which the file belongs to (g) All other users (o) also referred to as "world" and "everyone" For the file, each corresponding permission allows following actions. The read (r) permission allows owner to examine contents of the file. The write (w) permission allows owner to modify the file. The execute (x) permission allows owner to run the file as a command. For the directory, each corresponding permission allows following actions. The read (r) permission allows owner to list contents of the directory. The write (w) permission allows owner to add or remove files in the directory. The execute (x) permission allows owner to access files in the directory. Here, the execute permission on a directory means not only to allow reading of files in that directory but also to allow viewing their attributes, such as the size and the modification time. ls(1) is used to display permission information (and more) for files and directories. When it is invoked with the "-l" option, it displays the following information in the order given. Type of file (first character) Access permission of the file (nine characters, consisting of three characters each for user, group, and other in this order) Number of hard links to the file Name of the user who owns the file Name of the group which the file belongs to Size of the file in characters (bytes) Date and time of the file (mtime) Name of the file Table 1.4. List of the first character of "ls -l" output character meaning d l c b p s normal file directory symlink character device node block device node named pipe socket

chown(1) is used from the root account to change the owner of the file. chgrp(1) is used from the file's owner or root account to change the group of the file. chmod(1) is used from the file's owner or root account to change file and directory access permissions. Basic syntax to manipulate a foo file is the following. # chown <newowner> foo # chgrp <newgroup> foo # chmod [ugoa][+-=][rwxXst][,...] foo For example, you can make a directory tree to be owned by a user foo and shared by a group bar by the following. # cd /some/location/ # chown -R foo:bar . # chmod -R ug+rwX,o=rX . There are three more special permission bits. The set user ID bit (s or S instead of user's x) The set group ID bit (s or S instead of group's x) The sticky bit (t or T instead of other's x) Here the output of "ls -l" for these bits is capitalized if execution bits hidden by these outputs are unset. Setting set user ID on an executable file allows a user to execute the executable file with the owner ID of the file (for example root). Similarly, setting set group ID on an executable file allows a user to execute the executable file with the group ID of the file (for example root). Because these settings can cause security risks, enabling them requires extra caution. Setting set group ID on a directory enables the BSD-like file creation scheme where all files created in the directory belong to the group of the directory. Setting the sticky bit on a directory prevents a file in the directory from being removed by a user who is not the owner of the file. In order to secure contents of a file in world-writable directories such as "/tmp" or in group-writable directories, one must not only reset the write permission for the file but also set the sticky bit on the directory. Otherwise, the file can be removed and a new file can be created with the same name by any user who has write access to the directory. Here are a few interesting examples of file permissions. $ ls -l /etc/passwd /etc/shadow /dev/ppp /usr/sbin/exim4 crw------- 1 root root 108, 0 2007-04-29 07:00 /dev/ppp -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1427 2007-04-16 00:19 /etc/passwd -rw-r----- 1 root shadow 943 2007-04-16 00:19 /etc/shadow -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 700056 2007-04-22 05:29 /usr/sbin/exim4 $ ls -ld /tmp /var/tmp /usr/local /var/mail /usr/src drwxrwxrwt 10 root root 4096 2007-04-29 07:59 /tmp drwxrwsr-x 10 root staff 4096 2007-03-24 18:48 /usr/local drwxrwsr-x 4 root src 4096 2007-04-27 00:31 /usr/src drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 2007-03-28 23:33 /var/mail drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 2007-04-29 07:11 /var/tmp There is an alternative numeric mode to describe file permissions with chmod(1). This numeric mode uses 3 to 4 digit wide octal (radix=8) numbers. Table 1.5. The numeric mode for file permissions in chmod(1) commands digit meaning

1st optional digit sum of set user ID (=4), set group ID (=2), and sticky bit (=1) 2nd digit 3rd digit 4th digit sum of read (=4), write (=2), and execute (=1) permissions for user ditto for group ditto for other

This sounds complicated but it is actually quite simple. If you look at the first few (2-10) columns from "ls -l" command output and read it as a binary (radix=2) representation of file permissions ("-" being "0" and "rwx" being "1"), the last 3 digit of the numeric mode value should make sense as an octal (radix=8) representation of file permissions to you. For example, try the following $ touch foo bar $ chmod u=rw,go=r foo $ chmod 644 bar $ ls -l foo bar -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin 17 2007-04-29 08:22 bar -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin 12 2007-04-29 08:22 foo

Tip
If you need to access information displayed by "ls -l" in shell script, you should use pertinent commands such as test(1), stat(1) and readlink(1). The shell builtin such as "[" or "test" may be used too.

1.2.4. Control of permissions for newly created files: umask

What permissions are applied to a newly created file or directory is restricted by the umask shell builtin command. See dash(1), bash(1), and builtins(7). (file permissions) = (requested file permissions) & ~(umask value) Table 1.6. The umask value examples umask file permissions created directory permissions created usage 0022 0002 -rw-r--r--rw-rw-r--rwxr-xr-x -rwxrwxr-x writable only by the user writable by the group

The Debian system uses a user private group (UPG) scheme as its default. A UPG is created whenever a new user is added to the system. A UPG has the same name as the user for which it was created and that user is the only member of the UPG. UPG scheme makes it is safe to set umask to 0002 since every user has their own private group. (In some Unix variants, it is quite common to setup all normal users belonging to a single users group and is good idea to set umask to 0022 for security in such cases.)

1.2.5. Permissions for groups of users (group)

In order to make group permissions to be applied to a particular user, that user needs to be made a member of the group using "sudo vigr".

Note
Alternatively, you may dynamically add users to groups during the authentication process by adding "auth optional pam_group.so" line to "/etc/pam.d/common-auth" and setting "/etc/security/group.conf". (See Chapter 4, Authentication.) The hardware devices are just another kind of file on the Debian system. If you have problems accessing devices such as CD-ROM and USB memory stick from a user account, you should make that user a member of the relevant group. Some notable system-provided groups allow their members to access particular files and devices without root privilege. Table 1.7. List of notable system-provided groups for file access group description for accessible files and devices

dialout full and direct access to serial ports ("/dev/ttyS[0-3]") dip cdrom audio video adm staff limited access to serial ports for Dialup IP connection to trusted peers CD-ROM, DVD+/-RW drives audio device video device system monitoring logs some directories for junior administrative work: "/usr/local", "/home"

scanner scanner(s)

Tip
You need to belong to the dialout group to reconfigure modem, dial anywhere, etc. But if root creates pre-defined configuration files for trusted peers in "/etc/ppp/peers/", you only need to belong to the dip group to create Dialup IP connection to those trusted peers using pppd(8), pon(1), and poff(1) commands. Some notable system-provided groups allow their members to execute particular commands without root privilege. Table 1.8. List of notable system provided groups for particular command executions group sudo accessible commands execute sudo without their password

lpadmin execute commands to add, modify, and remove printers from printer databases plugdev execute pmount(1) for removable devices such as USB memories

For the full listing of the system provided users and groups, see the recent version of the "Users and Groups" document in "/usr/share/doc/base-passwd/users-and-groups.html" provided by the basepasswd package. See passwd(5), group(5), shadow(5), newgrp(1), vipw(8), vigr(8), and pam_group(8) for management commands of the user and group system.

1.2.6. Timestamps
There are three types of timestamps for a GNU/Linux file. Table 1.9. List of types of timestamps

type

meaning

mtime the file modification time (ls -l) ctime the file status change time (ls -lc) atime the last file access time (ls -lu)

Note
ctime is not file creation time. Overwriting a file changes all of the mtime, ctime, and atime attributes of the file. Changing ownership or permission of a file changes the ctime and atime attributes of the file. Reading a file changes the atime of the file.

Note
Even simply reading a file on the Debian system normally causes a file write operation to update atime information in the inode. Mounting a filesystem with "noatime" or "relatime" option makes the system skip this operation and results in faster file access for the read. This is often recommended for laptops, because it reduces hard drive activity and saves power. See mount(8). Use touch(1) command to change timestamps of existing files. For timestamps, the ls command outputs different strings under the modern English locale ("en_US.UTF8") from under the old one ("C"). $ LANG=en_US.UTF-8 ls -l foo -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin 3 2008-03-05 00:47 foo $ LANG=C ls -l foo -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin 3 Mar 5 00:47 foo

Tip
See Section 9.2.5, Customized display of time and date to customize "ls -l" output.

1.2.7. Links
There are two methods of associating a file "foo" with a different filename "bar". Hard link Duplicate name for an existing file "ln foo bar" Symbolic link or symlink Special file that points to another file by name "ln -s foo bar" See the following example for changes in link counts and the subtle differences in the result of the rm command. $ echo "Original Content" > foo $ ls -li foo 2398521 -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin $ ln foo bar # hard link $ ln -s foo baz # symlink $ ls -li foo bar baz 2398521 -rw-r--r-- 2 penguin penguin 2398538 lrwxrwxrwx 1 penguin penguin 2398521 -rw-r--r-- 2 penguin penguin $ rm foo $ echo "New Content" > foo $ ls -li foo bar baz 2398521 -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin 2398538 lrwxrwxrwx 1 penguin penguin 2398540 -rw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin $ cat bar Original Content $ cat baz New Content

17 2007-04-29 08:15 foo

17 2007-04-29 08:15 bar 3 2007-04-29 08:16 baz -> foo 17 2007-04-29 08:15 foo

17 2007-04-29 08:15 bar 3 2007-04-29 08:16 baz -> foo 12 2007-04-29 08:17 foo

The hardlink can be made within the same filesystem and shares the same inode number which the "-i" option with ls(1) reveals. The symlink always has nominal file access permissions of "rwxrwxrwx", as shown in the above example, with the effective access permissions dictated by permissions of the file that it points to.

Caution
It is generally good idea not to create complicated symbolic links or hardlinks at all unless you have a very good reason. It may cause nightmares where the logical combination of the symbolic links results in loops in the filesystem.

Note

It is generally preferable to use symbolic links rather than hardlinks unless you have a good reason for using a hardlink. The "." directory links to the directory that it appears in, thus the link count of any new directory starts at 2. The ".." directory links to the parent directory, thus the link count of the directory increases with the addition of new subdirectories. If you are just moving to Linux from Windows, it soon becomes clear how well-designed the filename linking of Unix is, compared with the nearest Windows equivalent of "shortcuts". Because it is implemented in the filesystem, applications can't see any difference between a linked file and the original. In the case of hardlinks, there really is no difference.

1.2.8. Named pipes (FIFOs)

A named pipe is a file that acts like a pipe. You put something into the file, and it comes out the other end. Thus it's called a FIFO, or First-In-First-Out: the first thing you put in the pipe is the first thing to come out the other end. If you write to a named pipe, the process which is writing to the pipe doesn't terminate until the information being written is read from the pipe. If you read from a named pipe, the reading process waits until there is nothing to read before terminating. The size of the pipe is always zero --- it does not store data, it just links two processes like the shell "|". However, since this pipe has a name, the two processes don't have to be on the same command line or even be run by the same user. Pipes were a very influential innovation of Unix. For example, try the following $ cd; mkfifo mypipe $ echo "hello" >mypipe & # put into background [1] 8022 $ ls -l mypipe prw-r--r-- 1 penguin penguin 0 2007-04-29 08:25 mypipe $ cat mypipe hello [1]+ Done echo "hello" >mypipe $ ls mypipe mypipe $ rm mypipe

1.2.9. Sockets
Sockets are used extensively by all the Internet communication, databases, and the operating system itself. It is similar to the named pipe (FIFO) and allows processes to exchange information even between different computers. For the socket, those processes do not need to be running at the same time nor to be running as the children of the same ancestor process. This is the endpoint for the inter process communication (IPC). The exchange of information may occur over the network between different hosts. The two most common ones are the Internet socket and the Unix domain socket.

Tip
"netstat -an" provides a very useful overview of sockets that are open on a given system.

1.2.10. Device files

Device files refer to physical or virtual devices on your system, such as your hard disk, video card, screen, or keyboard. An example of a virtual device is the console, represented by "/dev/console". There are 2 types of device files. Character device Accessed one character at a time 1 character = 1 byte E.g. keyboard device, serial port, Block device accessed in larger units called blocks 1 block > 1 byte E.g. hard disk, You can read and write device files, though the file may well contain binary data which may be an incomprehensible-to-humans gibberish. Writing data directly to these files is sometimes useful for the troubleshooting of hardware connections. For example, you can dump a text file to the printer device "/dev/lp0" or send modem commands to the appropriate serial port "/dev/ttyS0". But, unless this is done carefully, it may cause a major disaster. So be cautious.

Note
For the normal access to a printer, use lp(1). The device node number are displayed by executing ls(1) as the following. $ ls -l /dev/hda /dev/ttyS0 /dev/zero brw-rw---- 1 root cdrom 3, 0 2007-04-29 07:00 /dev/hda crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 4, 64 2007-04-29 07:00 /dev/ttyS0 crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1, 5 2007-04-29 07:00 /dev/zero

"/dev/hda" has the major device number 3 and the minor device number 0. This is read/write accessible by the user who belongs to cdrom group. "/dev/ttyS0" has the major device number 4 and the minor device number 64. This is read/write accessible by the user who belongs to dialout group. "/dev/zero" has the major device number 1 and the minor device number 5. This is read/write accessible by anyone. In the Linux 2.6 system, the filesystem under "/dev/" is automatically populated by the udev(7) mechanism.

1.2.11. Special device files

There are some special device files. Table 1.10. List of special device files device file /dev/null /dev/null /dev/zero /dev/random action description of response read write read read return "end-of-file (EOF) character" return nothing (a bottomless data dump pit) return "the \0 (NUL) character" (not the same as the number zero ASCII) return random characters from a true random number generator, delivering real entropy (slow) return random characters from a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator return the disk-full (ENOSPC) error

/dev/urandom read /dev/full write

These are frequently used in conjunction with the shell redirection (see Section 1.5.8, Typical command sequences and shell redirection).

1.2.12. procfs and sysfs

The procfs and sysfs mounted on "/proc" and "/sys" are the pseudo-filesystem and expose internal data structures of the kernel to the userspace. In other word, these entries are virtual, meaning that they act as a convenient window into the operation of the operating system. The directory "/proc" contains (among other things) one subdirectory for each process running on the system, which is named after the process ID (PID). System utilities that access process information, such as ps(1), get their information from this directory structure. The directories under "/proc/sys/" contain interface to change certain kernel parameters at run time. (You may do the same through specialized sysctl(8) command or its preload/configuration file "/etc/sysctrl.conf".)

Note
The Linux kernel may complain "Too many open files". You can fix this by increasing "filemax" value to a larger value from the root shell, e.g., "echo "65536" > /proc/sys/fs/file-max" (This was needed on older kernels). People frequently panic when they notice one file in particular - "/proc/kcore" - which is generally huge. This is (more or less) a copy of the content of your computer's memory. It's used to debug the kernel. It is a virtual file that points to computer memory, so don't worry about its size. The directory under "/sys" contains exported kernel data structures, their attributes, and their linkages between them. It also contains interface to change certain kernel parameters at run time. See "proc.txt(.gz)", "sysfs.txt(.gz)" and other related documents in the Linux kernel documentation ("/usr/share/doc/linux-doc-2.6.*/Documentation/filesystems/*") provided by the linux-doc-2.6.* package.

1.3. Midnight Commander (MC)

Midnight Commander (MC) is a GNU "Swiss army knife" for the Linux console and other terminal environments. This gives newbie a menu driven console experience which is much easier to learn than standard Unix commands. You may need to install the Midnight Commander package which is titled "mc" by the following. $ sudo apt-get install mc Use the mc(1) command to explore the Debian system. This is the best way to learn. Please explore few interesting locations just using the cursor keys and Enter key. "/etc" and its subdirectories "/var/log" and its subdirectories "/usr/share/doc" and its subdirectories "/sbin" and "/bin"

1.3.1. Customization of MC
In order to make MC to change working directory upon exit and cd to the directory, I suggest to modify "~/.bashrc" to include a script provided by the mc package. . /usr/share/mc/bin/mc.sh

See mc(1) (under the "-P" option) for the reason. (If you do not understand what exactly I am talking here, you can do this later.)

1.3.2. Starting MC
MC can be started by the following. $ mc MC takes care of all file operations through its menu, requiring minimal user effort. Just press F1 to get the help screen. You can play with MC just by pressing cursor-keys and function-keys.

Note
In some consoles such as gnome-terminal(1), key strokes of function-keys may be stolen by the console program. You can disable these features by "Edit" "Keyboard Shortcuts" for gnome-terminal. If you encounter character encoding problem which displays garbage characters, adding "-a" to MC's command line may help prevent problems. If this doesn't clear up your display problems with MC, see Section 9.6.6, The terminal configuration.

1.3.3. File manager in MC

The default is two directory panels containing file lists. Another useful mode is to set the right window to "information" to see file access privilege information, etc. Following are some essential keystrokes. With the gpm(8) daemon running, one can use a mouse on Linux character consoles, too. (Make sure to press the shift-key to obtain the normal behavior of cut and paste in MC.) Table 1.11. The key bindings of MC key F1 F3 F4 F9 F10 Tab Del Cursor keys key binding help menu internal file viewer internal editor activate pull down menu exit Midnight Commander move between two windows delete file (be careful---set MC to safe delete mode) self-explanatory

Insert or Ctrl-T mark file for a multiple-file operation such as copy

1.3.4. Command-line tricks in MC

cd command changes the directory shown on the selected screen. Ctrl-Enter or Alt-Enter copies a filename to the command line. Use this with cp(1) and mv(1) commands together with command-line editing. Alt-Tab shows shell filename expansion choices. One can specify the starting directory for both windows as arguments to MC; for example, "mc /etc /root". Esc + n-key Fn (i.e., Esc + 1 F1, etc.; Esc + 0 F10) Pressing Esc before the key has the same effect as pressing the Alt and the key together.; i.e., type Esc + c for Alt-C. Esc is called meta-key and sometimes noted as "M-".

1.3.5. The internal editor in MC

The internal editor has an interesting cut-and-paste scheme. Pressing F3 marks the start of a selection, a second F3 marks the end of selection and highlights the selection. Then you can move your cursor. If you press F6, the selected area is moved to the cursor location. If you press F5, the selected area is copied and inserted at the cursor location. F2 saves the file. F10 gets you out. Most cursor keys work intuitively. This editor can be directly started on a file using one of the following commands. $ mc -e filename_to_edit $ mcedit filename_to_edit This is not a multi-window editor, but one can use multiple Linux consoles to achieve the same effect. To copy between windows, use Alt-F<n> keys to switch virtual consoles and use "FileInsert file" or "FileCopy to file" to move a portion of a file to another file. This internal editor can be replaced with any external editor of choice. Also, many programs use the environment variables "$EDITOR" or "$VISUAL" to decide which editor to use. If you are uncomfortable with vim(1) or nano(1) initially, you may set these to "mcedit" by adding the following lines to "~/.bashrc". export EDITOR=mcedit export VISUAL=mcedit I do recommend setting these to "vim" if possible.

If you are uncomfortable with vim(1), you can keep using mcedit(1) for most system maintenance tasks.

1.3.6. The internal viewer in MC

MC is a very smart viewer. This is a great tool for searching words in documents. I always use this for files in the "/usr/share/doc" directory. This is the fastest way to browse through masses of Linux information. This viewer can be directly started using one of the following commands. $ mc -v path/to/filename_to_view $ mcview path/to/filename_to_view

1.3.7. Auto-start features of MC

Press Enter on a file, and the appropriate program handles the content of the file (see Section 9.5.11, Customizing program to be started). This is a very convenient MC feature. Table 1.12. The reaction to the enter key in MC file type executable file man file html file reaction to enter key execute command pipe content to viewer software pipe content to web browser

"*.tar.gz" and "*.deb" file browse its contents as if subdirectory

In order to allow these viewer and virtual file features to function, viewable files should not be set as executable. Change their status using chmod(1) or via the MC file menu.

1.3.8. FTP virtual filesystem of MC

MC can be used to access files over the Internet using FTP. Go to the menu by pressing F9, then type "p" to activate the FTP virtual filesystem. Enter a URL in the form "username:[email protected]", which retrieves a remote directory that appears like a local one. Try "[http.us.debian.org/debian]" as the URL and browse the Debian archive.

1.4. The basic Unix-like work environment

Although MC enables you to do almost everything, it is very important for you to learn how to use the command line tools invoked from the shell prompt and become familiar with the Unix-like work environment.

1.4.1. The login shell

You can select your login shell with chsh(1). Table 1.13. List of shell programs package popcon bash * tcsh * dash * zsh * pdksh * csh * sash * ksh * rc * posh * V:91, I:99 V:4, I:27 V:25, I:32 V:3, I:6 V:0.6, I:2 size 3536 768 248 POSIX shell Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes description Bash: the GNU Bourne Again SHell (de facto standard) TENEX C Shell: an enhanced version of Berkeley csh Debian Almquist Shell, good for shell script Z shell: the standard shell with many enhancements public domain version of the Korn shell OpenBSD C Shell, a version of Berkeley csh Stand-alone shell with builtin commands (Not meant for standard "/bin/sh") the real, AT&T version of the Korn shell implementation of the AT&T Plan 9 rc shell Policy-compliant Ordinary SHell (pdksh derivative)

12784 Yes 404

V:0.2, I:1.1 468

V:0.2, I:1.0 856 V:0.5, I:1.6 2800 V:0.16, I:1.6 V:0.01, I:0.11 204 228

In this tutorial chapter, the interactive shell always means bash.

1.4.2. Customizing bash

You can customize bash(1) behavior by "~/.bashrc". For example, try the following. # CD upon exiting MC . /usr/share/mc/bin/mc.sh # set CDPATH to good one CDPATH=.:/usr/share/doc:~:~/Desktop:~ export CDPATH

PATH="${PATH}":/usr/sbin:/sbin # set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists if [ -d ~/bin ] ; then PATH=~/bin:"${PATH}" fi export PATH EDITOR=vim export EDITOR

Tip
You can find more bash customization tips, such as Section 9.2.7, Colorized commands, in Chapter 9, System tips.

1.4.3. Special key strokes

In the Unix-like environment, there are few key strokes which have special meanings. Please note that on a normal Linux character console, only the left-hand Ctrl and Alt keys work as expected. Here are few notable key strokes to remember. Table 1.14. List of key bindings for bash key Ctrl-U Ctrl-H Ctrl-D Ctrl-C Ctrl-Z Ctrl-S Ctrl-Q Ctrl-Alt-Del Left-Alt-key (optionally, Windowskey) Up-arrow Ctrl-R Tab Ctrl-V Tab description of key binding erase line before cursor erase a character before cursor terminate input (exit shell if you are using shell) terminate a running program temporarily stop program by moving it to the background job halt output to screen reactivate output to screen reboot/halt the system, see inittab(5) meta-key for Emacs and the similar UI start command history search under bash start incremental command history search under bash complete input of the filename to the command line under bash input Tab without expansion to the command line under bash

Tip
The terminal feature of Ctrl-S can be disabled using stty(1).

1.4.4. Unix style mouse operations

Unix style mouse operations are based on the 3 button mouse system. Table 1.15. List of Unix style mouse operations action response

Left-click-and-drag mouse select and copy to the clipboard Left-click Right-click Middle-click select the start of selection select the end of selection and copy to the clipboard paste clipboard at the cursor

The center wheel on the modern wheel mouse is considered middle mouse button and can be used for middle-click. Clicking left and right mouse buttons together serves as the middle-click under the 2 button mouse system situation. In order to use a mouse in Linux character consoles, you need to have gpm(8) running as daemon.

1.4.5. The pager

less(1) is the enhanced pager (file content browser). Hit "h" for help. It can do much more than more(1) and can be supercharged by executing "eval $(lesspipe)" or "eval $(lessfile)" in the shell startup script. See more in "/usr/share/doc/lessf/LESSOPEN". The "-R" option allows raw character output and enables ANSI color escape sequences. See less(1).

1.4.6. The text editor

You should become proficient in one of variants of Vim or Emacs programs which are popular in the Unixlike system. I think getting used to Vim commands is the right thing to do, since Vi-editor is always there in the Linux/Unix world. (Actually, original vi or new nvi are programs you find everywhere. I chose Vim instead for newbie since it offers you help through F1 key while it is similar enough and more powerful.)

If you chose either Emacs or XEmacs instead as your choice of the editor, that is another good choice indeed, particularly for programming. Emacs has a plethora of other features as well, including functioning as a newsreader, directory editor, mail program, etc. When used for programming or editing shell scripts, it intelligently recognizes the format of what you are working on, and tries to provide assistance. Some people maintain that the only program they need on Linux is Emacs. Ten minutes learning Emacs now can save hours later. Having the GNU Emacs manual for reference when learning Emacs is highly recommended. All these programs usually come with tutoring program for you to learn them by practice. Start Vim by typing "vim" and press F1-key. You should at least read the first 35 lines. Then do the online training course by moving cursor to "|tutor|" and pressing Ctrl-].

Note
Good editors, such as Vim and Emacs, can be used to handle UTF-8 and other exotic encoding texts correctly with proper option in the x-terminal-emulator on X under UTF-8 locale with proper font settings. Please refer to their documentation on multibyte text.

1.4.7. Setting a default text editor

Debian comes with a number of different editors. We recommend to install the vim package, as mentioned above. Debian provides unified access to the system default editor via command "/usr/bin/editor" so other programs (e.g., reportbug(1)) can invoke it. You can change it by the following. $ sudo update-alternatives --config editor The choice "/usr/bin/vim.basic" over "/usr/bin/vim.tiny" is my recommendation for newbies since it supports syntax highlighting.

Tip
Many programs use the environment variables "$EDITOR" or "$VISUAL" to decide which editor to use (see Section 1.3.5, The internal editor in MC and Section 9.5.11, Customizing program to be started). For the consistency on Debian system, set these to "/usr/bin/editor". (Historically, "$EDITOR" was "ed" and "$VISUAL" was "vi".)

1.4.8. Customizing vim

You can customize vim(1) behavior by "~/.vimrc". For example, try the following " ------------------------------" Local configuration " set nocompatible set nopaste set pastetoggle=<f2> syn on if $USER == "root" set nomodeline set noswapfile else set modeline set swapfile endif " filler to avoid the line above being recognized as a modeline " filler " filler

1.4.9. Recording the shell activities

The output of the shell command may roll off your screen and may be lost forever. It is good practice to log shell activities into the file for you to review them later. This kind of record is essential when you perform any system administration tasks. The basic method of recording the shell activity is to run it under script(1). For example, try the following $ script Script started, file is typescript Do whatever shell commands under script. Press Ctrl-D to exit script. $ vim typescript See Section 9.2.3, Recording the shell activities cleanly .

1.4.10. Basic Unix commands

Let's learn basic Unix commands. Here I use "Unix" in its generic sense. Any Unix clone OSs usually offer equivalent commands. The Debian system is no exception. Do not worry if some commands do not work as you wish now. If alias is used in the shell, its corresponding command outputs are different. These

examples are not meant to be executed in this order. Try all following commands from the non-privileged user account. Table 1.16. List of basic Unix commands command pwd whoami id file <foo> type -p <commandname> which <commandname> type <commandname> apropos <keyword> man -k <keyword> whatis <commandname> man -a <commandname> info <commandname> ls ls -a ls -A ls -la ls -lai ls -d tree lsof <foo> lsof -p <pid> mkdir <foo> rmdir <foo> cd <foo> cd / cd cd /<foo> cd .. cd ~<foo> cd </etc/motd pager touch <junkfile> cp <foo> <bar> rm <junkfile> mv <foo> <bar> mv <foo> <bar> mv <foo> <bar>/<baz> chmod 600 <foo> chmod 644 <foo> chmod 755 <foo> find . -name <pattern> locate -d . <pattern> grep -e "<pattern>" description display name of current/working directory display current user name display current user identity (name, uid, gid, and associated groups) display a type of file for the file "<foo>" display a file location of command "<commandname>" ,, display information on command "<commandname>" find commands related to "<key-word>" ,, display one line explanation on command "<commandname>" display explanation on command "<commandname>" (Unix style) display rather long explanation on command "<commandname>" (GNU style) list contents of directory (non-dot files and directories) list contents of directory (all files and directories) list contents of directory (almost all files and directories, i.e., skip ".." and ".") list all contents of directory with detail information list all contents of directory with inode number and detail information list all directories under the current directory display file tree contents list open status of file "<foo>" list files opened by the process ID: "<pid>" make a new directory "<foo>" in the current directory remove a directory "<foo>" in the current directory change directory to the directory "<foo>" in the current directory or in the directory listed in the variable "$CDPATH" change directory to the root directory change directory to the current user's home directory change directory to the absolute path directory "/<foo>" change directory to the parent directory change directory to the home directory of the user "<foo>" change directory to the previous directory display contents of "/etc/motd" using the default pager create a empty file "<junkfile>" copy a existing file "<foo>" to a new file "<bar>" remove a file "<junkfile>" rename an existing file "<foo>" to a new name "<bar>" ("<bar>" must not exist) move an existing file "<foo>" to a new location "<bar>/<foo>" (the directory "<bar>" must exist) move an existing file "<foo>" to a new location with a new name "<bar>/<baz>" (the directory "<bar>" must exist but the directory "<bar>/<baz>" must not exist) make an existing file "<foo>" to be non-readable and non-writable by the other people (non-executable for all) make an existing file "<foo>" to be readable but non-writable by the other people (non-executable for all) make an existing file "<foo>" to be readable but non-writable by the other people (executable for all) find matching filenames using shell "<pattern>" (slower) find matching filenames using shell "<pattern>" (quicker using regularly generated database) find a "<pattern>" in all files ending with ".html" in current directory and display them all

*.html top ps aux | pager ps -ef | pager

them all display process information using full screen, type "q" to quit display information on all the running processes using BSD style output display information on all the running processes using Unix system-V style output

ps aux | grep display all processes running "exim" and "exim4" e "[e]xim4*" ps axf | pager kill <1234> gzip <foo> display information on all the running processes with ASCII art output kill a process identified by the process ID: "<1234>" compress "<foo>" to create "<foo>.gz" using the Lempel-Z iv coding (LZ77) compress "<foo>" to create "<foo>.bz2" using the Burrows-Wheeler block sorting text compression algorithm, and Huffman coding (better compression than gzip) decompress "<foo>.bz2" to create "<foo>" compress "<foo>" to create "<foo>.xz" using the LempelZ ivMarkov chain algorithm (better compression than bzip2) decompress "<foo>.xz" to create "<foo>" extract files from "<foo>.tar" archive extract files from gzipped "<foo>.tar.gz" archive extract files from "<foo>.tar.bz2" archive extract files from "<foo>.tar.xz" archive

gunzip <foo>.gz decompress "<foo>.gz" to create "<foo>" bzip2 <foo> bunzip2 <foo>.bz2 xz <foo> unxz <foo>.xz tar -xvf <foo>.tar tar -xvzf <foo>.tar.gz tar -xvjf <foo>.tar.bz2 tar -xvJf <foo>.tar.xz tar -cvf <foo>.tar <bar>/ tar -cvzf <foo>.tar.gz <bar>/ tar -cvjf <foo>.tar.bz2 <bar>/ tar -cvJf <foo>.tar.xz <bar>/ zcat README.gz | pager zcat README.gz > foo zcat README.gz >> foo

archive contents of folder "<bar>/" in "<foo>.tar" archive

archive contents of folder "<bar>/" in compressed "<foo>.tar.gz" archive

archive contents of folder "<bar>/" in "<foo>.tar.bz2" archive

archive contents of folder "<bar>/" in "<foo>.tar.xz" archive

display contents of compressed "README.gz" using the default pager create a file "foo" with the decompressed content of "README.gz" append the decompressed content of "README.gz" to the end of the file "foo" (if it does not exist, create it first)

Note
Unix has a tradition to hide filenames which start with ".". They are traditionally files that contain configuration information and user preferences.

Note
For cd command, see builtins(7).

Note
The default pager of the bare bone Debian system is more(1) which cannot scroll back. By installing the less package using command line "apt-get install less", less(1) becomes default pager and you can scroll back with cursor keys.

Note
The "[" and "]" in the regular expression of the "ps aux | grep -e "[e]xim4*"" command above enable grep to avoid matching itself. The "4*" in the regular expression means 0 or more repeats of character "4" thus enables grep to match both "exim" and "exim4". Although "*" is used in the shell filename glob and the regular expression, their meanings are different. Learn the regular expression from grep(1). Please traverse directories and peek into the system using the above commands as training. If you have questions on any of console commands, please make sure to read the manual page. For example, try the following $ $ $ $ man man man man man bash builtins grep

$ man ls The style of man pages may be a little hard to get used to, because they are rather terse, particularly the older, very traditional ones. But once you get used to it, you come to appreciate their succinctness. Please note that many Unix-like commands including ones from GNU and BSD display brief help information if you invoke them in one of the following ways (or without any arguments in some cases). $ <commandname> --help $ <commandname> -h

1.5. The simple shell command

Now you have some feel on how to use the Debian system. Let's look deep into the mechanism of the command execution in the Debian system. Here, I have simplified reality for the newbie. See bash(1) for the exact explanation. A simple command is a sequence of components. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Variable assignments (optional) Command name Arguments (optional) Redirections (optional: > , >> , < , << , etc.) Control operator (optional: && , || , <newline> , ; , & , ( , ) )

1.5.1. Command execution and environment variable

Values of some environment variables change the behavior of some Unix commands. Default values of environment variables are initially set by the PAM system and then some of them may be reset by some application programs. The display manager such as gdm resets environment variables. The shell in its start up codes resets environment variables in "~/bash_profile" and "~/.bashrc".

1.5.2. "$LANG" variable

The full locale value given to "$LANG" variable consists of 3 parts: "xx_YY.ZZZZ". Table 1.17. 3 parts of locale value locale value meaning xx YY ZZZZ ISO 639 language codes (lower case) such as "en" ISO 3166 country codes (upper case) such as "US" codeset, always set to "UTF-8"

For language codes and country codes, see pertinent description in the "info gettext". For the codeset on the modern Debian system, you should always set it to UTF-8 unless you specifically want to use the historic one with good reason and background knowledge. For fine details of the locale configuration, see Section 8.3, The locale.

Note
The "LANG=en_US" is not "LANG=C" nor "LANG=en_US.UTF-8". It is "LANG=en_US.ISO-88591" (see Section 8.3.1, Basics of encoding). Table 1.18. List of locale recommendations locale recommendation Language (area) en_US.UTF-8 en_GB.UTF-8 fr_FR.UTF-8 de_DE.UTF-8 it_IT.UTF-8 es_ES.UTF-8 ca_ES.UTF-8 sv_SE.UTF-8 pt_BR.UTF-8 ru_RU.UTF-8 zh_CN.UTF-8 zh_TW.UTF-8 ja_JP.UTF-8 ko_KR.UTF-8 vi_VN.UTF-8 English(USA) English(Great_Britain) French(France) German(Germany) Italian(Italy) Spanish(Spain) Catalan(Spain) Swedish(Sweden) Portuguese(Brazil) Russian(Russia) Chinese(P.R._of_China) Chinese(Taiwan_R.O.C.) Japanese(Japan) Korean(Republic_of_Korea) Vietnamese(Vietnam)

Typical command execution uses a shell line sequence as the following.

$ date Sun Jun 3 10:27:39 JST 2007 $ LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 date dimanche 3 juin 2007, 10:27:33 (UTC+0900) Here, the program date(1) is executed with different values of the environment variable "$LANG". For the first command, "$LANG" is set to the system default locale value "en_US.UTF-8". For the second command, "$LANG" is set to the French UTF-8 locale value "fr_FR.UTF-8". Most command executions usually do not have preceding environment variable definition. For the above example, you can alternatively execute as the following. $ LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 $ date dimanche 3 juin 2007, 10:27:33 (UTC+0900) As you can see here, the output of command is affected by the environment variable to produce French output. If you want the environment variable to be inherited to subprocesses (e.g., when calling shell script), you need to export it instead by the following. $ export LANG

Tip
When filing a bug report, running and checking the command under "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" is good idea if you use non-English environment. See locale(5) and locale(7) for "$LANG" and related environment variables.

Note
I recommend you to configure the system environment just by the "$LANG" variable and to stay away from "$LC_*" variables unless it is absolutely needed.

1.5.3. "$PATH" variable

When you type a command into the shell, the shell searches the command in the list of directories contained in the "$PATH" environment variable. The value of the "$PATH" environment variable is also called the shell's search path. In the default Debian installation, the "$PATH" environment variable of user accounts may not include "/sbin" and "/usr/sbin". For example, the ifconfig command needs to be issued with full path as "/sbin/ifconfig". (Similar ip command is located in "/bin".) You can change the "$PATH" environment variable of Bash shell by "~/.bash_profile" or "~/.bashrc" files.

1.5.4. "$HOME" variable

Many commands stores user specific configuration in the home directory and changes their behavior by their contents. The home directory is identified by the environment variable "$HOME". Table 1.19. List of "$HOME" values value of "$HOME" / /root program execution situation program run by the init process (daemon) program run from the normal root shell

/home/<normal_user> program run from the normal user shell /home/<normal_user> program run from the normal user GUI desktop menu /home/<normal_user> program run as root with "sudo program" /root program run as root with "sudo -H program"

Tip
Shell expands "~/" to current user's home directory, i.e., "$HOME/". Shell expands "~foo/" to foo's home directory, i.e., "/home/foo/".

1.5.5. Command line options

Some commands take arguments. Arguments starting with "-" or "--" are called options and control the behavior of the command. $ date Mon Oct 27 23:02:09 CET 2003 $ date -R Mon, 27 Oct 2003 23:02:40 +0100 Here the command-line argument "-R" changes date(1) behavior to output RFC2822 compliant date string.

1.5.6. Shell glob

Often you want a command to work with a group of files without typing all of them. The filename expansion

pattern using the shell glob, (sometimes referred as wildcards), facilitate this need. Table 1.20. Shell glob patterns shell glob pattern description of match rule * .* ? [] [a-z] [^] filename (segment) not started with "." filename (segment) started with "." exactly one character exactly one character with any character enclosed in brackets exactly one character with any character between "a" and "z" exactly one character other than any character enclosed in brackets (excluding "^")

For example, try the following $ mkdir junk; cd junk; touch 1.txt 2.txt 3.c 4.h .5.txt ..6.txt $ echo *.txt 1.txt 2.txt $ echo * 1.txt 2.txt 3.c 4.h $ echo *.[hc] 3.c 4.h $ echo .* . .. .5.txt ..6.txt $ echo .*[^.]* .5.txt ..6.txt $ echo [^1-3]* 4.h $ cd ..; rm -rf junk See glob(7).

Note
Unlike normal filename expansion by the shell, the shell pattern "*" tested in find(1) with "name" test etc., matches the initial "." of the filename. (New POSIX feature)

Note
BASH can be tweaked to change its glob behavior with its shopt builtin options such as "dotglob", "noglob", "nocaseglob", "nullglob", "nocaseglob", "extglob", etc. See bash(1).

1.5.7. Return value of the command

Each command returns its exit status (variable: "$?") as the return value. Table 1.21. Command exit codes command exit status numeric return value logical return value success error zero, 0 non-zero, -1 TRUE FALSE

For example, try the following. $ [ 1 = 1 ] ; echo $? 0 $ [ 1 = 2 ] ; echo $? 1

Note
Please note that, in the logical context for the shell, success is treated as the logical TRUE which has 0 (zero) as its value. This is somewhat non-intuitive and needs to be reminded here.

1.5.8. Typical command sequences and shell redirection

Let's try to remember following shell command idioms typed in one line as a part of shell command. Table 1.22. Shell command idioms command idiom command & command1 | command2 description background execution of command in the subshell pipe the standard output of command1 to the standard input of command2 (concurrent execution)

command1 2>&1 pipe both standard output and standard error of command1 to the standard input of | command2 command2 (concurrent execution) command1 ; execute command1 and command2 sequentially

command2 command1 && command2 command1 || command2 command 2> foo command >> foo command 2>> foo

execute command1 and command2 sequentially execute command1; if successful, execute command2 sequentially (return success if both command1 and command2 are successful) execute command1; if not successful, execute command2 sequentially (return success if command1 or command2 are successful)

command > foo redirect standard output of command to a file foo (overwrite) redirect standard error of command to a file foo (overwrite) redirect standard output of command to a file foo (append) redirect standard error of command to a file foo (append)

command > foo redirect both standard output and standard error of command to a file "foo" 2>&1 command < foo redirect standard input of command to a file foo command << delimiter command <<delimiter redirect standard input of command to the following lines until "delimiter" is met (here document) redirect standard input of command to the following lines until "delimiter" is met (here document, the leading tab characters are stripped from input lines)

The Debian system is a multi-tasking system. Background jobs allow users to run multiple programs in a single shell. The management of the background process involves the shell builtins: jobs, fg, bg, and kill. Please read sections of bash(1) under "SIGNALS", and "JOB CONTROL", and builtins(1). For example, try the following $ </etc/motd pager $ pager </etc/motd $ pager /etc/motd $ cat /etc/motd | pager Although all 4 examples of shell redirections display the same thing, the last example runs an extra cat command and wastes resources with no reason. The shell allows you to open files using the exec builtin with an arbitrary file descriptor. $ echo Hello >foo $ exec 3<foo 4>bar $ cat <&3 >&4 $ exec 3<&- 4>&$ cat bar Hello # open files # redirect stdin to 3, stdout to 4 # close files

Here, "n<&-" and "n>&-" mean to close the file descriptor "n". The file descriptor 0-2 are predefined. Table 1.23. Predefined file descriptors device description stdin standard input file descriptor 0 2

stdout standard output 1 stderr standard error

1.5.9. Command alias

You can set an alias for the frequently used command. For example, try the following $ alias la='ls -la' Now, "la" works as a short hand for "ls -la" which lists all files in the long listing format. You can list any existing aliases by alias (see bash(1) under "SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS"). $ alias ... alias la='ls -la' You can identity exact path or identity of the command by type (see bash(1) under "SHELL BUILTIN COMMANDS"). For example, try the following $ type ls ls is hashed (/bin/ls) $ type la

la is aliased to ls -la $ type echo echo is a shell builtin $ type file file is /usr/bin/file Here ls was recently searched while "file" was not, thus "ls" is "hashed", i.e., the shell has an internal record for the quick access to the location of the "ls" command.

Tip
See Section 9.2.7, Colorized commands.

1.6. Unix-like text processing

In Unix-like work environment, text processing is done by piping text through chains of standard text processing tools. This was another crucial Unix innovation.

1.6.1. Unix text tools

There are few standard text processing tools which are used very often on the Unix-like system. No regular expression is used: cat(1) concatenates files and outputs the whole content. tac(1) concatenates files and outputs in reverse. cut(1) selects parts of lines and outputs. head(1) outputs the first part of files. tail(1) outputs the last part of files. sort(1) sorts lines of text files. uniq(1) removes duplicate lines from a sorted file. tr(1) translates or deletes characters. diff(1) compares files line by line. Basic regular expression (BRE) is used: grep(1) matches text with patterns. ed(1) is a primitive line editor. sed(1) is a stream editor. vim(1) is a screen editor. emacs(1) is a screen editor. (somewhat extended BRE) Extended regular expression (ERE) is used: egrep(1) matches text with patterns. awk(1) does simple text processing. tcl(3tcl) can do every conceivable text processing: re_syntax(3). Often used with tk(3tk). perl(1) can do every conceivable text processing. perlre(1). pcregrep(1) from the pcregrep package matches text with Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) pattern. python(1) with the re module can do every conceivable text processing. See "/usr/share/doc/python/html/index.html". If you are not sure what exactly these commands do, please use "man command" to figure it out by yourself.

Note
Sort order and range expression are locale dependent. If you wish to obtain traditional behavior for a command, use C locale instead of UTF-8 ones by prepnding command with "LANG=C" (see Section 1.5.2, "$LANG" variable and Section 8.3, The locale).

Note
Perl regular expressions (perlre(1)), Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE), and Python regular expressions offered by the re module have many common extensions to the normal ERE.

1.6.2. Regular expressions

Regular expressions are used in many text processing tools. They are analogous to the shell globs, but they are more complicated and powerful. The regular expression describes the matching pattern and is made up of text characters and metacharacters. The metacharacter is just a character with a special meaning. There are 2 major styles, BRE and ERE, depending on the text tools as described above. Table 1.24. Metacharacters for BRE and ERE BRE ERE description of the regular expression common metacharacters BRE only "\" escaped metacharacters

\ . [ ] \ . [ ] ^ $ * ^ $ * \+ \? \( \) \{ \} \|

+ ? ( ) { } | c \c . ^ $ \< \> \[abc\] \[^abc\] r* r\+ r\? r1\|r2 \(r1\|r2\) c \c . ^ $ \< \> [abc] [^abc] r* r+ r? r1|r2 (r1|r2)

ERE only non-"\" escaped metacharacters match non-metacharacter "c" match a literal character "c" even if "c" is metacharacter by itself match any character including newline position at the beginning of a string position at the end of a string position at the beginning of a word position at the end of a word match any characters in "abc" match any characters except in "abc" match zero or more regular expressions identified by "r" match one or more regular expressions identified by "r" match zero or one regular expressions identified by "r" match one of the regular expressions identified by "r1" or "r2" match one of the regular expressions identified by "r1" or "r2" and treat it as a bracketed regular expression

The regular expression of emacs is basically BRE but has been extended to treat "+"and "?" as the metacharacters as in ERE. Thus, there are no needs to escape them with "\" in the regular expression of emacs. grep(1) can be used to perform the text search using the regular expression. For example, try the following $ egrep 'GNU.*LICENSE|Yoyodyne' /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program

Tip
See Section 9.2.7, Colorized commands.

1.6.3. Replacement expressions

For the replacement expression, some characters have special meanings. Table 1.25. The replacement expression replacement expression description of the text to replace the replacement expression & \n what the regular expression matched (use \& in emacs) what the n-th bracketed regular expression matched ("n" being number)

For Perl replacement string, "$n" is used instead of "\n" and "&" has no special meaning. For example, try the following $ echo zzz1abc2efg3hij4 | \ sed -e 's/\(1[a-z]*\)[0-9]*\(.*\)$/=&=/' zzz=1abc2efg3hij4= $ echo zzz1abc2efg3hij4 | \ sed -e 's/\(1[a-z]*\)[0-9]*\(.*\)$/\2===\1/' zzzefg3hij4===1abc $ echo zzz1abc2efg3hij4 | \ perl -pe 's/(1[a-z]*)[0-9]*(.*)$/$2===$1/' zzzefg3hij4===1abc $ echo zzz1abc2efg3hij4 | \ perl -pe 's/(1[a-z]*)[0-9]*(.*)$/=&=/' zzz=&= Here please pay extra attention to the style of the bracketed regular expression and how the matched strings are used in the text replacement process on different tools. These regular expressions can be used for cursor movements and text replacement actions in some editors too. The back slash "\" at the end of line in the shell commandline escapes newline as a white space character and continues shell command line input to the next line. Please read all the related manual pages to learn these commands.

1.6.4. Global substitution with regular expressions

The ed(1) command can replace all instances of "FROM_REGEX" with "TO_TEXT" in "file". $ ed file <<EOF ,s/FROM_REGEX/TO_TEXT/g

w q EOF The sed(1) command can replace all instances of "FROM_REGEX" with "TO_TEXT" in "file". $ sed file 's/FROM_REGEX/TO_TEXT/g' | sponge file

Tip
The sponge(8) command is a non-standard Unix tool offered by the moreutils package. This is quite useful when you wish to overwrite original file. The vim(1) command can replace all instances of "FROM_REGEX" with "TO_TEXT" in "file" by using ex(1) commands. $ vim '+%s/FROM_REGEX/TO_TEXT/gc' '+w' '+q' file

Tip
The "c" flag in the above ensures interactive confirmation for each substitution. Multiple files ("file1", "file2", and "file3") can be processed with regular expressions similarly with vim(1) or perl(1). $ vim '+argdo %s/FROM_REGEX/TO_TEXT/ge|update' '+q' file1 file2 file3

Tip
The "e" flag in the above prevents the "No match" error from breaking a mapping. $ perl -i -p -e 's/FROM_REGEX/TO_TEXT/g;' file1 file2 file3 In the perl(1) example, "-i" is for in-place editing, "-p" is for implicit loop over files.

Tip
Use of argument "-i.bak" instead of "-i" keeps each original file by adding ".bak" to its filename. This makes recovery from errors easier for complex substitutions.

Note
ed(1) and vim(1) are BRE; perl(1) is ERE.

1.6.5. Extracting data from text file table

Let's consider a text file called "DPL" in which some pre-2004 Debian project leader's names and their initiation days are listed in a space-separated format. Ian Bruce Ian Wichert Ben Bdale Martin Murdock Perens Jackson Akkerman Collins Garbee Michlmayr August April January January April April March 1993 1996 1998 1999 2001 2002 2003

Tip
See "A Brief History of Debian" for the latest Debian leadership history. Awk is frequently used to extract data from these types of files. For example, try the following $ awk '{ print $3 }' <DPL # month started August April January January April April March $ awk '($1=="Ian") { print }' <DPL # DPL called Ian Ian Murdock August 1993 Ian Jackson January 1998 $ awk '($2=="Perens") { print $3,$4 }' <DPL # When Perens started April 1996 Shells such as Bash can be also used to parse this kind of file. For example, try the following $ while read first last month year; do echo $month done <DPL ... same output as the first Awk example Here, the read builtin command uses characters in "$IFS" (internal field separators) to split lines into

words. If you change "$IFS" to ":", you can parse "/etc/passwd" with shell nicely. $ oldIFS="$IFS" # save old value $ IFS=':' $ while read user password uid gid rest_of_line; do if [ "$user" = "bozo" ]; then echo "$user's ID is $uid" fi done < /etc/passwd bozo's ID is 1000 $ IFS="$oldIFS" # restore old value (If Awk is used to do the equivalent, use "FS=':'" to set the field separator.) IFS is also used by the shell to split results of parameter expansion, command substitution, and arithmetic expansion. These do not occur within double or single quoted words. The default value of IFS is <space>, <tab>, and <newline> combined. Be careful about using this shell IFS tricks. Strange things may happen, when shell interprets some parts of the script as its input. $ IFS=":," $ echo IFS=$IFS, IFS="$IFS" IFS= , IFS=:, $ date -R Sat, 23 Aug 2003 08:30:15 +0200 $ echo $(date -R) Sat 23 Aug 2003 08 30 36 +0200 $ unset IFS $ echo $(date -R) Sat, 23 Aug 2003 08:30:50 +0200 # use ":" and "," as IFS # echo is a Bash builtin # just a command output # sub shell --> input to main shell # reset IFS to the default

1.6.6. Script snippets for piping commands

The following scripts do nice things as a part of a pipe. Table 1.26. List of script snippets for piping commands script snippet (type in one line) effect of command find /usr -print seq 1 100 | xargs -n 1 <command> | xargs -n 1 echo | xargs echo | grep -e <regex_pattern> | grep -v -e <regex_pattern> | cut -d: -f3 | awk '{ print $3 }' | awk -F'\t' '{ print $3 }' | col -bx | expand | sort| uniq | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' | tr -d '\n' | tr -d '\r' | sed 's/^/# /' | sed 's/\.ext//g' | sed -n -e 2p | head -n 2 | tail -n 2 find all files under "/usr" print 1 to 100 run command repeatedly with each item from pipe as its argument split white-space-separated items from pipe into lines merge all lines from pipe into a line extract lines from pipe containing <regex_pattern> extract lines from pipe not containing <regex_pattern> extract third field from pipe separated by ":" (passwd file etc.) extract third field from pipe separated by whitespaces extract third field from pipe separated by tab remove backspace and expand tabs to spaces expand tabs sort and remove duplicates convert uppercase to lowercase concatenate lines into one line remove CR add "#" to the start of each line remove ".ext" print the second line print the first 2 lines print the last 2 lines

One-line shell script can loop over many files using find(1) and xargs(1) to perform quite complicated tasks. See Section 10.1.5, Idioms for the selection of files and Section 9.5.9, Repeating a command looping over files. When using the shell interactive mode becomes too complicated, please consider to write a shell script (see Section 12.1, The shell script).

Chapter 2. Debian package management

Note
This chapter is written assuming the latest stable release is codename: squeeze. Debian is a volunteer organization which builds consistent distributions of pre-compiled binary packages

of free software and distributes them from its archive. The Debian archive is offered by many remote mirror sites for access through HTTP and FTP methods. It is also available as CD-ROM/DVD. The Debian package management system, when used properly, offers the user to install consistent sets of binary packages to the system from the archive. Currently, there are 30552 packages available for the amd64 architecture. The Debian package management system has a rich history and many choices for the front end user program and back end archive access method to be used. Currently, we recommend the following. apt-get(8) for all commandline operations, including package installation and removal, and distupgrades. aptitude(8) for an interactive text interface to manage the installed packages and to search the available packages. update-manager(8) for keeping your system up-to-date if you're running the default GNOME desktop. Table 2.1. List of Debian package management tools package apt * popcon size V:90, I:99 V:25, I:98 5600 description Advanced Packaging Tool (APT), front-end for dpkg providing "http", "ftp", and "file" archive access methods (apt-get/apt-cache commands included)

aptitude * updatemanagergnome * tasksel *

11916 interactive terminal-based package manager with aptitude(8) GNOME application that manages software updates with updatemanager(8) tool for selecting tasks for installation on Debian system (front-end for APT) enhancement package for APT to enable automatic installation of security upgrades terminal-based package manager (previous standard, front-end for APT and other old access methods) package management system for Debian graphical package manager (GNOME front-end for APT) APT utility programs: apt-extracttemplates(1), apt-ftparchive(1), and apt-sortpkgs(1) package change history notification tool

V:7, I:10 1221

V:5, I:93 904

unattendedV:4, I:31 280 upgrades * dselect * dpkg * synaptic * apt-utils * V:2, I:30 2404 V:92, I:99 V:13, I:40 V:51, I:99 6804 6464 516

aptV:11, listchanges I:17 * aptlistbugs * apt-file * aptrdepends * V:1.4, I:2 V:2, I:9 V:0.13, I:0.9

280

508 188 92

lists critical bugs before each APT installation APT package searching utility command-line interface recursively lists package dependencies

2.1. Debian package management prerequisites

2.1.1. Package configuration
Here are some key points for package configuration on the Debian system. The manual configuration by the system administrator is respected. In other words, the package configuration system makes no intrusive configuration for the sake of convenience. Each package comes with its own configuration script with standardized user interface called debconf(7) to help initial installation process of the package. Debian Developers try their best to make your upgrade experience flawless with package configuration scripts. Full functionalities of packaged software are available to the system administrator. But ones with security risks are disabled in the default installation. If you manually activate a service with some security risks, you are responsible for the risk containment. Esoteric configuration may be manually enabled by the system administrator. This may creates interference with popular generic helper programs for the system configuration.

2.1.2. Basic precautions Warning

Do not install packages from random mixture of suites. It probably breaks the package consistency which requires deep system management knowledge, such as compiler ABI, library version, interpreter features, etc. The newbie Debian system administrator should stay with the stable release of Debian while applying only security updates. I mean that some of the following valid actions are better avoided, as a precaution, until

security updates. I mean that some of the following valid actions are better avoided, as a precaution, until you understand the Debian system very well. Here are some reminders. Do not include testing or unstable in "/etc/apt/sources.list". Do not mix standard Debian with other non-Debian archives such as Ubuntu in "/etc/apt/sources.list". Do not create "/etc/apt/preferences". Do not change default behavior of package management tools through configuration files without knowing their full impacts. Do not install random packages by "dpkg -i <random_package>". Do not ever install random packages by "dpkg --force-all -i <random_package>". Do not erase or alter files in "/var/lib/dpkg/". Do not overwrite system files by installing software programs directly compiled from source. Install them into "/usr/local" or "/opt", if needed. The non-compatible effects caused by above actions to the Debian package management system may leave your system unusable. The serious Debian system administrator who runs mission critical servers, should use extra precautions. Do not install any packages including security updates from Debian without thoroughly testing them with your particular configuration under safe conditions. You as the system administrator are responsible for your system in the end. The long stability history of Debian system is no guarantee by itself.

2.1.3. Life with eternal upgrades

Despite my warnings above, I know many readers of this document wish to run the testing or unstable suites of Debian as their main system for self-administered Desktop environments. This is because they work very well, are updated frequently, and offer the latest features.

Caution
For your production server, the stable suite with the security updates is recommended. The same can be said for desktop PCs on which you can spend limited administration efforts, e.g. for your mother's PC. It takes no more than simply setting the distribution string in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" to the suite name: "testing" or "unstable"; or the codename: "wheezy" or "sid". This makes you live the life of eternal upgrades. The use of testing or unstable is a lot of fun but comes with some risks. Even though the unstable suite of Debian system looks very stable for most of the times, there have been some package problems on the testing and unstable suite of Debian system and a few of them were not so trivial to resolve. It may be quite painful for you. Sometimes, you may have a broken package or missing functionality for a few weeks. Here are some ideas to ensure quick and easy recovery from bugs in Debian packages. Make the system dual bootable by installing the stable suite of Debian system to another partition Make the installation CD handy for the rescue boot Consider installing apt-listbugs to check the Debian Bug Tracking System (BTS) information before the upgrade Learn the package system infrastructure enough to work around the problem Create a chroot or similar environment and run the latest system in it in advance (see Section 9.8, Virtualized system) (If you can not do any one of these precautionary actions, you are probably not ready for the testing and unstable suites.) Enlightenment with the following saves a person from the eternal karmic struggle of upgrade hell and let him reach Debian nirvana.

2.1.4. Debian archive basics

Let's look into the Debian archive from a system user's perspective.

Tip
Official policy of the Debian archive is defined at Debian Policy Manual, Chapter 2 - The Debian Archive. For the typical HTTP access, the archive is specified in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file as the following, e.g. for the current stable = squeeze system. deb http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib deb-src http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib Please note "ftp.XX.debian.org" must be replaced with appropriate mirror site URL for your location, for USA "ftp.us.debian.org", which can be found in the list of Debian worldwide mirror sites. The status of these servers can be checked at Debian Mirror Checker site. Here, I tend to use codename "squeeze" instead of suite name "stable" to avoid surprises when the next

stable is released. The meaning of "/etc/apt/sources.list" is described in sources.list(5) and key points are followings. The The The The The "deb" line defines for the binary packages. "deb-src" line defines for the source packages. 1st argument is the root URL of the Debian archive. 2nd argument is the distribution name: either the suite name or the codename. 3rd and following arguments are the list of valid archive area names of the Debian archive.

The "deb-src" lines can safely be omitted (or commented out by placing "#" at the start of the line) if it is just for aptitude which does not access source related meta data. It speeds up the updates of the archive meta data. The URL can be "http://", "ftp://", "file://", .

Tip
If "sid" is used in the above example instead of "squeeze", the "deb: http://security.debian.org/ " line for security updates in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" is not required. This is because there is no security update archive for "sid" (unstable). Here is the list of URL of the Debian archive sites and suite name or codename used in the configuration file. Table 2.2. List of Debian archive sites archive URL http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ http://security.debian.org/ http://security.debian.org/ http://ftp.XX.debian.org/debian/ suite name (codename) stable (squeeze) testing (wheezy) unstable (sid) experimental stable-proposedupdates stable/updates testing/updates squeeze-updates purpose stable (squeeze) release testing (wheezy) release unstable (sid) release experimental pre-release (optional, only for developer) Updates for the next stable point release (optional) security updates for stable release (important) security updates for testing release (important) compatible updates for spam filter, IM clients, etc. for squeeze

newer backported packages for squeeze http://backports.debian.org/debiansqueeze-backports (optional) backports/

Caution
Only pure stable release with security updates provides the best stability. Running mostly stable release mixed with some packages from testing or unstable release is riskier than running pure unstable release for library version mismatch etc. If you really need the latest version of some programs under stable release, please use packages from squeeze-updates and backports.debian.org (see Section 2.7.4, Updates and Backports) services. These services must be used with extra care.

Caution
You should basically list only one of stable, testing, or unstable suites in the "deb" line. If you list any combination of stable, testing, and unstable suites in the "deb" line, APT programs slow down while only the latest archive is effective. Multiple listing makes sense for these when the "/etc/apt/preferences" file is used with clear objectives (see Section 2.7.3, Tweaking candidate version).

Tip
For the Debian system with the stable and testing suites, it is a good idea to include lines with "http://security.debian.org/" in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" to enable security updates as in the example above.

Note
The security bugs for the stable archive are fixed by the Debian security team. This activity has been quite rigorous and reliable. Those for the testing archive may be fixed by the Debian testing security team. For several reasons, this activity is not as rigorous as that for stable and you may need to wait for the migration of fixed unstable packages. Those for the unstable archive are fixed by the individual maintainer. Actively maintained unstable packages are usually in a fairly good shape by leveraging latest upstream security fixes. See Debian security FAQ for how Debian handles security bugs. Table 2.3. List of Debian archive area area main number of packages criteria of package component 29887 DSFG compliant and no dependency to non-free

contrib

202

DSFG compliant but having dependency to non-free not DSFG compliant

non-free 463

Here the number of packages in the above is for the amd64 architecture. Strictly speaking, only the main area archive shall be considered as the Debian system. The Debian archive organization can be studied best by pointing your browser to the each archive URL appended with dists or pool. The distribution is referred by two ways, the suite or codename. The word distribution is alternatively used as the synonym to the suite in many documentations. The relationship between the suite and the codename can be summarized as the following. Table 2.4. The relationship between suite and codename Timing suite = stable suite = testing suite = unstable codename = sid

after the squeeze release codename = squeeze codename = wheezy after the wheezy release codename = wheezy

codename = wheezy+1 codename = sid

The history of codenames are described in Debian FAQ: 6.3.1 Which other codenames have been used in the past? In the stricter Debian archive terminology, the word "section" is specifically used for the categorization of packages by the application area. (Although, the word "main section" may sometimes be used to describe the Debian archive area named as "main".) Every time a new upload is done by the Debian developer (DD) to the unstable archive (via incoming processing), DD is required to ensure uploaded packages to be compatible with the latest set of packages in the latest unstable archive. If DD breaks this compatibility intentionally for important library upgrade etc, there is usually announcement to the debian-devel mailing list etc. Before a set of packages are moved by the Debian archive maintenance script from the unstable archive to the testing archive, the archive maintenance script not only checks the maturity (about 10 days old) and the status of the RC bug reports for the packages but also tries to ensure them to be compatible with the latest set of packages in the testing archive. This process makes the testing archive very current and usable. Through the gradual archive freeze process led by the release team, the testing archive is matured to make it completely consistent and bug free with some manual interventions. Then the new stable release is created by assigning the codename for the old testing archive to the new stable archive and creating the new codename for the new testing archive. The initial contents of the new testing archive is exactly the same as that of the newly released stable archive. Both the unstable and the testing archives may suffer temporary glitches due to several factors. Broken package upload to the archive (mostly for unstable) Delay of accepting the new packages to the archive (mostly for unstable) Archive synchronization timing issue (both for testing and unstable) Manual intervention to the archive such as package removal (more for testing) etc. So if you ever decide to use these archives, you should be able to fix or work around these kinds of glitches.

Caution
For about few months after a new stable release, most desktop users should use the stable archive with its security updates even if they usually use unstable or testing archives. For this transition period, both unstable and testing archives are not good for most people. Your system is difficult to keep in good working condition with the unstable archive since it suffers surges of major upgrades for core packages. The testing archive is not useful either since it contains mostly the same content as the stable archive without its security support (Debian testing-security-announce 2008-12). After a month or so, the unstable archive may be usable if you are careful.

Tip
When tracking the testing archive, problem caused by a removed package is usually worked around by installing corresponding package from the unstable archive which is uploaded for bug fix. See Debian Policy Manual for archive definitions. "Sections" "Priorities" "Base system" "Essential packages"

2.1.5. Package dependencies

The Debian system offers a consistent set of binary packages through its versioned binary dependency declaration mechanism in the control file fields. Here is a bit over simplified definition for them.

"Depends" This declares an absolute dependency and all of the packages listed in this field must be installed at the same time or in advance. "Pre-Depends" This is like Depends, except that it requires completed installation of the listed packages in advance. "Recommends" This declares a strong, but not absolute, dependency. Most users would not want the package unless all of the packages listed in this field are installed. "Suggests" This declares a weak dependency. Many users of this package may benefit from installing packages listed in this field but can have reasonable functions without them. "Enhances" This declares a week dependency like Suggests but works in the opposite direction. "Breaks" This declares a package incompatibility usually with some version specification. Generally the resolution is to upgrade all of the packages listed in this field. "Conflicts" This declares an absolute incompatibility. All of the packages listed in this field must be removed to install this package. "Replaces" This is declared when files installed by this package replace files in the listed packages. "Provides" This is declared when this package provide all of the files and functionality in the listed packages.

Note
Please note that defining, "Provides", "Conflicts" and "Replaces" simultaneously to an virtual package is the sane configuration. This ensures that only one real package providing this virtual package can be installed at any one time. The official definition including source dependency can be found in the Policy Manual: Chapter 7 - Declaring relationships between packages.

2.1.6. The event flow of the package management

Here is a summary of the simplified event flow of the package management by APT. Update ("aptitude update" or "apt-get update"): 1. Fetch archive metadata from remote archive 2. Reconstruct and update local metadata for use by APT Upgrade ("aptitude safe-upgrade" and "aptitude full-upgrade", or "apt-get upgrade" and "apt-get dist-upgrade"): 1. Chose candidate version which is usually the latest available version for all installed packages (see Section 2.7.3, Tweaking candidate version for exception) 2. Make package dependency resolution 3. Fetch selected binary packages from remote archive if candidate version is different from installed version 4. Unpack fetched binary packages 5. Run preinst script 6. Install binary files 7. Run postinst script Install ("aptitude install " or "apt-get install "): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Chose packages listed on the command line Make package dependency resolution Fetch selected binary packages from remote archive Unpack fetched binary packages Run preinst script Install binary files Run postinst script

Remove ("aptitude remove " or "apt-get remove "): 1. 2. 3. 4. Chose packages listed on the command line Make package dependency resolution Run prerm script Remove installed files except configuration files

5. Run postrm script Purge ("aptitude purge " or "apt-get purge "): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Chose packages listed on the command line Make package dependency resolution Run prerm script Remove installed files including configuration files Run postrm script

Here, I intentionally skipped technical details for the sake of big picture.

2.1.7. First response to package management troubles

You should read the fine official documentation. The first document to read is the Debian specific "/usr/share/doc/<package_name>/README.Debian". Other documentation in "/usr/share/doc/<package_name>/" should be consulted too. If you set shell as Section 1.4.2, Customizing bash, type the following. $ cd <package_name> $ pager README.Debian $ mc You may need to install the corresponding documentation package named with "-doc" suffix for detailed information. If you are experiencing problems with a specific package, make sure to check out the Debian bug tracking system (BTS) sites, first. Table 2.5. List of key web site to resolving problems with a specific package web site Home page of the Debian bug tracking system (BTS) The bug report of a known package name The bug report of known bug number command sensible-browser "http://bugs.debian.org/" sensible-browser "http://bugs.debian.org/<package_name>" sensible-browser "http://bugs.debian.org/<bug_number>"

Search Google with search words including "site:debian.org", "site:wiki.debian.org", "site:lists.debian.org", etc. When you file a bug report, please use reportbug(1) command.

2.2. Basic package management operations

Basic package management operations on the Debian system can be performed by any package management tools available on the Debian system. Here, we explain basic package management tools: apt-get / apt-cache and aptitude. For the package management operation which involves package installation or updates package metadata, you need to have root privilege.

2.2.1. apt-get / apt-cache vs. aptitude

The apt-get and apt-cache commands are the most basic package management tool. apt-get and apt-cache offer only the commandline user interface. apt-get is most suitable for the major system upgrade between releases, etc. apt-get offers a robust and stable package resolver which uses the common package state data. apt-get has been updated to support autoinstall and autoremove of recommended packages. apt-get has been updated to support logging of package activities. apt-cache offers a standard regex based search on the package name and description. apt-get and apt-cache can manage multiple versions of packages using /etc/apt/preferences but it is quite cumbersome. The aptitude command is the most versatile package management tool. aptitude offers the fullscreen interactive text user interface. aptitude offers the commandline user interface, too. aptitude is most suitable for the daily interactive package management such as inspecting installed packages and searching available packages. aptitude offers an enhanced package resolver which also uses an extra package state data used only by aptitude. aptitude supports autoinstall and autoremove of recommended packages. aptitude supports logging of package activities. aptitude offers an enhanced regex based search on all of the package metadata. aptitude can manage multiple versions of packages without using /etc/apt/preferences and it is quite intuitive.

Note
Although the aptitude command comes with rich features such as its enhanced package resolver, this complexity has caused (or may still causes) some regressions such as Bug

#411123, Bug #514930, and Bug #570377. In case of doubt, please use the apt-get and apt-cache commands over the aptitude command.

2.2.2. Basic package management operations with the commandline

Here are basic package management operations with the commandline using aptitude(8) and aptget(8) /apt-cache(8). Table 2.6. Basic package management operations with the commandline using aptitude(8) and apt-get(8) /apt-cache(8) aptitude syntax aptitude update aptitude install foo aptitude safeupgrade aptitude fullupgrade aptitude remove foo N/A aptitude purge foo aptitude clean aptitude autoclean aptitude show foo aptitude search <regex> aptitude why <regex> aptitude whynot <regex> apt-get/apt-cache syntax apt-get update apt-get install foo apt-get upgrade description update package archive metadata install candidate version of "foo" package with its dependencies install candidate version of installed packages without removing any other packages

apt-get dist-upgrade install candidate version of installed packages while <package> removing other packages if needed apt-get remove foo apt-get autoremove apt-get purge foo apt-get clean apt-get autoclean apt-cache show <package> apt-cache search <regex> N/A N/A remove "foo" package while leaving its configuration files remove auto-installed packages which is no longer required purge "foo" package with its configuration files clear out the local repository of retrieved package files completely clear out the local repository of retrieved package files for outdated packages display detailed information about "foo" package search packages which match <regex> explain the reason why <regex> matching packages should be installed explain the reason why <regex> matching packages can not be installed

Note
Since apt-get and aptitude share auto-installed package status (see Section 2.5.5, The package state for APT) after lenny, you can mix these tools without major troubles (see Bug #594490). The difference between "safe-upgrade"/"upgrade" and "full-upgrade"/"dist-upgrade" only appears when new versions of packages stand in different dependency relationships from old versions of those packages. The "aptitude safe-upgrade" command does not install new packages nor remove installed packages. The "aptitude why <regex>" can list more information by "aptitude -v why <regex>". Similar information can be obtained by "apt-cache rdepends <package>". When aptitude command is started in the commandline mode and faces some issues such as package conflicts, you can switch to the full screen interactive mode by pressing "e"-key later at the prompt. You may provide command options right after "aptitude". Table 2.7. Notable command options for aptitude(8) command option description -s -d -D simulate the result of the command download only but no install/upgrade show brief explanations before the automatic installations and removals

See aptitude(8) and "aptitude user's manual" at "/usr/share/doc/aptitude/README" for more.

Tip
The dselect package is still available and was the preferred full screen interactive package management tool in previous releases.

2.2.3. Interactive use of aptitude

For the interactive package management, you start aptitude in interactive mode from the console shell prompt as follows. $ sudo aptitude -u

Password: This updates the local copy of the archive information and display the package list in the full screen with menu. Aptitude places its configuration at "~/.aptitude/config".

Tip
If you want to use root's configuration instead of user's one, use "sudo -H aptitude " instead of "sudo aptitude " in the above expression.

Tip
Aptitude automatically sets pending actions as it is started interactively. If you do not like it, you can reset it from menu: "Action" "Cancel pending actions".

2.2.4. Key bindings of aptitude

Notable key strokes to browse status of packages and to set "planned action" on them in this full screen mode are the following. Table 2.8. List of key bindings for aptitude key F10 or Ctrl-t ? u + _ = U g q x Enter C l / \ key binding menu display help for keystroke (more complete listing) update package archive information mark the package for the upgrade or the install mark the package for the remove (keep configuration files) mark the package for the purge (remove configuration files) place the package on hold mark all upgradable packages (function as full-upgrade) start downloading and installing selected packages quit current screen and save changes quit current screen and discard changes view information about a package view a package's changelog change the limit for the displayed packages search for the first match repeat the last search

F10 Help User's Manual display User's Manual

The file name specification of the command line and the menu prompt after pressing "l" and "//" take the aptitude regex as described below. Aptitude regex can explicitly match a package name using a string started by "~n and followed by the package name.

Tip
You need to press "U" to get all the installed packages upgraded to the candidate version in the visual interface. Otherwise only the selected packages and certain packages with versioned dependency to them are upgraded to the candidate version.

2.2.5. Package views under aptitude

In the interactive full screen mode of aptitude(8), packages in the package list are displayed as the next example. idA libsmbclient -2220kB 3.0.25a-1 3.0.25a-2

Here, this line means from the left as the following. The The The The The The The "current state" flag (the first letter) "planned action" flag (the second letter) "automatic" flag (the third letter) Package name change in disk space usage attributed to "planned action" current version of the package candidate version of the package

Tip
The full list of flags are given at the bottom of Help screen shown by pressing "?". The candidate version is chosen according to the current local preferences (see apt_preferences(5) and Section 2.7.3, Tweaking candidate version). Several types of package views are available under the menu "Views". Table 2.9. List of views for aptitude view status description of view

Package View Audit Recommendations Flat Package List Debtags Browser Categorical Browser

Good Good Good

see Table 2.10, The categorization of standard package views (default) list packages which are recommended by some installed packages but not yet installed are listed list packages without categorization (for use with regex)

Very usable list packages categorized according to their debtags entries Deprecated list packages categorized according to their category (use Debtags Browser, instead)

Note
Please help us improving tagging packages with debtags! The standard "Package View" categorizes packages somewhat like dselect with few extra features. Table 2.10. The categorization of standard package views category Upgradable Packages New Packages Installed Packages Not Installed Packages Obsolete and Locally Created Packages Virtual Packages Tasks description of view list packages organized as section area package ,, ,, ,, ,, list packages with the same function list packages with different functions generally needed for a task

Tip
Tasks view can be used to cherry pick packages for your task.

2.2.6. Search method options with aptitude

Aptitude offers several options for you to search packages using its regex formula. Shell commandline: "aptitude search '<aptitude_regex>'" to list installation status, package name and short description of matching packages "aptitude show '<package_name>'" to list detailed description of the package Interactive full screen mode: "l" to limit package view to matching packages "/" for search to a matching package "\" for backward search to a matching package "n" for find-next "N" for find-next (backward)

Tip
The string for <package_name> is treated as the exact string match to the package name unless it is started explicitly with "~" to be the regex formula.

2.2.7. The aptitude regex formula

The aptitude regex formula is mutt-like extended ERE (see Section 1.6.2, Regular expressions) and the meanings of the aptitude specific special match rule extensions are as follows. Table 2.11. List of the aptitude regex formula description of the extended match rule match on package name match on description match on task name match on debtag match on maintainer match on package section match on package version match archive match origin match priority regex formula ~n<regex_name> ~d<regex_description> ~t<regex_task> ~G<regex_debtag> ~m<regex_maintainer> ~s<regex_section> ~V<regex_version> ~A{sarge,etch,sid} ~O{debian,} ~p{extra,important,optional,required,standard}

match essential packages match virtual packages match new packages match with pending action match installed packages match installed packages with A-mark (auto installed package)

~E ~v ~N ~a{install,upgrade,downgrade,remove,purge,hold,keep} ~i ~M

match installed packages without A~i!~M mark (administrator selected package) match installed and upgradable packages match removed but not purged packages match removed, purged or can-beremoved packages match packages with broken relation match packages with broken depends/predepends/conflict ~U ~c ~g ~b ~B<type>

match packages from which relation ~D[<type>:]<term> <type> is defined to <term> package match packages from which broken relation <type> is defined to <term> package match packages to which the <term> package defines relation <type> match packages to which the <term> package defines broken relation <type> match packages to which some other installed packages depend on match packages to which no other installed packages depend on match packages to which some other installed packages depend or recommend on match <term> package with filtered version match all packages (true) match no packages (false) ~DB[<type>:]<term>

~R[<type>:]<term>

~RB[<type>:]<term>

~R~i !~R~i

~R~i|~Rrecommends:~i

~S filter <term> ~T ~F

The regex part is the same ERE as the one used in typical Unix-like text tools using "^", ".*", "$" etc. as in egrep(1), awk(1) and perl(1). The relation <type> is one of (depends, predepends, recommends, suggests, conflicts, replaces, provides). The default relation type is "depends".

Tip
When <regex_pattern> is a null string, place "~T" immediately after the command. Here are some short cuts. "~P<term>" == "~Dprovides:<term>" "~C<term>" == "~Dconflicts:<term>" "~W term" == "(|term)" Users familiar with mutt pick up quickly, as mutt was the inspiration for the expression syntax. See "SEARCHING, LIMITING, AND EXPRESSIONS" in the "User's Manual" "/usr/share/doc/aptitude/README".

Note
With the lenny version of aptitude(8), the new long form syntax such as "?broken" may be used for regex matching in place for its old short form equivalent "~b". Now space character " " is considered as one of the regex terminating character in addition to tilde character "~". See "User's Manual" for the new long form syntax.

2.2.8. Dependency resolution of aptitude

The selection of a package in aptitude not only pulls in packages which are defined in its "Depends:" list but also defined in the "Recommends:" list if the menu "F10 Options Dependency handling" is set accordingly. These auto installed packages are removed automatically if they are no longer needed under aptitude.

Note
Before the lenny release, apt-get and other standard APT tools did not offer the autoremove functionality.

2.2.9. Package activity logs

You can check package activity history in the log files. Table 2.12. The log files for package activities file /var/log/dpkg.log /var/log/aptitude content Log of dpkg level activity for all package activities Log of aptitude command activity

/var/log/apt/term.log Log of generic APT activity

In reality, it is not so easy to get meaningful understanding quickly out from these logs. See Section 9.2.10, Recording changes in configuration files for easier way.

2.3. Examples of aptitude operations

Here are few examples of aptitude(8) operations.

2.3.1. Listing packages with regex matching on package names

The following command lists packages with regex matching on package names. $ aptitude search '~n(pam|nss).*ldap' p libnss-ldap - NSS module for using LDAP as a naming service p libpam-ldap - Pluggable Authentication Module allowing LDAP interfaces This is quite handy for you to find the exact name of a package.

2.3.2. Browsing with the regex matching

The regex "~dipv6" in the "New Flat Package List" view with "l" prompt, limits view to packages with the matching description and let you browse their information interactively.

2.3.3. Purging removed packages for good

You can purge all remaining configuration files of removed packages. Check results of the following command. # aptitude search '~c' If you think listed packages are OK to be purged, execute the following command. # aptitude purge '~c' You may want to do the similar in the interactive mode for fine grained control. You provide the regex "~c" in the "New Flat Package List" view with "l" prompt. This limits the package view only to regex matched packages, i.e., "removed but not purged". All these regex matched packages can be shown by pressing "[" at top level headings. Then you press "_" at top level headings such as "Installed Packages". Only regex matched packages under the heading are marked to be purged by this. You can exclude some packages to be purged by pressing "=" interactively for each of them. This technique is quite handy and works for many other command keys.

2.3.4. Tidying auto/manual install status

Here is how I tidy auto/manual install status for packages (after using non-aptitude package installer etc.). 1. Start aptitude in interactive mode as root. 2. Type "u", "U", "f" and "g" to update and upgrade package list and packages. 3. Type "l" to enter the package display limit as "~i(~R~i|~Rrecommends:~i)" and type "M" over "Installed Packages" as auto installed. 4. Type "l" to enter the package display limit as "~prequired|~pimportant|~pstandard|~E" and type "m" over "Installed Packages" as manual installed. 5. Type "l" to enter the package display limit as "~i!~M" and remove unused package by typing "-" over each of them after exposing them by typing "[" over "Installed Packages". 6. Type "l" to enter the package display limit as "~i" and type "m" over "Tasks" as manual installed. 7. Exit aptitude. 8. Start "apt-get -s autoremove|less" as root to check what are not used. 9. Restart aptitude in interactive mode and mark needed packages as "m". 10. Restart "apt-get -s autoremove|less" as root to recheck REMOVED contain only expected packages. 11. Start "apt-get autoremove|less" as root to autoremove unused packages. The "m" action over "Tasks" is an optional one to prevent mass package removal situation in future.

2.3.5. System wide upgrade Note

When moving to a new release etc, you should consider to perform a clean installation of new system even though Debian is upgradable as described below. This provides you a

chance to remove garbages collected and exposes you to the best combination of latest packages. Of course, you should make a full backup of system to a safe place (see Section 10.1.6, Backup and recovery) before doing this. I recommend to make a dual boot configuration using different partition to have the smoothest transition. You can perform system wide upgrade to a newer release by changing contents of the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file pointing to a new release and running the "apt-get update; apt-get dist-upgrade" command. To upgrade from stable to testing or unstable, you replace "squeeze" in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" example of Section 2.1.4, Debian archive basics with "wheezy" or "sid". In reality, you may face some complications due to some package transition issues, mostly due to package dependencies. The larger the difference of the upgrade, the more likely you face larger troubles. For the transition from the old stable to the new stable after its release, you can read its new Release Notes and follow the exact procedure described in it to minimize troubles. When you decide to move from stable to testing before its formal release, there are no Release Notes to help you. The difference between stable and testing could have grown quite large after the previous stable release and makes upgrade situation complicated. You should make precautionary moves for the full upgrade while gathering latest information from mailing list and using common senses. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Read previous "Release Notes". Backup entire system (especially data and configuration information). Have bootable media handy for broken bootloader. Inform users on the system well in advance. Record upgrade activity with script(1). Apply "unmarkauto" to required packages, e.g., "aptitude unmarkauto vim", to prevent removal. Minimize installed packages to reduce chance of package conflicts, e.g., remove desktop task packages. Remove the "/etc/apt/preferences" file (disable apt-pinning). Try to upgrade step wise: oldstable stable testing unstable. Update the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file to point to new archive only and run "aptitude update". Install, optionally, new core packages first, e.g., "aptitude install perl". Run the "apt-get -s dist-upgrade" command to assess impact. Run the "apt-get dist-upgrade" command at last.

Caution
It is not wise to skip major Debian release when upgrading between stable releases.

Caution
In previous "Release Notes", GCC, Linux Kernel, initrd-tools, Glibc, Perl, APT tool chain, etc. have required some special attention for system wide upgrade. For daily upgrade in unstable, see Section 2.4.3, Safeguarding for package problems.

2.4. Advanced package management operations

2.4.1. Advanced package management operations with commandline
Here are list of other package management operations for which aptitude is too high-level or lacks required functionalities. Table 2.13. List of advanced package management operations command COLUMNS=120 dpkg -l <package_name_pattern> dpkg -L <package_name> dpkg -L <package_name> | egrep '/usr/share/man/man.*/.+' dpkg -S <file_name_pattern> apt-file search <file_name_pattern> apt-file list <package_name_pattern> dpkg-reconfigure <package_name> dpkg-reconfigure -p=low <package_name> configure-debian dpkg --audit dpkg --configure -a apt-cache policy <binary_package_name> apt-cache madison <package_name> apt-cache showsrc action list status of an installed package for the bug report list contents of an installed package list manpages for an installed package list installed packages which have matching file name list packages in archive which have matching file name list contents of matching packages in archive reconfigure the exact package reconfigure the exact package with the most detailed question reconfigure packages from the full screen menu audit system for partially installed packages configure all partially installed packages show available version, priority, and archive information of a binary package show available version, archive information of a package

apt-cache showsrc <binary_package_name> apt-get build-dep <package_name> apt-get source <package_name> dget <URL for dsc file> dpkg-source -x <package_name>_<version><debian_version>.dsc debuild binary make-kpkg kernel_image make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image dpkg -i <package_name><version><debian_version><arch>.deb debi <package_name><version><debian_version><arch>.dsc dpkg --get-selections '*' >selection.txt dpkg --set-selections <selection.txt

show source package information of a binary package install required packages to build package download a source (from standard archive) download a source packages (from other archive) build a source tree from a set of source packages ("*.orig.tar.gz" and "*.debian.tar.gz"/"*.diff.gz") build package(s) from a local source tree build a kernel package from a kernel source tree build a kernel package from a kernel source tree with initramfs enabled install a local package to the system install local package(s) to the system save dpkg level package selection state information set dpkg level package selection state information

echo <package_name> hold | dpkg - set dpkg level package selection state for a package to hold -set-selections (equivalent to "aptitude hold <package_name>")

Caution
Lower level package tools such as "dpkg -i " and "debi " should be carefully used by the system administrator. It does not automatically take care required package dependencies. Dpkg's commandline options "--force-all" and similar (see dpkg(1)) are intended to be used by experts only. Using them without fully understanding their effects may break your whole system. Please note the following. All system configuration and installation commands require to be run from root. Unlike aptitude which uses regex (see Section 1.6.2, Regular expressions), other package management commands use pattern like shell glob (see Section 1.5.6, Shell glob). apt-file(1) provided by the apt-file package must run "apt-file update" in advance. configure-debian(8) provided by the configure-debian package runs dpkg-reconfigure(8) as its backend. dpkg-reconfigure(8) runs package scripts using debconf(1) as its backend. "apt-get build-dep", "apt-get source" and "apt-cache showsrc" commands require "debsrc" entry in "/etc/apt/sources.list". dget(1), debuild(1), and debi(1) require devscripts package. See (re)packaging procedure using "apt-get source" in Section 2.7.10, Porting a package to the stable system. make-kpkg command requires the kernel-package package (see Section 9.7, The kernel). See Section 12.11, Making Debian package for general packaging.

2.4.2. Verification of installed package files

The installation of debsums enables verification of installed package files against MD5sum values in the "/var/lib/dpkg/info/*.md5sums" file with debsums(1). See Section 10.4.5, The MD5 sum for how MD5sum works.

Note
Because MD5sum database may be tampered by the intruder, debsums(1) is of limited use as a security tool. It is only good for checking local modifications by the administrator or damage due to media errors.

2.4.3. Safeguarding for package problems

Many users prefer to follow the unstable release of the Debian system for its new features and packages. This makes the system more prone to be hit by the critical package bugs. The installation of the apt-listbugs package safeguards your system against critical bugs by checking Debian BTS automatically for critical bugs when upgrading with APT system. The installation of the apt-listchanges package provides important news in "NEWS.Debian" when upgrading with APT system.

2.4.4. Searching on the package meta data

Although visiting Debian site http://packages.debian.org/ facilitates easy ways to search on the package meta data these days, let's look into more traditional ways. The grep-dctrl(1), grep-status(1), and grep-available(1) commands can be used to search any file which has the general format of a Debian package control file. The "dpkg -S <file_name_pattern>" can be used search package names which contain files with the matching name installed by dpkg. But this overlooks files created by the maintainer scripts.

If you need to make more elaborate search on the dpkg meta data, you need to run "grep -e regex_pattern *" command in the "/var/lib/dpkg/info/" directory. This makes you search words mentioned in package scripts and installation query texts. If you wish to look up package dependency recursively, you should use apt-rdepends(8).

2.5. Debian package management internals

Let's learn how the Debian package management system works internally. This should help you to create your own solution to some package problems.

2.5.1. Archive meta data

Meta data files for each distribution are stored under "dist/<codename>" on each Debian mirror sites, e.g., "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/". Its archive structure can be browsed by the web browser. There are 6 types of key meta data. Table 2.14. The content of the Debian archive meta data file Release Release.gpg Contents<architecture> Release Packages Sources location top of distribution top of distribution top of distribution content archive description and integrity information signature file for the "Release" file signed with the archive key list of all files for all the packages in the pertinent archive

top of each distribution/area/architecture archive description used for the rule of combination apt_preferences(5) top of each distribution/area/binaryarchitecture combination top of each distribution/area/source combination concatenated debian/control for binary packages concatenated debian/control for source packages

In the recent archive, these meta data are stored as the compressed and differential files to reduce network traffic.

2.5.2. Top level "Release" file and authenticity Tip

The top level "Release" file is used for signing the archive under the secure APT system. Each suite of the Debian archive has a top level "Release" file, e.g., "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/Release", as follows. Origin: Debian Label: Debian Suite: unstable Codename: sid Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:13:58 UTC Architectures: alpha amd64 arm hppa hurd-i386 i386 ia64 m68k mips mipsel powerpc s390 sparc Components: main contrib non-free Description: Debian x.y Unstable - Not Released MD5Sum: e9f11bc50b12af7927d6583de0a3bd06 22788722 main/binary-alpha/Packages 43524d07f7fa21b10f472c426db66168 6561398 main/binary-alpha/Packages.gz ...

Note
Here, you can find my rationale to use the "suite", and "codeneme" in Section 2.1.4, Debian archive basics. The "distribution" is used when referring to both "suite" and "codeneme". All archive "area" names offered by the archive are listed under "Component". The integrity of the top level "Release" file is verified by cryptographic infrastructure called the secure apt. The cryptographic signature file "Release.gpg" is created from the authentic top level "Release" file and the secret Debian archive key. The public Debian archive key can be seeded into "/etc/apt/trusted.gpg"; automatically by installing the keyring with the latest base-files package, or manually by gpg or apt-key tool with the latest public archive key posted on the ftpmaster.debian.org . The secure APT system verifies the integrity of the downloaded top level "Release" file cryptographically by this "Release.gpg" file and the public Debian archive key in "/etc/apt/trusted.gpg". The integrity of all the "Packages" and "Sources" files are verified by using MD5sum values in its top level "Release" file. The integrity of all package files are verified by using MD5sum values in the "Packages" and "Sources" files. See debsums(1) and Section 2.4.2, Verification of installed package files. Since the cryptographic signature verification is very CPU intensive process than the MD5sum value

calculation, use of MD5sum value for each package while using cryptographic signature for the top level "Release" file provides the good security with the performance (see Section 10.4, Data security infrastructure).

2.5.3. Archive level "Release" files Tip

The archive level "Release" files are used for the rule of apt_preferences(5). There are archive level "Release" files for all archive locations specified by "deb" line in "/etc/apt/sources.list", such as "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/unstable/main/binary-amd64/Release" or "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/sid/main/binary-amd64/Release" as follows. Archive: unstable Component: main Origin: Debian Label: Debian Architecture: amd64

Caution
For "Archive:" stanza, suite names ("stable", "testing", "unstable", ) are used in the Debian archive while codenames ("dapper", "feisty", "gutsy", "hardy", "intrepid", ) are used in the Ubuntu archive. For some archives, such as experimental, and squeeze-backports, which contain packages which should not be installed automatically, there is an extra line, e.g., "http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/experimental/main/binary-amd64/Release" as follows. Archive: experimental Component: main Origin: Debian Label: Debian NotAutomatic: yes Architecture: amd64 Please note that for normal archives without "NotAutomatic: yes", the default Pin-Priority value is 500, while for special archives with "NotAutomatic: yes", the default Pin-Priority value is 1 (see apt_preferences(5) and Section 2.7.3, Tweaking candidate version).

2.5.4. Fetching of the meta data for the package

When APT tools, such as aptitude, apt-get, synaptic, apt-file, auto-apt, are used, we need to update the local copies of the meta data containing the Debian archive information. These local copies have following file names corresponding to the specified distribution, area, and architecture names in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" (see Section 2.1.4, Debian archive basics). "/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_<distribution>_Release" "/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_<distribution>_Release.gpg" "/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_<distribution>_<area>_binary<architecture>_Packages" "/var/lib/apt/lists/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_<distribution>_<area>_source_Sources" "/var/cache/apt/apt-file/ftp.us.debian.org_debian_dists_<distribution>_Contents<architecture>.gz" (for apt-file) First 4 types of files are shared by all the pertinent APT commands and updated from command line by "apt-get update" and "aptitude update". The "Packages" meta data are updated if there is the "deb" line in "/etc/apt/sources.list". The "Sources" meta data are updated if there is the "deb-src" line in "/etc/apt/sources.list". The "Packages" and "Sources" meta data contain "Filename:" stanza pointing to the file location of the binary and source packages. Currently, these packages are located under the "pool/" directory tree for the improved transition over the releases. Local copies of "Packages" meta data can be interactively searched with the help of aptitude. The specialized search command grep-dctrl(1) can search local copies of "Packages" and "Sources" meta data. Local copy of "Contents-<architecture>" meta data can be updated by "apt-file update" and its location is different from other 4 ones. See apt-file(1). (The auto-apt uses different location for local copy of "Contents-<architecture>.gz" as default.)

2.5.5. The package state for APT

In addition to the remotely fetched meta data, the APT tool after lenny stores its locally generated installation state information in the "/var/lib/apt/extended_states" which is used by all APT tools to track all auto installed packages.

2.5.6. The package state for aptitude

In addition to the remotely fetched meta data, the aptitude command stores its locally generated installation state information in the "/var/lib/aptitude/pkgstates" which is used only by it.

2.5.7. Local copies of the fetched packages

All the remotely fetched packages via APT mechanism are stored in the "/var/cache/apt/packages" until they are cleaned.

2.5.8. Debian package file names

Debian package files have particular name structures. Table 2.15. The name structure of Debian packages package type The binary package (a.k.a deb) The binary package (a.k.a udeb) The source package (upstream source) The 1.0 source package (Debian changes) The 3.0 (quilt) source package (Debian changes) The source package (description) name structure <package-name>_<epoch>:<upstream-version><debian.version>-<architecture>.deb <package-name>_<epoch>:<upstream-version><debian.version>-<architecture>.udeb <package-name>_<epoch>:<upstream-version><debian.version>.orig.tar.gz <package-name>_<epoch>:<upstream-version><debian.version>.diff.gz <package-name>_<epoch>:<upstream-version><debian.version>.debian.tar.gz <package-name>_<epoch>:<upstream-version><debian.version>.dsc

Tip
Here only the basic source package formats are described. See more on dpkg-source(1). Table 2.16. The usable characters for each component in the Debian package names name component <package-name> <epoch>: <debian.version> usable characters (regex) existence [a-z,A-Z,0-9,.,,-] [0-9]+: [a-z,A-Z,0-9,.,,~] required optional required optional

<upstream-version> [a-z,A-Z,0-9,.,,-,:]

Note
You can check package version order by dpkg(1), e.g., "dpkg --compare-versions 7.0 gt 7.~pre1 ; echo $?" .

Note
The debian-installer (d-i) uses udeb as the file extension for its binary package instead of normal deb. An udeb package is a stripped down deb package which removes few nonessential contents such as documentation to save space while relaxing the package policy requirements. Both deb and udeb packages share the same package structure. The "u" stands for micro.

2.5.9. The dpkg command

dpkg(1) is the lowest level tool for the Debian package management. This is very powerful and needs to be used with care. While installing package called "<package_name>", dpkg process it in the following order. 1. 2. 3. 4. Unpack the deb file ("ar -x" equivalent) Execute "<package_name>.preinst" using debconf(1) Install the package content to the system ("tar -x" equivalent) Execute "<package_name>.postinst" using debconf(1)

The debconf system provides standardized user interaction with I18N and L10N (Chapter 8, I18N and L10N) supports. Table 2.17. The notable files created by dpkg file description of contents

/var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.conffiles list of configuration files. (user modifiable) /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.list /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.md5sums /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.preinst /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.postinst /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.prerm /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.postrm /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.config /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/<package_name> list of files and directories installed by the package list of MD5 hash values for files installed by the package package script run before the package installation package script run after the package installation package script run before the package removal package script run after the package removal package script for debconf system the alternative information used by the update-

/var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/<package_name> /var/lib/dpkg/available /var/lib/dpkg/diversions /var/lib/dpkg/statoverride /var/lib/dpkg/status /var/lib/dpkg/status-old /var/backups/dpkg.status*

alternatives command the availability information for all the package the diversions information used by dpkg(1) and set by`dpkg-divert`(8) the stat override information used by dpkg(1) and set by`dpkg-statoverride`(8) the status information for all the packages the first-generation backup of the "var/lib/dpkg/status" file the second-generation backup and older ones of the "var/lib/dpkg/status" file

The "status" file is also used by the tools such as dpkg(1), "dselect update" and "apt-get -u dselect-upgrade". The specialized search command grep-dctrl(1) can search the local copies of "status" and "available" meta data.

Tip
In the debian-installer environment, the udpkg command is used to open udeb packages. The udpkg command is a stripped down version of the dpkg command.

2.5.10. The update-alternative command

The Debian system has mechanism to install somewhat overlapping programs peacefully using updatealternatives(8). For example, you can make the vi command select to run vim while installing both vim and nvi packages. $ ls -l $(type -p vi) lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2007-03-24 19:05 /usr/bin/vi -> /etc/alternatives/vi $ sudo update-alternatives --display vi ... $ sudo update-alternatives --config vi Selection Command ---------------------------------------------1 /usr/bin/vim *+ 2 /usr/bin/nvi Enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number: 1 The Debian alternatives system keeps its selection as symlinks in "/etc/alternatives/". The selection process uses corresponding file in "/var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/".

2.5.11. The dpkg-statoverride command

Stat overrides provided by the dpkg-statoverride(8) command are a way to tell dpkg(1) to use a different owner or mode for a file when a package is installed. If "--update" is specified and file exists, it is immediately set to the new owner and mode.

Caution
The direct alteration of owner or mode for a file owned by the package using chmod or chown commands by the system administrator is reset by the next upgrade of the package.

Note
I use the word file here, but in reality this can be any filesystem object that dpkg handles, including directories, devices, etc.

2.5.12. The dpkg-divert command

File diversions provided by the dpkg-divert(8) command are a way of forcing dpkg(1) not to install a file into its default location, but to a diverted location. The use of dpkg-divert is meant for the package maintenance scripts. Its casual use by the system administrator is deprecated.

2.6. Recovery from a broken system

When running unstable system, the administrator is expected to recover from broken package management situation.

Caution
Some methods described here are high risk actions. You have been warned!

2.6.1. Incompatibility with old user configuration

If a desktop GUI program experienced instability after significant upstream version upgrade, you should suspect interferences with old local configuration files created by it. If it is stable under newly created user account, this hypothesis is confirmed. (This is a bug of packaging and usually avoided by the packager.) To recover stability, you should move corresponding local configuration files and restart the GUI program. You may need to read old configuration file contents to recover configuration information later. (Do not

erase them too quickly.)

2.6.2. Different packages with overlapped files

Archive level package management systems, such as aptitude(8) or apt-get(1), do not even try to install packages with overlapped files using package dependencies (see Section 2.1.5, Package dependencies). Errors by the package maintainer or deployment of inconsistently mixed source of archives (see Section 2.7.2, Packages from mixed source of archives) by the system administrator may create situation with incorrectly defined package dependencies. When you install a package with overlapped files using aptitude(8) or apt-get(1) under such situation, dpkg(1) which unpacks package ensures to return error to the calling program without overwriting existing files.

Caution
The use of third party packages introduces significant system risks via maintainer scripts which are run with root privilege and can do anything to your system. The dpkg(1) command only protects against overwriting by the unpacking. You can work around such broken installation by removing the old offending package, <old-package>, first. $ sudo dpkg -P <old-package>

2.6.3. Fixing broken package script

When a command in the package script returns error for some reason and the script exits with error, the package management system aborts their action and ends up with partially installed packages. When a package contains bugs in its removal scripts, the package may become impossible to remove and quite nasty. For the package script problem of "<package_name>", you should look into following package scripts. "/var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.preinst" "/var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.postinst" "/var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.prerm" "/var/lib/dpkg/info/<package_name>.postrm" Edit the offending package script from the root using following techniques. disable the offending line by preceding "#" force to return success by appending the offending line with "|| true" Configure all partially installed packages with the following command. # dpkg --configure -a

2.6.4. Rescue with the dpkg command

Since dpkg is very low level package tool, it can function under the very bad situation such as unbootable system without network connection. Let's assume foo package was broken and needs to be replaced. You may still find cached copies of older bug free version of foo package in the package cache directory: "/var/cache/apt/archives/". (If not, you can download it from archive of http://snapshot.debian.net/ or copy it from package cache of a functioning machine.) If you can boot the system, you may install it by the following command. # dpkg -i /path/to/foo_<old_version>_<arch>.deb

Tip
If system breakage is minor, you may alternatively downgrade the whole system as Section 2.7.7, Emergency downgrading using the higher level APT system. If your system is unbootable from hard disk, you should seek other ways to boot it. 1. Boot the system using the debian-installer CD in rescue mode. 2. Mount the unbootable system on the hard disk to "/target". 3. Install older version of foo package by the following. # dpkg --root /target -i /path/to/foo_<old_version>_<arch>.deb This example works even if the dpkg command on the hard disk is broken.

Tip
Any GNU/Linux system started by another system on hard disk, live GNU/Linux CD, bootable USB-key drive, or netboot can be used similarly to rescue broken system. If attempting to install a package this way fails due to some dependency violations and you really need to do this as the last resort, you can override dependency using dpkg's "--ignore-depends", "--forcedepends" and other options. If you do this, you need to make serious effort to restore proper dependency later. See dpkg(8) for details.

Note
When your system is seriously broken, you should make a full backup of system to a safe

place (see Section 10.1.6, Backup and recovery) and should perform a clean installation. This is less time consuming and produces better results in the end.

2.6.5. Recovering package selection data

If "/var/lib/dpkg/status" becomes corrupt for any reason, the Debian system loses package selection data and suffers severely. Look for the old "/var/lib/dpkg/status" file at "/var/lib/dpkg/statusold" or "/var/backups/dpkg.status.*". Keeping "/var/backups/" in a separate partition may be a good idea since this directory contains lots of important system data. For serious breakage, I recommend to make fresh re-install after making backup of the system. Even if everything in "/var/" is gone, you can still recover some information from directories in "/usr/share/doc/" to guide your new installation. Reinstall minimal (desktop) system. # mkdir -p /path/to/old/system Mount old system at "/path/to/old/system/". # # # # # # cd /path/to/old/system/usr/share/doc ls -1 >~/ls1.txt cd /usr/share/doc ls -1 >>~/ls1.txt cd sort ls1.txt | uniq | less

Then you are presented with package names to install. (There may be some non-package names such as "texmf".)

2.7. Tips for the package management

2.7.1. How to pick Debian packages
You can seek packages which satisfy your needs with aptitude from the package description or from the list under "Tasks". When you encounter more than 2 similar packages and wonder which one to install without "trial and error" efforts, you should use some common sense. I consider following points are good indications of preferred packages. Essential: yes > no Component: main > contrib > non-free Priority: required > important > standard > optional > extra Tasks: packages listed in tasks such as "Desktop environment" Packages selected by the dependency package (e.g., python2.4 by python) Popcon: higher in the vote and install number Changelog: regular updates by the maintainer BTS: No RC bugs (no critical, no grave, and no serious bugs) BTS: responsive maintainer to bug reports BTS: higher number of the recently fixed bugs BTS: lower number of remaining non-wishlist bugs Debian being a volunteer project with distributed development model, its archive contains many packages with different focus and quality. You must make your own decision what to do with them.

2.7.2. Packages from mixed source of archives Caution

Installing packages from mixed source of archives is not supported by the official Debian distribution except for officially supported particular combinations of archives such as stable with security updates and squeeze-updates. Here is an example of operations to include specific newer upstream version packages found in unstable while tracking testing for single occasion. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Change the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file temporarily to single "unstable" entry. Run "aptitude update". Run "aptitude install <package-name>". Recover the original "/etc/apt/sources.list" file for testing. Run "aptitude update".

You do not create the "/etc/apt/preferences" file nor need to worry about apt-pinning with this manual approach. But this is very cumbersome.

Caution
When using mixed source of archives, you must ensure compatibility of packages by yourself since the Debian does not guarantee it. If package incompatibility exists, you may break system. You must be able to judge these technical requirements. The use of mixed source of random archives is completely optional operation and its use is not something I encourage you to use. General rules for installing packages from different archives are followings.

Non-binary packages ("Architecture: all") are safer to install. documentation packages: no special requirements interpreter program packages: compatible interpreter must be available Binary packages (non "Architecture: all") usually face many road blocks and unsafe to install. library version compatibility (including "libc") related utility program version compatibility Kernel ABI compatibility C++ ABI compatibility

Note
In order to make a package to be safer to install, some commercial non-free binary program packages may be provided with completely statically linked libraries. You should still check ABI compatibility issues etc. for them.

Note
Except to avoid broken package for a short term, installing binary packages from officially unsupported archives is generally bad idea. This is true even if you use apt-pinning (see Section 2.7.3, Tweaking candidate version). You should consider chroot or similar techniques (see Section 9.8, Virtualized system) to run programs from different archives.

2.7.3. Tweaking candidate version

Without the "/etc/apt/preferences" file, APT system choses the latest available version as the candidate version using the version string. This is the normal state and most recommended usage of APT system. All officially supported combinations of archives do not require the "/etc/apt/preferences" file since some archives which should not be used as the automatic source of upgrades are marked as NotAutomatic and dealt properly.

Tip
The version string comparison rule can be verified with, e.g., "dpkg --compare-versions ver1.1 gt ver1.1~1; echo $?" (see dpkg(1)). When you install packages from mixed source of archives (see Section 2.7.2, Packages from mixed source of archives) regularly, you can automate these complicated operations by creating the "/etc/apt/preferences" file with proper entries and tweaking the package selection rule for candidate version as described in apt_preferences(5). This is called apt-pinning.

Warning
Use of apt-pinning by a novice user is sure call for major troubles. You must avoid using aptpinning except when you absolutely need it.

Caution
When using apt-pinning, you must ensure compatibility of packages by yourself since the Debian does not guarantee it. The apt-pinning is completely optional operation and its use is not something I encourage you to use.

Caution
Archive level Release files (see Section 2.5.3, Archive level "Release" files) are used for the rule of apt_preferences(5). Thus apt-pinning works only with "suite" name for normal Debian archives and security Debian archives. (This is different from Ubuntu archives). For example, you can do "Pin: release a=unstable" but can not do "Pin: release a=sid" in the "/etc/apt/preferences" file.

Caution
When you use non-Debian archive as a part of apt-pinning, you should check what they are intended for and also check their credibility. For example, Ubuntu and Debian are not meant to be mixed.

Note
Even if you do not create the "/etc/apt/preferences" file, you can do fairly complex system operations (see Section 2.6.4, Rescue with the dpkg command and Section 2.7.2, Packages from mixed source of archives) without apt-pinning. Here is a simplified explanation of apt-pinning technique. APT system choses highest Pin-Priority upgrading package from available package sources defined in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file as the candidate version package. If the Pin-Priority of the package is larger than 1000, this version restriction for upgrading is dropped to enable downgrading (see Section 2.7.7, Emergency downgrading). Pin-Priority value of each package is defined by "Pin-Priority" entries in the "/etc/apt/preferences" file or uses its default value. Table 2.18. List of the default Pin-Priority value for each package source type

default Pin-Priority package source type 990 500 100 1 target release archive normal archive installed package NotAutomatic archive

The target release archive can be set by several methods. "/etc/apt/apt.conf" configuration file with "APT::Default-Release "stable";" line command line option, e.g., "apt-get install -t testing some-package" The NotAutomatic archive is set by archive server having its archive level Release file (see Section 2.5.3, Archive level "Release" files) containing "NotAutomatic: yes". The apt-pinning situation of <package> from multiple archive sources is displayed by "apt-cache policy <package>". A line started with "Package pin:" lists the package version of pin if association just with <package> is defined, e.g., "Package pin: 0.190". No line with "Package pin:" exists if no association just with <package> is defined. The Pin-Priority value associated just with <package> is listed right side of all version strings, e.g., "0.181 700". "0" is listed right side of all version strings if no association just with <package> is defined, e.g., "0.181 0". The Pin-Priority values of archives (defined as "Package: *" in the "/etc/apt/preferences" file) are listed left side of all archive paths, e.g., "200 http://backports.debian.org/debianbackports/ squeeze-backports/main Packages". Here is an example of apt-pinning technique to include specific newer upstream version packages found in unstable regularly upgraded while tracking testing. You list all required archives in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file as the following. deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing main contrib non-free deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib Set the "/etc/apt/preferences" file as as the following. Package: * Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 500 Package: * Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 200 When you wish to install a package named "<package-name>" with its dependencies from unstable archive under this configuration, you issue the following command which switches target release with "-t" option (Pin-Priority of unstable becomes 990.). $ sudo apt-get install -t unstable <package-name> With this configuration, usual execution of "apt-get upgrade" and "apt-get dist-upgrade" (or "aptitude safe-upgrade" and "aptitude full-upgrade") upgrades packages which were installed from testing archive using current testing archive and packages which were installed from unstable archive using current unstable archive.

Caution
Be careful not to remove "testing" entry from the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file. Without "testing" entry in it, APT system upgrades packages using newer unstable archive.

Tip
I usually edit the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file to comment out "unstable" archive entry right after above operation. This avoids slow update process of having too many entries in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file although this prevents upgrading packages which were installed from unstable archive using current unstable archive.

Tip
If "Pin-Priority: 20" is used instead of "Pin-Priority: 200" for the "/etc/apt/preferences" file, already installed packages having Pin-Priority value of 100 are not upgraded by unstable archive even if "testing" entry in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file is removed. If you wish to track particular packages in unstable automatically without initial "-t unstable" installation, you must create the "/etc/apt/preferences" file and explicitly list all those packages at the top of it as the following. Package: <package-1> Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 700 Package: <package-2>

Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 700 These set Pin-Priority value for each specific package. For example, in order to track the latest unstable version of this "Debian Reference" in English, you should have following entries in the "/etc/apt/preferences" file. Package: debian-reference-en Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 700 Package: debian-reference-common Pin: release a=unstable Pin-Priority: 700

Tip
This apt-pinning technique is valid even when you are tracking stable archive. Documentation packages have been always safe to install from unstable archive in my experience, so far. Here is another example of apt-pinning technique to include specific newer upstream version packages found in experimental while tracking unstable. You list all required archives in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file as the following. deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib The default Pin-Priority value for experimental archive is always 1 (<<100) since it is NotAutomatic archive (see Section 2.5.3, Archive level "Release" files). There is no need to set Pin-Priority value explicitly in the "/etc/apt/preferences" file just to use experimental archive unless you wish to track particular packages in it automatically for next upgrading.

2.7.4. Updates and Backports

There are squeeze-updates and backports.debian.org archives which provide updgrade packages for stable (squeeze).

Warning
Do not use all packages available in the NotAutomatic archives such as squeezebackports. Use only selected packages which fits your needs. Here is an example of apt-pinning technique to include specific newer upstream version packages found in squeeze-backports while tracking squeeze and squeeze-updates. You list all required archives in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file as the following. deb deb deb deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze main contrib non-free http://security.debian.org/ squeeze/updates main contrib http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ squeeze-updates main contrib non-free http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports/ squeeze-backports main contrib non-free

The default Pin-Priority value for backports.debian.org archive is always 1 (<<100) since it is NotAutomatic archive (see Section 2.5.3, Archive level "Release" files). There is no need to set PinPriority value explicitly in the "/etc/apt/preferences" file just to use backports.debian.org archive unless you wish to track particular packages in it automatically for next upgrading. So whenever you wish to install a package named "<package-name>" with its dependency from squeezebackports archive, you use following command while switching target release with "-t" option. $ sudo apt-get install -t squeeze-backports <package-name> If you wish to upgrade particular packages, you must create the "/etc/apt/preferences" file and explicitly lists all packages in it as the following. Package: <package-1> Pin: release o=Backports.org archive Pin-Priority: 700 Alternatively, with the "/etc/apt/preferences" file as the following. Package: * Pin: release a=stable , o=Debian Pin-Priority: 500 Package: * Pin: release a=squeeze-updates, o=Debian Pin-Priority: 500 Package: * Pin: release a=squeeze-backports, o=Backports.org archive Pin-Priority: 200 Execution of "apt-get upgrade" and "apt-get dist-upgrade" (or "aptitude safe-upgrade" and "aptitude full-upgrade") upgrades packages which were installed from stable archive using current stable archive and packages which were installed from other archives using current corresponding archive for all archives in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file.

2.7.5. Automatic download and upgrade of packages

The apt package comes with its own cron script "/etc/cron.daily/apt" to support the automatic download of packages. This script can be enhanced to perform the automatic upgrade of packages by installing the unattended-upgrades package. These can be customized by parameters in "/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/02backup" and "/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades" as described in "/usr/share/doc/unattended-upgrades/README". The unattended-upgrades package is mainly intended for the security upgrade for the stable system. If the risk of breaking an existing stable system by the automatic upgrade is smaller than that of the system broken by the intruder using its security hole which has been closed by the security update, you should consider using this automatic upgrade with configuration parameters as the following. APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1"; APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "1"; APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1"; If you are running an unstable system, you do not want to use the automatic upgrade since it certainly breaks system some day. Even for such unstable case, you may still want to download packages in advance to save time for the interactive upgrade with configuration parameters as the following. APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1"; APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "1"; APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "0";

2.7.6. Limiting download bandwidth for APT

If you want to limit the download bandwidth for APT to e.g. 800Kib/sec (=100kiB/sec), you should configure APT with its configuration parameter as the following. APT::Acquire::http::Dl-Limit "800";

2.7.7. Emergency downgrading Caution

Downgrading is not officially supported by the Debian by design. It should be done only as a part of emergency recovery process. Despite of this situation, it is known to work well in many incidents. For critical systems, You should backup all important data on the system after the recovery operation and re-install the new system from the scratch. You may be lucky to downgrade from newer archive to older archive to recover from broken system upgrade by manipulating candidate version (see Section 2.7.3, Tweaking candidate version). This is lazy alternative to tedious actions of many "dpkg -i <broken-package>_<old-version>.deb" commands (see Section 2.6.4, Rescue with the dpkg command). Search lines in the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file tracking unstable as the following. deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ sid main contrib non-free Replace it with the following to track testing. deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ wheezy main contrib non-free Set the "/etc/apt/preferences" file as the following. Package: * Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 1010 Run "apt-get dist-upgrade" to force downgrading of packages across the system. Remove this special "/etc/apt/preferences" file after this emergency downgrading.

Tip
It is good idea to remove (not purge!) as much packages to minimize dependency problems. You may need to manually remove and install some packages to get system downgraded. Linux kernel, bootloader, udev, PAM, APT, and networking related packages and their configuration files require special attention.

2.7.8. Who uploaded the package?

Although the maintainer name listed in "/var/lib/dpkg/available" and "/usr/share/doc/package_name/changelog" provide some information on "who is behind the packaging activity", the actual uploader of the package is somewhat obscure. who-uploads(1) in the devscripts package identifies the actual uploader of Debian source packages.

2.7.9. The equivs package

If you are to compile a program from source to replace the Debian package, it is best to make it into a real local debianized package (*.deb) and use private archive. If you chose to compile a program from source and to install them under "/usr/local" instead, you may need to use equivs as a last resort to satisfy the missing package dependency. Package: equivs Priority: extra

Section: admin Description: Circumventing Debian package dependencies This is a dummy package which can be used to create Debian packages, which only contain dependency information.

2.7.10. Porting a package to the stable system

For partial upgrades of the stable system, rebuilding a package within its environment using the source package is desirable. This avoids massive package upgrades due to their dependencies. Add the following entries to the "/etc/apt/sources.list" of a stable system. deb-src http://http.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

Install required packages for the compilation and download the source package as the following. # # # $ $ $ apt-get apt-get apt-get apt-get apt-get cd foo* update dist-upgrade install fakeroot devscripts build-essential build-dep foo source foo

Adjust installed packages if needed. Execute the following. $ dch -i Bump package version, e.g. one appended with "+bp1" in "debian/changelog" Build packages and install them to the system as the following. $ debuild $ cd .. # debi foo*.changes

2.7.11. Proxy server for APT

Since mirroring whole subsection of Debian archive wastes disk space and network bandwidth, deployment of a local proxy server for APT is desirable consideration when you administer many systems on LAN. APT can be configure to use generic web (http) proxy servers such as squid (see Section 6.10, Other network application servers) as described in apt.conf(5) and in "/usr/share/doc/apt/examples/configureindex.gz". The "$http_proxy" environment variable can be used to override proxy server setting in the "/etc/apt/apt.conf" file. There are proxy tools specially for Debian archive. You should check BTS before using them. Table 2.19. List of the proxy tools specially for Debian archive package approx * apt-cacher * popcon V:0.3, I:0.3 V:0.3, I:0.4 size description 3896 308 1092 caching proxy server for Debian archive files (compiled OCaml program) Caching proxy for Debian package and source files (Perl program) Caching proxy for distribution of software packages (compiled C++ program)

apt-cacher-ng V:0.3, I:0.4 * debtorrent * V:0.12, I:0.17

1185 Bittorrent proxy for downloading Debian packages (Python program)

Caution
When Debian reorganizes its archive structure, these specialized proxy tools tend to require code rewrites by the package maintainer and may not be functional for a while. On the other hand, generic web (http) proxy servers are more robust and easier to cope with such changes.

2.7.12. Small public package archive

Here is an example for creating a small public package archive compatible with the modern secure APT system (see Section 2.5.2, Top level "Release" file and authenticity). Let's assume few things. Account name: "foo" Host name: "www.example.com" Required packages: apt-utils, gnupg, and other packages URL: "http://www.example.com/~foo/" ( "/home/foo/public_html/index.html") Architecture of packages: "amd64" Create an APT archive key of Foo on your server system as the following. $ ssh $ gpg ... $ gpg ... sec [email protected] --gen-key -K 1024D/3A3CB5A6 2008-08-14

uid Foo (ARCHIVE KEY) <[email protected]> ssb 2048g/6856F4A7 2008-08-14 $ gpg --export -a 3A3CB5A6 >foo.public.key Publish the archive key file "foo.public.key" with the key ID "3A3CB5A6" for Foo Create an archive tree called "Origin: Foo" as the following. $ umask 022 $ mkdir -p ~/public_html/debian/pool/main $ mkdir -p ~/public_html/debian/dists/unstable/main/binary-amd64 $ mkdir -p ~/public_html/debian/dists/unstable/main/source $ cd ~/public_html/debian $ cat > dists/unstable/main/binary-amd64/Release << EOF Archive: unstable Version: 4.0 Component: main Origin: Foo Label: Foo Architecture: amd64 EOF $ cat > dists/unstable/main/source/Release << EOF Archive: unstable Version: 4.0 Component: main Origin: Foo Label: Foo Architecture: source EOF $ cat >aptftp.conf <<EOF APT::FTPArchive::Release { Origin "Foo"; Label "Foo"; Suite "unstable"; Codename "sid"; Architectures "amd64"; Components "main"; Description "Public archive for Foo"; }; EOF $ cat >aptgenerate.conf <<EOF Dir::ArchiveDir "."; Dir::CacheDir "."; TreeDefault::Directory "pool/"; TreeDefault::SrcDirectory "pool/"; Default::Packages::Extensions ".deb"; Default::Packages::Compress ". gzip bzip2"; Default::Sources::Compress "gzip bzip2"; Default::Contents::Compress "gzip bzip2"; BinDirectory "dists/unstable/main/binary-amd64" { Packages "dists/unstable/main/binary-amd64/Packages"; Contents "dists/unstable/Contents-amd64"; SrcPackages "dists/unstable/main/source/Sources"; }; Tree "dists/unstable" { Sections "main"; Architectures "amd64 source"; }; EOF You can automate repetitive updates of APT archive contents on your server system by configuring dupload. Place all package files into "~foo/public_html/debian/pool/main/" by executing "dupload -t foo changes_file" in client while having "~/.dupload.conf" containing the following. $cfg{'foo'} = { fqdn => "www.example.com", method => "scpb", incoming => "/home/foo/public_html/debian/pool/main", # The dinstall on ftp-master sends emails itself dinstall_runs => 1, }; $cfg{'foo'}{postupload}{'changes'} = " echo 'cd public_html/debian ; apt-ftparchive generate -c=aptftp.conf aptgenerate.conf; apt-ftparchive release -c=aptftp.conf dists/unstable >dists/unstable/Release ; rm -f dists/unstable/Release.gpg ; gpg -u 3A3CB5A6 -bao dists/unstable/Release.gpg dists/unstable/Release'| ssh [email protected] 2>/dev/null ; echo 'Package archive created!'"; The postupload hook script initiated by dupload(1) creates updated archive files for each upload.

You can add this small public archive to the apt-line of your client system by the following. $ sudo bash # echo "deb http://www.example.com/~foo/debian/ unstable main" \ >> /etc/apt/sources.list # apt-key add foo.public.key

Tip
If the archive is located on the local filesystem, you can use "deb file:///home/foo/debian/ " instead.

2.7.13. Recording and copying system configuration

You can make a local copy of the package and debconf selection states by the following. # dpkg --get-selections '*' > selection.dpkg # debconf-get-selections > selection.debconf Here, "*" makes "selection.dpkg" to include package entries for "purge" too. You can transfer these 2 files to another computer, and install there with the following. # # # # dselect update debconf-set-selections < myselection.debconf dpkg --set-selections < myselection.dpkg apt-get -u dselect-upgrade # or dselect install

If you are thinking about managing many servers in a cluster with practically the same configuration, you should consider to use specialized package such as fai to manage the whole system.

2.7.14. Converting or installing an alien binary package

alien(1) enables the conversion of binary packages provided in Red Hat rpm, Stampede slp, Slackware tgz, and Solaris pkg file formats into a Debian deb package. If you want to use a package from another Linux distribution than the one you have installed on your system, you can use alien to convert it from your preferred package format and install it. alien also supports LSB packages.

Warning
alien(1) should not be used to replace essential system packages, such as sysvinit, libc6, libpam-modules, etc. Practically, alien(1) should only used for non-free binaryonly packages which are LSB compliant or statically linked. For free softwares, you should use their source packages to make real Debian packages.

2.7.15. Extracting package without dpkg

The current "*.deb" package contents can be extracted without using dpkg(1) on any Unix-like environment using standard ar(1) and tar(1). # ar x /path/to/dpkg_<version>_<arch>.deb # ls total 24 -rw-r--r-- 1 bozo bozo 1320 2007-05-07 00:11 control.tar.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 bozo bozo 12837 2007-05-07 00:11 data.tar.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 bozo bozo 4 2007-05-07 00:11 debian-binary # mkdir control # mkdir data # tar xvzf control.tar.gz -C control # tar xvzf data.tar.gz -C data You can also browse package content using the mc command.

2.7.16. More readings for the package management

You can learn more on the package management from following documentations. Primary documentations on the package management: aptitude(8), dpkg(1), tasksel(8), apt-get(8), apt-config(8), apt-key(8), sources.list(5), apt.conf(5), and apt_preferences(5); "/usr/share/doc/apt-doc/guide.html/index.html" and "/usr/share/doc/aptdoc/offline.html/index.html" from the apt-doc package; and "/usr/share/doc/aptitude/html/en/index.html" from the aptitude-doc-en package. Official and detailed documentations on the Debian archive: "Debian Policy Manual Chapter 2 - The Debian Archive", "Debian Developer's Reference, Chapter 4 - Resources for Debian Developers 4.6 The Debian archive", and "The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ, Chapter 5 - The Debian FTP archives". Tutorial for building of a Debian package for Debian users: "Debian New Maintainers' Guide".

Chapter 3. The system initialization

It is wise for you as the system administrator to know roughly how the Debian system is started and configured. Although the exact details are in the source files of the packages installed and their documentations, it is a bit overwhelming for most of us. I did my best to provide a quick overview of the key points of the Debian system and their configuration for your reference, based on the current and previous knowledge of mine and others. Since the Debian system is a moving target, the situation over the system may have been changed. Before making any changes to the system, you should refer to the latest documentation for each package.

3.1. An overview of the boot strap process

The computer system undergoes several phases of boot strap processes from the power-on event until it offers the fully functional operating system (OS) to the user. For simplicity, I limit discussion to the typical PC platform with the default installation. The typical boot strap process is like a four-stage rocket. Each stage rocket hands over the system control to the next stage one. Section 3.2, Stage Section 3.3, Stage Section 3.4, Stage Section 3.5, Stage 1: the 2: the 3: the 4: the BIOS boot loader mini-Debian system normal Debian system

Of course, these can be configured differently. For example, if you compiled your own kernel, you may be skipping the step with the mini-Debian system. So please do not assume this is the case for your system until you check it yourself.

Note
For non-legacy PC platform such as the SUN or the Macintosh system, the BIOS on ROM and the partition on the disk may be quite different (Section 9.3.1, Disk partition configuration). Please seek the platform specific documentations elsewhere for such a case.

3.2. Stage 1: the BIOS

The BIOS is the 1st stage of the boot process which is started by the power-on event. The BIOS residing on the read only memory (ROM) is executed from the particular memory address to which the program counter of CPU is initialized by the power-on event. This BIOS performs the basic initialization of the hardware (POST: power on self test) and hands the system control to the next step which you provide. The BIOS is usually provided with the hardware. The BIOS startup screen usually indicates what key(s) to press to enter the BIOS setup screen to configure the BIOS behavior. Popular keys used are F1, F2, F10, Esc, Ins, and Del. If your BIOS startup screen is hidden by a nice graphics screen, you may press some keys such as Esc to disable this. These keys are highly dependent on the hardware. The hardware location and the priority of the code started by the BIOS can be selected from the BIOS setup screen. Typically, the first few sectors of the first found selected device (hard disk, floppy disk, CDROM, ) are loaded to the memory and this initial code is executed. This initial code can be any one of the following. The boot loader code The kernel code of the stepping stone OS such as FreeDOS The kernel code of the target OS if it fits in this small space Typically, the system is booted from the specified partition of the primary hard disk partition. First 2 sectors of the hard disk on legacy PC contain the master boot record (MBR). The disk partition information including the boot selection is recorded at the end of this MBR. The first boot loader code executed from the BIOS occupies the rest of this MBR.

3.3. Stage 2: the boot loader

The boot loader is the 2nd stage of the boot process which is started by the BIOS. It loads the system kernel image and the initrd image to the memory and hands control over to them. This initrd image is the root filesystem image and its support depends on the bootloader used. The Debian system normally uses the Linux kernel as the default system kernel. The initrd image for the current 2.6 Linux kernel is technically the initramfs (initial RAM filesystem) image. The initramfs image is a gzipped cpio archive of files in the root filesystem. The default install of the Debian system places first-stage GRUB boot loader code into the MBR for the PC platform. There are many boot loaders and configuration options available. Table 3.1. List of boot loaders bootloader package popcon size initrd GRUB Legacy GRUB 2 grublegacy * V:0.4, I:1.1 1984 Supported description This is smart enough to understand disk partitions and filesystems such as vfat, ext3, . (lenny default) This is smart enough to understand disk partitions and filesystems such as vfat, ext3, . This is GRUB 2 bootable rescue images (CD and

grub-pc * V:7, I:25 2480 Supported grubV:0.04, rescue-pc

GRUB 2

3896 Supported

GRUB 2

rescue-pc I:0.5 * lilo * syslinux * syslinux * loadlin * V:0.5, I:2 V:1.3, I:8 V:1.3, I:8 V:0.03, I:0.2 V:0.8, I:5

3896 Supported

floppy) (PC/BIOS version) This relies on the sector locations of data on the hard disk. (Old) This understands the ISO9660 filesystem. This is used by the boot CD. This understands the MSDOS filesystem (FAT). This is used by the boot floppy. New system is started from the FreeDOS/MSDOS system.

Lilo Isolinux Syslinux Loadlin

1236 Supported 204 204 144 96 Supported Supported Supported

MBR by Neil mbr * Turton

Not This is free software which substitutes MSDOS MBR. supported This only understands disk partitions.

Warning
Do not play with boot loaders without having bootable rescue media (CD or floppy) created from images in the grub-rescue-pc package. It makes you boot your system even without functioning bootloader on the hard disk. For GRUB Legacy, the menu configuration file is located at "/boot/grub/menu.lst". For example, it has entries as the following. title root kernel initrd Debian GNU/Linux (hd0,2) /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 ro /initrd.img

For GRUB 2, the menu configuration file is located at "/boot/grub/grub.cfg". It is automatically generated by "/usr/sbin/update-grub" using templates from "/etc/grub.d/*" and settings from "/etc/default/grub". For example, it has entries as the following. menuentry "Debian GNU/Linux" { set root=(hd0,3) linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3 initrd /initrd.img } For these examples, these GRUB parameters mean the following. Table 3.2. The meaning of GRUB parameters GRUB parameter root kernel initrd meaning use 3rd partition on the primary disk by setting it as "(hd0,2)" in GRUB legacy or as "(hd0,3)" in GRUB 2 use kernel located at "/vmlinuz" with kernel parameter: "root=/dev/hda3 ro" use initrd/initramfs image located at "/initrd.img"

Note
The value of the partition number used by GRUB legacy program is one less than normal one used by Linux kernel and utility tools. GRUB 2 program fixes this problem.

Tip
UUID (see Section 9.3.2, Accessing partition using UUID) may be used to identify a block special device instead of its file name such as "/dev/hda3", e.g."root=UUID=81b289d54341-4003-9602-e254a17ac232 ro".

Tip
You can start a boot loader from another boot loader using techniques called chain loading. See "info grub" and grub-install(8).

3.4. Stage 3: the mini-Debian system

The mini-Debian system is the 3rd stage of the boot process which is started by the boot loader. It runs the system kernel with its root filesystem on the memory. This is an optional preparatory stage of the boot process.

Note
The term "the mini-Debian system" is coined by the author to describe this 3rd stage boot process for this document. This system is commonly referred as the initrd or initramfs system. Similar system on the memory is used by the Debian Installer. The "/init" script is executed as the first program in this root filesystem on the memory. It is a shell script program which initializes the kernel in user space and hands control over to the next stage. This miniDebian system offers flexibility to the boot process such as adding kernel modules before the main boot process or mounting the root filesystem as an encrypted one.

You can interrupt this part of the boot process to gain root shell by providing "break=init" etc. to the kernel boot parameter. See the "/init" script for more break conditions. This shell environment is sophisticated enough to make a good inspection of your machine's hardware. Commands available in this mini-Debian system are stripped down ones and mainly provided by a GNU tool called busybox(1).

Caution
You need to use "-n" option for mount command when you are on the readonly root filesystem.

3.5. Stage 4: the normal Debian system

Table 3.3. List of boot utilities for the Debian system package initscripts * sysvinit * sysv-rc * lsb-base * insserv * upstart * popcon V:91, I:99 V:85, I:99 V:91, I:99 V:91, I:99 V:22, I:26 V:0.15, I:0.2 size description 284 scripts for initializing and shutting down the system 208 System-V-like init(8) utilities 300 System-V-like runlevel change mechanism 224 System-V-like utilities (startpar(8), bootlogd(8), ) 36 292 700 Linux Standard Base 3.2 init script functionality tool to organize boot sequence using LSB init.d script dependencies event-based init(8) daemon for concurrency (alternative to sysvinit)

sysvinit-utils * V:91, I:99

readahead-fedora V:0.3, I:0.5 144 readahead(8) to preload boot process files * uswsusp * kexec-tools * bootchart * bootchart-view * mingetty * mgetty * V:4, I:14 V:0.17, I:0.5 V:0.13, I:0.7 V:0.10, I:0.6 V:0.19, I:0.6 536 tools to use userspace software suspend provided by Linux 320 kexec tool for kexec(8) reboots (warm reboot) 132 boot process performance analyser 280 boot process performance analyser (visualisation) console-only getty(8)

V:0.2, I:0.5 64

416 smart modem getty(8) replacement

Note
This section describes classical System V style boot system on lenny. Debian is moving to the event driven boot system. See The future of the boot system in Debian and Dependency based boot sequence.

Tip
All boot mechanisms are compatible through "/etc/init.d/rc", "/etc/init.d/rcS", "/usr/sbin/update-rc.d", and "/usr/sbin/invoke-rc.d" scripts.

Tip
The readahead-fedora package can speed up starting of a system with decent amount of DRAM. The normal Debian system is the 4th stage of the boot process which is started by the mini-Debian system. The system kernel for the mini-Debian system continues to run in this environment. The root filesystem is switched from the one on the memory to the one on the real hard disk filesystem. The "/sbin/init" program is executed as the first program and performs the main boot process. The Debian normally uses the traditional sysvinit scheme with the sysv-rc package. See init(8), inittab(5), and "/usr/share/doc/sysv-rc/README.runlevels.gz" for the exact explanation. This main boot process essentially goes through the following. 1. The Debian system goes into runlevel N (none) to initialize the system by following the "/etc/inittab" description. 2. The Debian system goes into runlevel S to initialize the system under the single-user mode to complete hardware initialization etc. 3. The Debian system goes into one of the specified multi-user runlevels (2 to 5) to start the system services. The initial runlevel used for multi-user mode is specified with the "init=" kernel boot parameter or in the "initdefault" line of the "/etc/inittab". The Debian system as installed starts at the runlevel 2. All actual script files executed by the init system are located in the directory "/etc/init.d/".

3.5.1. The meaning of the runlevel

Each runlevel uses a directory for its configuration and has specific meaning as the following.

Table 3.4. List of runlevels and description of their usage runlevel directory N 0 S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 none description of runlevel usage system bootup (NONE) level (no "/etc/rcN.d/" directory)

/etc/rc0.d/ halt the system /etc/rcS.d/ single-user mode on boot (alias: "s") /etc/rc1.d/ single-user mode switched from multi-user mode /etc/rc2.d/ multi-user mode /etc/rc3.d/ ,, /etc/rc4.d/ ,, /etc/rc5.d/ ,, /etc/rc6.d/ reboot the system /etc/rc7.d/ valid multi-user mode but not normally used /etc/rc8.d/ ,, /etc/rc9.d/ ,,

You can change the runlevel from the console to, e.g., 4 by the following. $ sudo telinit 4

Caution
The Debian system does not pre-assign any special meaning differences among the runlevels between 2 and 5. The system administrator on the Debian system may change this. (I.e., Debian is not Red Hat Linux nor Solaris by Sun Microsystems nor HP-UX by Hewlett Packard nor AIX by IBM nor )

Caution
The Debian system does not populate directories for the runlevels between 7 and 9 when the package is installed. Traditional Unix variants don't use these runlevels.

3.5.2. The configuration of the runlevel Note

In Debian squeeze, dependency based boot order provided by the insserv package is used instead of classical alphabetical one. The "CONCURRENCY" value in "/etc/default/rcS" controls its concurrency: "none" for no concurrency, "startpar" for concurrency within the same sequence number, or "makefile" for full concurrency. See "/usr/share/doc/insserv/README.Debian". The name of the symlink in each runlevel directory has the form "S<2-digit-number><original-name>" or "K<2-digit-number><original-name>". The 2-digit-number is used to determine the order in which to run the scripts. "S" is for "Start" and "K" is for "Kill". For "CONCURRENCY=none", when init(8) or telinit(8) commands goes into the runlevel to "<n>", it execute following scripts. 1. The script names starting with a "K" in "/etc/rc<n>.d/" are executed in alphabetical order with the single argument "stop". (killing services) 2. The script names starting with an "S" in "/etc/rc<n>.d/" are executed in alphabetical order with the single argument "start". (starting services) For example, if you had the links "S10sysklogd" and "S20exim4" in a runlevel directory, "S10sysklogd" which is symlinked to "../init.d/sysklogd" would run before "S20exim4" which is symlinked to "../init.d/exim4". For "CONCURRENCY=makefile" (new default), package dependency defined in the header of init scripts are used to order them.

Warning
It is not advisable to make any changes to symlinks in "/etc/rcS.d/" unless you know better than the maintainer.

3.5.3. The runlevel management example

For example, let's set up runlevel system somewhat like Red Hat Linux as the following. init starts the system in runlevel=3 as the default. init does not start gdm(1) in runlevel=(0,1,2,6). init starts gdm(1) in runlevel=(3,4,5). This can be done by using editor on the "/etc/inittab" file to change starting runlevel and using user friendly runlevel management tools such as sysv-rc-conf or bum to edit the runlevel. If you are to use command line only instead, here is how you do it (after the default installation of the gdm package and selecting it to be the choice of display manager). # cd /etc/rc2.d ; mv S21gdm K21gdm # cd /etc ; perl -i -p -e 's/^id:.:/id:3:/' inittab

Please note the "/etc/X11/default-display-manager" file is checked when starting the display manager daemons: xdm, gdm, kdm, and wdm.

Note
You can still start X from any console shell with the startx(1) command.

3.5.4. The default parameter for each init script

The default parameter for each init script in "/etc/init.d/" is given by the corresponding file in "/etc/default/" which contains environment variable assignments only. This choice of directory name is specific to the Debian system. It is roughly the equivalent of the "/etc/sysconfig" directory found in Red Hat Linux and other distributions. For example, "/etc/default/cron" can be used to control how "/etc/init.d/cron" works. The "/etc/default/rcS" file can be used to customize boot-time defaults for motd(5), sulogin(8), etc. If you cannot get the behavior you want by changing such variables then you may modify the init scripts themselves. These are configuration files editable by system administrators.

3.5.5. The hostname

The kernel maintains the system hostname. The init script in runlevel S which is symlinked to "/etc/init.d/hostname.sh" sets the system hostname at boot time (using the hostname command) to the name stored in "/etc/hostname". This file should contain only the system hostname, not a fully qualified domain name. To print out the current hostname run hostname(1) without an argument.

3.5.6. The filesystem

Although the root filesystem is mounted by the kernel when it is started, other filesystems are mounted in the runlevel S by the following init scripts. "`/etc/init.d/mountkernfs.sh" for kernel filesystems in "/proc", "/sys", etc. "`/etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh" for virtual filesystems in "/dev" "`/etc/init.d/mountall.sh" for normal filesystems using "/etc/fstab" "`/etc/init.d/mountnfs.sh" for network filesystems using"/etc/fstab" The mount options of the filesystem are set in "/etc/fstab". See Section 9.3.5, Optimization of filesystem by mount options.

Note
The actual mounting of network filesystems waits for the start of the network interface.

Warning
After mounting all the filesystems, temporary files in "/tmp", "/var/lock", and "/var/run" are cleaned for each boot up.

3.5.7. Network interface initialization

Network interfaces are initialized in runlevel S by the init script symlinked to "/etc/init.d/ifupdownclean" and "/etc/init.d/ifupdown". See Chapter 5, Network setup for how to configure them.

3.5.8. Network service initialization

Many network services (see Chapter 6, Network applications) are started under multi-user mode directly as daemon processes at boot time by the init script, e.g., "/etc/rc2.d/S20exim4" (for RUNLEVEL=2) which is a symlink to "/etc/init.d/exim4". Some network services can be started on demand using the super-server inetd (or its equivalents). The inetd is started at boot time by "/etc/rc2.d/S20inetd" (for RUNLEVEL=2) which is a symlink to "/etc/init.d/inetd". Essentially, inetd allows one running daemon to invoke several others, reducing load on the system. Whenever a request for service arrives at super-server inetd , its protocol and service are identified by looking them up in the databases in "/etc/protocols" and "/etc/services". inetd then looks up a normal Internet service in the "/etc/inetd.conf" database, or a Open Network Computing Remote Procedure Call (ONC RPC)/Sun RPC based service in "/etc/rpc.conf". Sometimes, inetd does not start the intended server directly but starts the TCP wrapper program, tcpd(8), with the intended server name as its argument in "/etc/inetd.conf". In this case, tcpd runs the appropriate server program after logging the request and doing some additional checks using "/etc/hosts.deny" and "/etc/hosts.allow". For system security, disable as much network service programs as possible. See Section 4.6.3, Restricting access to some server services. See inetd(8), inetd.conf(5), protocols(5), services(5), tcpd(8), hosts_access(5), hosts_options(5), rpcinfo(8), portmap(8), and "/usr/share/doc/portmap/portmapper.txt.gz".

3.5.9. The system message

The system message can be customized by "/etc/default/syslogd" and "/etc/syslog.conf" for both the log file and on-screen display. See syslogd(8) and syslog.conf(5). See also Section 9.2.2, Log analyzer.

3.5.10. The kernel message

The kernel message can be customized by "/etc/default/klogd" for both the log file and on-screen display. Set "KLOGD='-c 3'" in this file and run "/etc/init.d/klogd restart". See klogd(8). You may directly change the error message level by the following. # dmesg -n3 Table 3.5. List of kernel error levels error level value error level name meaning 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KERN_EMERG KERN_ALERT KERN_CRIT KERN_ERR KERN_WARNING KERN_NOTICE KERN_INFO KERN_DEBUG system is unusable action must be taken immediately critical conditions error conditions warning conditions normal but significant condition informational debug-level messages

3.5.11. The udev system

For Linux kernel 2.6, the udev system provides mechanism for the automatic hardware discovery and initialization (see udev(7)). Upon discovery of each device by the kernel, the udev system starts a user process which uses information from the sysfs filesystem (see Section 1.2.12, procfs and sysfs), loads required kernel modules supporting it using the modprobe(8) program (see Section 3.5.12, The kernel module initialization), and creates corresponding device nodes.

Tip
If "/lib/modules/<kernel-version>/modules.dep" was not generated properly by depmod(8) for some reason, modules may not be loaded as expected by the udev system. Execute "depmod -a" to fix it. The name of device nodes can be configured by udev rule files in "/etc/udev/rules.d/". Current default rules tend to create dynamically generated names resulting non-static device names except for cd and network devices. By adding your custom rules similar to what cd and network devices do, you can generate static device names for other devices such as USB memory sticks, too. See "Writing udev rules" or "/usr/share/doc/udev/writing_udev_rules/index.html". Since the udev system is somewhat a moving target, I leave details to other documentations and describe the minimum information here.

Tip
For mounting rules in "/etc/fstab", device nodes do not need to be static ones. You can use UUID to mount devices instead of device names such as "/dev/sda". See Section 9.3.2, Accessing partition using UUID.

3.5.12. The kernel module initialization

The modprobe(8) program enables us to configure running Linux kernel from user process by adding and removing kernel modules. The udev system (see Section 3.5.11, The udev system) automates its invocation to help the kernel module initialization. There are non-hardware modules and special hardware driver modules as the following which need to be pre-loaded by listing them in the "/etc/modules" file (see modules(5)). TUN/TAP modules providing virtual Point-to-Point network device (TUN) and virtual Ethernet network device (TAP), netfilter modules providing netfilter firewall capabilities (iptables(8), Section 5.9, Netfilter infrastructure), and watchdog timer driver modules. The configuration files for the modprobe(8) program are located under the "/etc/modprobes.d/" directory as explained in modprobe.conf(5). (If you want to avoid some kernel modules to be auto-loaded, consider to blacklist them in the "/etc/modprobes.d/blacklist" file.) The "/lib/modules/<version>/modules.dep" file generated by the depmod(8) program describes module dependencies used by the modprobe(8) program.

Note
If you experience module loading issues with boot time module loading or with modprobe(8), "depmod -a" may resolve these issues by reconstructing "modules.dep". The modinfo(8) program shows information about a Linux kernel module. The lsmod(8) program nicely formats the contents of the "/proc/modules", showing what kernel modules are currently loaded.

Tip

You can identify exact hardware on your system. See Section 9.6.3, Hardware identification.

Tip
You may configure hardware at boot time to activate expected hardware features. See Section 9.6.4, Hardware configuration.

Tip
You can add support for your device by recompiling kernel. See Section 9.7, The kernel.

Chapter 4. Authentication
When a person (or a program) requests access to the system, authentication confirms the identity to be a trusted one.

Warning
Configuration errors of PAM may lock you out of your own system. You must have a rescue CD handy or setup an alternative boot partition. To recover, boot the system with them and correct things from there.

4.1. Normal Unix authentication

Normal Unix authentication is provided by the pam_unix(8) module under the PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules). Its 3 important configuration files, with ":" separated entries, are the following. Table 4.1. 3 important configuration files for pam_unix(8) file permission user group description (sanitized) user account information group information

/etc/passwd -rw-r--r-- root root /etc/group -rw-r--r-- root root

/etc/shadow -rw-r----- root shadow secure user account information

"/etc/passwd" contains the following. ... user1:x:1000:1000:User1 Name,,,:/home/user1:/bin/bash user2:x:1001:1001:User2 Name,,,:/home/user2:/bin/bash ... As explained in passwd(5), each ":" separated entry of this file means the following. Login name Password specification entry Numerical user ID Numerical group ID User name or comment field User home directory Optional user command interpreter The second entry of "/etc/passwd" was used for the encrypted password entry. After the introduction of "/etc/shadow", this entry is used for the password specification entry. Table 4.2. The second entry content of "/etc/passwd" content meaning (empty) passwordless account x * ! the encrypted password is in "/etc/shadow" no login for this account no login for this account

"/etc/shadow" contains the following. ... user1:$1$Xop0FYH9$IfxyQwBe9b8tiyIkt2P4F/:13262:0:99999:7::: user2:$1$vXGZLVbS$ElyErNf/agUDsm1DehJMS/:13261:0:99999:7::: ... As explained in shadow(5), each ":" separated entry of this file means the following. Login name Encrypted password (The initial "$1$" indicates use of the MD5 encryption. The "*" indicates no login.) Days since Jan 1, 1970 that password was last changed Days before password may be changed Days after which password must be changed Days before password is to expire that user is warned "/etc/group" contains the following.

group1:x:20:user1,user2 As explained in group(5), each ":" separated entry of this file means the following. Group name Encrypted password (not really used) Numerical group ID "," separated list of user names

Note
"/etc/gshadow" provides the similar function as "/etc/shadow" for "/etc/group" but is not really used.

Note
The actual group membership of a user may be dynamically added if "auth optional pam_group.so" line is added to "/etc/pam.d/common-auth" and set it in "/etc/security/group.conf". See pam_group(8).

Note
The base-passwd package contains an authoritative list of the user and the group: "/usr/share/doc/base-passwd/users-and-groups.html".

4.2. Managing account and password information

Here are few notable commands to manage account information. Table 4.3. List of commands to manage account information command function

getent passwd <user_name> browse account information of "<user_name>" getent shadow <user_name> browse shadowed account information of "<user_name>" getent group <group_name> browse group information of "<group_name>" passwd passwd -e chage manage password for the account set one-time password for the account activation manage password aging information

You may need to have the root privilege for some functions to work. See crypt(3) for the password and data encryption.

Note
On the system set up with PAM and NSS as the Debian alioth machine, the content of local "/etc/passwd", "/etc/group" and "/etc/shadow" may not be actively used by the system. Above commands are valid even under such environment.

4.3. Good password

When creating an account during your system installation or with the passwd(1) command, you should choose a good password which consists of 6 to 8 characters including one or more characters from each of the following sets according to passwd(1). Lower case alphabetics Digits 0 through 9 Punctuation marks

Warning
Do not chose guessable words for the password.

4.4. Creating encrypted password

There are independent tools to generate encrypted password with salt. Table 4.4. List of tools to generate password package popcon size command whois * V:10, I:88 396 mkpasswd function over-featured front end to the crypt(3) library

openssl * V:56, I:91 2380 openssl passwd compute password hashes (OpenSSL). passwd(1ssl)

4.5. PAM and NSS

Modern Unix-like systems such as the Debian system provide PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) and NSS (Name Service Switch) mechanism to the local system administrator to configure his system. The role of these can be summarizes as the following. PAM offers a flexible authentication mechanism used by the application software thus involves

password data exchange. NSS offers a flexible name service mechanism which is frequently used by the C standard library to obtain the user and group name for programs such as ls(1) and id(1). These PAM and NSS systems need to be configured consistently. The notable packages of PAM and NSS systems are the following. Table 4.5. List of notable PAM and NSS systems package libpam-modules * libpam-ldap * popcon size V:88, I:99 1036 V:2, I:4 408 104 1208 description Pluggable Authentication Modules (basic service) Pluggable Authentication Module allowing LDAP interfaces Pluggable Authentication Module to enable cracklib support Pluggable Authentication Modules (documentation in html and text) GNU C Library: Shared libraries which also provides "Name Service Switch" service GNU C Library: Manpages GNU C Library: Reference manual in info, pdf and html format (non-free) NSS module for Multicast DNS name resolution NSS module for using LDAP as a naming service NSS module for using LDAP as a naming service (new folk of libnss-ldap)

libpam-cracklib * V:2, I:2 libpam-doc * libc6 * glibc-doc * glibc-docreference * libnss-mdns * libnss-ldap * libnss-ldapd * I:0.6

V:97, I:99 10012 I:3 I:1.4 I:49 I:4 V:0.18, I:0.5 2008 12156 116 268 144

"The Linux-PAM System Administrators' Guide" in libpam-doc is essential for learning PAM configuration. "System Databases and Name Service Switch" section in glibc-doc-reference is essential for learning NSS configuration.

Note
You can see more extensive and current list by "aptitude search 'libpam-|libnss-'" command. The acronym NSS may also mean "Network Security Service" which is different from "Name Service Switch".

Note
PAM is the most basic way to initialize environment variables for each program with the system wide default value.

4.5.1. Configuration files accessed by the PAM and NSS

Here are few notable configuration files accessed by the PAM. Table 4.6. List of configuration files accessed by the PAM configuration file /etc/pam.d/<program_name> /etc/nsswitch.conf /etc/nologin /etc/securetty /etc/security/access.conf /etc/security/group.conf function set up PAM configuration for the "<program_name>" program; see pam(7) and pam.d(5) set up NSS configuration with the entry for each service. See nsswitch.conf(5) limit the user login by the pam_nologin(8) module limit the tty for the root access by the pam_securetty(8) module set access limit by the pam_access(8) module set group based restraint by the pam_group(8) module set additional environment variables by the pam_env(8) module with the "readenv=1" argument set locale by pam_env(8) module with the "readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale" argument. (Debian) set resource restraint (ulimit, core, ) by the pam_linits(8) module set time restraint by the pam_time(8) module

/etc/security/pam_env.conf set environment variables by the pam_env(8) module /etc/environment /etc/default/locale /etc/security/limits.conf /etc/security/time.conf

The limitation of the password selection is implemented by the PAM modules, pam_unix(8) and pam_cracklib(8). They can be configured by their arguments.

Tip
PAM modules use suffix ".so" for their filenames.

4.5.2. The modern centralized system management

The modern centralized system management can be deployed using the centralized Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server to administer many Unix-like and non-Unix-like systems on the network. The

open source implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is OpenLDAP Software. The LDAP server provides the account information through the use of PAM and NSS with libpam-ldap and libnss-ldap packages for the Debian system. Several actions are required to enable this (I have not used this setup and the following is purely secondary information. Please read this in this context.). You set up a centralized LDAP server by running program such as stand-alone LDAP daemon, slapd(8). You change the PAM configuration files in the "/etc/pam.d/" directory to use "pam_ldap.so" instead of the default "pam_unix.so". Debian uses "/etc/pam_ldap.conf" as the configuration file for libpam-ldap and "/etc/pam_ldap.secret" as the file to store the password of the root. You change the NSS configuration in the "/etc/nsswitch.conf" file to use "ldap" instead of the default ("compat" or "file"). Debian uses "/etc/libnss-ldap.conf" as the configuration file for libnss-ldap. You must make libpam-ldap to use SSL (or TLS) connection for the security of password. You may make libnss-ldap to use SSL (or TLS) connection to ensure integrity of data at the cost of the LDAP network overhead. You should run nscd(8) locally to cache any LDAP search results in order to reduce the LDAP network traffic. See documentations in pam_ldap.conf(5) and "/usr/share/doc/libpam-doc/html/" offered by the libpam-doc package and "info libc 'Name Service Switch'" offered by the glibc-doc package. Similarly, you can set up alternative centralized systems with other methods. NIS (originally called YP) or NIS+ with older Unix-like systems Winbind with Windows NT and SAMBA

4.5.3. "Why GNU su does not support the wheel group"

This is the famous phrase at the bottom of the old "info su" page by Richard M. Stallman. Not to worry: the current su command in Debian uses PAM, so that one can restrict the ability to use su to the root group by enabling the line with "pam_wheel.so" in "/etc/pam.d/su".

4.5.4. Stricter password rule

Installing the libpam-cracklib package enables you to force stricter password rule, for example, by having active lines in "/etc/pam.d/common-password" as the following. For lenny: password required pam_cracklib.so retry=3 minlen=9 difok=3 password required pam_unix.so use_authtok nullok md5 For squeeze: password password password password required pam_cracklib.so retry=3 minlen=9 difok=3 [success=1 default=ignore] pam_unix.so use_authtok nullok md5 requisite pam_deny.so required pam_permit.so

4.6. Other access controls

Note
See Section 9.5.15, Alt-SysRq key for restricting the kernel secure attention key (SAK) feature.

4.6.1. sudo
sudo(8) is a program designed to allow a sysadmin to give limited root privileges to users and log root activity. sudo requires only an ordinary user's password. Install sudo package and activate it by setting options in "/etc/sudoers". See configuration example at "/usr/share/doc/sudo/examples/sudoers". My usage of sudo for the single user system (see Section 1.1.12, sudo configuration) is aimed to protect myself from my own stupidity. Personally, I consider using sudo a better alternative to using the system from the root account all the time. For example, the following changes the owner of "<some_file>" to "<my_name>". $ sudo chown <my_name> <some_file> Of course if you know the root password (as self-installed Debian users do), any command can be run under root from any user's account using "su -c".

4.6.2. SELinux
Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a framework to tighten privilege model tighter than the ordinary Unixlike security model with the mandatory access control (MAC) policies. The root power may be restricted under some conditions.

4.6.3. Restricting access to some server services

For system security, It is a good idea to disable as much server programs as possible. This becomes

critical for network servers. Having unused servers, activated either directly as daemon or via super-server program, are considered security risks. Many programs, such as sshd(8), use PAM based access control. There are many ways to restrict access to some server services. configuration files: "/etc/default/<program_name>" runlevel configuration for daemon PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules) "/etc/inetd.conf" for super-server "/etc/hosts.deny" and "/etc/hosts.allow" for TCP wrapper, tcpd(8) "/etc/rpc.conf" for Sun RPC "/etc/at.allow" and "/etc/at.deny" for atd(8) "/etc/cron.allow" and "/etc/cron.deny" for crontab(1) Network firewall of netfilter infrastructure See Section 3.5.3, The runlevel management example, Section 3.5.4, The default parameter for each init script, Section 4.5.1, Configuration files accessed by the PAM and NSS, Section 3.5.8, Network service initialization, and Section 5.9, Netfilter infrastructure.

Tip
Sun RPC services need to be active for NFS and other RPC based programs.

Tip
If you have problems with remote access in a recent Debian system, comment out offending configuration such as "ALL: PARANOID" in "/etc/hosts.deny" if it exists. (But you must be careful on security risks involved with this kind of action.)

4.7. Security of authentication

The information here may not be sufficient for your security needs but it should be a good start.

4.7.1. Secure password over the Internet

Many popular transportation layer services communicate messages including password authentication in the plain text. It is very bad idea to transmit password in the plain text over the wild Internet where it can be intercepted. You can run these services over "Transport Layer Security" (TLS) or its predecessor, "Secure Sockets Layer" (SSL) to secure entire communication including password by the encryption. Table 4.7. List of insecure and secure services and ports insecure service name port secure service name port www (http) smtp (mail) ftp-data ftp telnet imap2 pop3 ldap 80 25 20 21 23 https ssmtp (smtps) ftps-data ftps telnets 443 465 989 990 992 993 995 636

143 imaps 110 pop3s 389 ldaps

The encryption costs CPU time. As a CPU friendly alternative, you can keep communication in plain text while securing just password with the secure authentication protocol such as "Authenticated Post Office Protocol" (APOP) for POP and "Challenge-Response Authentication Mechanism MD5" (CRAM-MD5) for SMTP and IMAP. (For sending mail messages over the Internet to your mail server from your mail client, it is recently popular to use new message submission port 587 instead of traditional SMTP port 25 to avoid port 25 blocking by the network provider while authenticating yourself with CRAM-MD5.)

4.7.2. Secure Shell

The Secure Shell (SSH) program provides secure encrypted communications between two untrusted hosts over an insecure network with the secure authentication. It consists of the OpenSSH client, ssh(1), and the OpenSSH daemon, sshd(8). This SSH can be used to tunnel the insecure protocol communication such as POP and X securely over the Internet with the port forwarding feature. The client tries to authenticate itself using host-based authentication, public key authentication, challengeresponse authentication, or password authentication. The use of public key authentication enables the remote password-less login. See Section 6.9, The remote access server and utility (SSH).

4.7.3. Extra security measures for the Internet

Even when you run secure services such as Secure Shell (SSH) and Point-to-point tunneling protocol (PPTP) servers, there are still chances for the break-ins using brute force password guessing attack etc. from the Internet. Use of the firewall policy (see Section 5.9, Netfilter infrastructure) together with the following secure tools may improve the security situation. Table 4.8. List of tools to provide extra security measures package popcon size description

knockd * denyhosts * fail2ban *

V:0.15, I:0.3 V:2, I:2 V:4, I:5

164 small port-knock daemon knockd(1) and client konck(1) 356 utility to help sysadmins thwart ssh hackers 660 ban IPs that cause multiple authentication errors

libpam-shield * V:0.01, I:0.05 104 lock out remote attackers trying password guessing

4.7.4. Securing the root password

To prevent people to access your machine with root privilege, you need to make following actions. Prevent physical access to the hard disk Lock BIOS and prevent booting from the removable media Set password for GRUB interactive session Lock GRUB menu from editing With physical access to hard disk, resetting the password is relatively easy with following steps. 1. 2. 3. 4. Move the hard disk to a PC with CD bootable BIOS. Boot system with a rescue media (Debian boot disk, Knopix CD, GRUB CD, ). Mount root partition with read/write access. Edit "/etc/passwd" in the root partition and make the second entry for the root account empty.

If you have the edit access to the GRUB menu entry (see Section 3.3, Stage 2: the boot loader) for grub-rescue-pc at the boot time, it is even easier with following steps. 1. Boot system with the kernel parameter changed to something like "root=/dev/hda6 rw init=/bin/sh". 2. Edit "/etc/passwd" and make the second entry for the root account empty. 3. Reboot system. The root shell of the system is now accessible without password.

Note
Once one has root shell access, he can access everything on the system and reset any passwords on the system. Further more, he may compromise password for all user accounts using brute force password cracking tools such as john and crack packages (see Section 9.6.11, System security and integrity check). This cracked password may lead to compromise other systems. The only reasonable software solution to avoid all these concerns is to use software encrypted root partition (or "/etc" partition) using dm-crypt and initramfs (see Section 9.4, Data encryption tips). You always need password to boot the system, though.

Chapter 5. Network setup

Tip
For general guide to the GNU/Linux networking, read the Linux Network Administrators Guide.

5.1. The basic network infrastructure

Let's review the basic network infrastructure on the modern Debian system. Table 5.1. List of network configuration tools packages ifupdown * ifplugd * ifupdown-extra * ifmetric * guessnet * ifscheme * ifupdownscripts-zg2 * popcon size V:60, I:99 V:0.4, I:0.9 V:0.04, I:0.2 V:0.02, I:0.10 V:0.07, I:0.3 V:0.03, I:0.08 V:0.00, I:0.04 228 244 124 100 516 132 232 2628 5616 264 208 type config::ifupdown ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, config::NM ,, ,, ,, description standardized tool to bring up and down the network (Debian specific) manage the wired network automatically network testing script to enhance "ifupdown" package set routing metrics for a network interface mapping script to enhance "ifupdown" package via "/etc/network/interfaces" file mapping scripts to enhance "ifupdown" package Zugschlus' interface scripts for ifupdown's manual method NetworkManager (daemon): manage the network automatically NetworkManager (GNOME frontend) NetworkManager (KDE frontend) NetworkManager (command-line client)

network-manager V:24, * I:33 networkV:17, manager-gnome * I:29 networkmanager-kde * V:2, I:3

cnetworkmanager V:0.05, * I:0.2

wicd * wicd-cli * wicd-curses * wicd-daemon * wicd-gtk * iptables * iproute * ifrename * ethtool * iputils-ping * iputils-arping * iputilstracepath * net-tools * inetutils-ping * arping * traceroute * dhcp3-client * wpasupplicant * wireless-tools * ppp * pppoeconf * pppconfig * wvdial * mtr-tiny * mtr *

V:0.5, I:2 88 V:0.04, I:0.2 V:0.15, I:0.4 128 236

config::wicd ,, ,, ,, ,, config::Netfilter config::iproute2 ,, ,, test::iproute2 ,, ,, config::nettools test::net-tools ,, ,,

wired and wireless network manager (metapackage) wired and wireless network manager (commandline client) wired and wireless network manager (Curses client) wired and wireless network manager (daemon) wired and wireless network manager (GTK+ client) administration tools for packet filtering and NAT (Netfilter) iproute2, IPv6 and other advanced network configuration: ip(8), tc(8), etc rename network interfaces based on various static criteria: ifrename(8) display or change Ethernet device settings test network reachability of a remote host by hostname or IP address (iproute2) test network reachability of a remote host specified by the ARP address trace the network path to a remote host NET-3 networking toolkit (net-tools, IPv4 network configuration): ifconfig(8) etc. test network reachability of a remote host by hostname or IP address (legacy, GNU) test network reachability of a remote host specified by the ARP address (legacy) trace the network path to a remote host (legacy, console)

V:1.9, I:2 1780 V:1.6, I:2 772 V:27, I:99 V:41, I:88 V:0.2, I:0.6 V:36, I:99 1316 1044 236

V:4, I:13 208 96

V:0.6, I:6 36 V:0.4, I:2 72 V:70, I:99 V:0.03, I:0.12 1016 296

V:0.5, I:3 104 V:13, I:99 V:32, I:92 V:28, I:39 192 60 828

config::low-level DHCP client ,, ,, ,, config::helper ,, ,, test::low-level ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, client support for WPA and WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i) tools for manipulating Linux Wireless Extensions PPP/PPPoE connection with chat configuration helper for PPPoE connection configuration helper for PPP connection with chat configuration helper for PPP connection with wvdial and ppp trace the network path to a remote host (curses) trace the network path to a remote host (curses and GTK+) tools for common network information operations (GNOME) network mapper / port scanner (Nmap, console) network mapper / port scanner (GTK+) network mapper / port scanner (KDE) network traffic analyzer (Tcpdump, console) network traffic analyzer (Wireshark, GTK+) network traffic analyzer (console) monitoring and management system for hosts, services and networks (Nagios) produce a summarization of the connections from tcpdump output flexible network intrusion detection system (Snort) display network usage in web browser network clients provided with BIND: nslookup(8), nsupdate(8), dig(8) check DNS zone information using nameserver lookups trace a chain of DNS servers to the source

V:7, I:22 420 V:6, I:26 1016 V:0.4, I:3 344 V:0.2, I:2 964 V:0.5, I:2 416 V:2, I:26 120 V:0.7, I:3 180

gnome-nettool * V:2, I:33 2848 nmap * zenmap * knmap * tcpdump * wireshark * tshark * nagios3 * tcptrace * snort * ntop * dnsutils * dlint * dnstracer * V:6, I:31 7112 V:0.2, I:1.3 V:0.10, I:0.6 2400 712

V:3, I:24 1020 V:1.4, I:9 2052 V:0.4, I:3 276 V:1.0, I:1.8 V:0.05, I:0.4 V:0.6, I:0.8 V:14, I:90 32 436 1260

V:1.2, I:2 11124 , , 412 ,, ,, ,,

V:0.4, I:6 96 V:0.11, I:0.5 92

5.1.1. The domain name

The naming for the domain name is a tricky one for the normal PC workstation users. The PC workstation may be mobile one hopping around the network or located behind the NAT firewall inaccessible from the Internet. For such case, you may not want the domain name to be a valid domain name to avoid name collision.

Tip
When you use an invalid domain name, you need to spoof the domain name used by some programs such as MTA for their proper operation. See Section 6.3.3, The mail address configuration. According to rfc2606, "invalid" seems to be a choice for the top level domain (TLD) to construct domain names that are sure to be invalid from the Internet. The mDNS network discovery protocol (Apple Bonjour / Apple Rendezvous, Avahi on Debian) uses "local" as the pseudo-top-level domain. Microsoft also seems to promote "local" for the TLD of local area network.

Warning
If the DNS service on your LAN uses "local" as TLD for your LAN, it may interfare with mDNS. Other popular choices for the invalid TLD seem to be "localdomain", "lan", "localnet", or "home" according to my incoming mail analysis.

5.1.2. The hostname resolution

The hostname resolution is currently supported by the NSS (Name Service Switch) mechanism too. The flow of this resolution is the following. 1. The "/etc/nsswitch.conf" file with stanza like "hosts: files dns" dictates the hostname resolution order. (This replaces the old functionality of the "order" stanza in "/etc/host.conf".) 2. The files method is invoked first. If the hostname is found in the "/etc/hosts" file, it returns all valid addresses for it and exits. (The "/etc/host.conf" file contains "multi on".) 3. The dns method is invoked. If the hostname is found by the query to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS) identified by the "/etc/resolv.conf" file, it returns all valid addresses for it and exits. The "/etc/hosts" file associates IP addresses with hostnames contains the following. 127.0.0.1 localhost 127.0.1.1 <host_name>.<domain_name> <host_name> # The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts ::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback fe00::0 ip6-localnet ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix ff02::1 ip6-allnodes ff02::2 ip6-allrouters ff02::3 ip6-allhosts Here the <host_name> in this matches the own hostname defined in the "/etc/hostname". The <domain_name> in this is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of this host.

Tip
For <domain_name> of the mobile PC without the real FQDN, you may pick a bogus and safe TLD such as "lan", "home", "invalid", "localdomain", "none", and "private". The "/etc/resolv.conf" is a static file if the resolvconf package is not installed. If installed, it is a symbolic link. Either way, it contains information that initialize the resolver routines. If the DNS is found at IP="192.168.11.1", it contains the following. nameserver 192.168.11.1 The resolvconf package makes this "/etc/resolv.conf" into a symbolic link and manages its contents by the hook scripts automatically. The hostname resolution via Multicast DNS (using Zeroconf, aka Apple Bonjour / Apple Rendezvous) which effectively allows name resolution by common Unix/Linux programs in the ad-hoc mDNS domain "local", can be provided by installing the libnss-mdns package. The "/etc/nsswitch.conf" file should have stanza like "hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4" to enable this functionality.

5.1.3. The network interface name

The network interface name, e.g. eth0, is assigned to each hardware in the Linux kernel through the user space configuration mechanism, udev (see Section 3.5.11, The udev system), as it is found. The network interface name is referred as physical interface in ifup(8) and interfaces(5). In order to ensure each network interface to be named persistently for each reboot using MAC address etc., there is a record file "/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules". This file is automatically generated by the "/lib/udev/write_net_rules" program, probably run by the "persistent-netgenerator.rules" rules file. You can modify it to change naming rule.

Caution
When editing the "/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules" rules file, you must

keep each rule on a single line and the MAC address in lowercase. For example, if you find "Firewire device" and "PCI device" in this file, you probably want to name "PCI device" as eth0 and configure it as the primary network interface.

5.1.4. The network address range for the LAN

Let us be reminded of the IPv4 32 bit address ranges in each class reserved for use on the local area networks (LANs) by rfc1918. These addresses are guaranteed not to conflict with any addresses on the Internet proper. Table 5.2. List of network address ranges Class network addresses A B C 10.x.x.x 172.16.x.x 172.31.x.x net mask 255.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 net mask /bits # of subnets /8 /16 1 16 256

192.168.0.x 192.168.255.x 255.255.255.0 /24

Note
If one of these addresses is assigned to a host, then that host must not access the Internet directly but must access it through a gateway that acts as a proxy for individual services or else does Network Address Translation(NAT). The broadband router usually performs NAT for the consumer LAN environment.

5.1.5. The network device support

Although most hardware devices are supported by the Debian system, there are some network devices which require DSFG non-free external hardware drivers to support them. Please see Section 9.7.8, Nonfree hardware drivers.

5.2. The modern network configuration for desktop

Debian squeeze systems can manage the network connection via management daemon software such as NetworkManager (NM) (network-manager and associated packages) or Wicd (wicd and associated packages). They come with their own GUI and command-line programs as their user interfaces. They come with their own daemon as their backend system. They allow easy connection of your system to the Internet. They allow easy management of wired and wireless network configuration. They allow us to configure network independent of the legacy ifupdown package.

Note
Do not use these automatic network configuration tools for servers. These are aimed primarily for mobile desktop users on laptops. These modern network configuration tools need to be configured properly to avoid conflicting with the legacy ifupdown package and its configuration file "/etc/network/interfaces".

Note
Some features of these automatic network configuration tools may suffer regressions. These are not as robust as the legacy ifupdown package. Check BTS of network-manager and BTS of wicd for current issues and limitations.

5.2.1. GUI network configuration tools

Official documentations for NM and Wicd on Debian are provided in "/usr/share/doc/networkmanager/README.Debian" and "/usr/share/doc/wicd/README.Debian", respectively. Essentially, the network configuration for desktop is done as follows. 1. Make desktop user, e.g. foo, belong to group "netdev" by the following (Alternatively, do it automatically via D-bus under modern desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE). $ sudo adduser foo netdev 2. Keep configuration of "/etc/network/interfaces" as simple as the the following. auto lo iface lo inet loopback 3. Restart NM or Wicd by the following. $ sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart $ sudo /etc/init.d/wicd restart 4. Configure your network via GUI.

Note
Only interfaces which are not listed in "/etc/network/interfaces" or which have been configured with "auto " or "allow-hotplug " and "iface inet dhcp" (with no other

options) are managed by NM to avoid conflict with ifupdown.

Tip
If you wish to extend network configuration capabilities of NM, please seek appropriate plugin modules and supplemental packages such as network-manager-openconnect, network-manager-openvpn-gnome, network-manager-pptp-gnome, mobilebroadband-provider-info, gnome-bluetooth, etc. The same goes for those of Wicd.

Caution
These automatic network configuration tools may not be compatible with esoteric configurations of legacy ifupdown in "/etc/network/interfaces" such as ones in Section 5.5, The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy) and Section 5.6, The advanced network configuration with ifupdown (legacy). Check BTS of network-manager and BTS of wicd for current issues and limitations.

5.3. The legacy network connection and configuration

When the method described in Section 5.2, The modern network configuration for desktop does not suffice your needs, you should use the legacy network connection and configuration method which combines many simpler tools. The legacy network connection is specific for each method (see Section 5.4, The network connection method (legacy)). There are 2 types of programs for the low level network configuration on Linux (see Section 5.7.1, Iproute2 commands). Old net-tools programs (ifconfig(8), ) are from the Linux NET-3 networking system. Most of these are obsolete now. New Linux iproute2 programs (ip(8), ) are the current Linux networking system. Although these low level networking programs are powerful, they are cumbersome to use. So high level network configuration systems have been created. The ifupdown package is the de facto standard for such high level network configuration system on Debian. It enables you to bring up network simply by doing , e.g., "ifup eth0". Its configuration file is the "/etc/network/interfaces" file and its typical contents are the following. auto lo iface lo inet loopback auto eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp The resolvconf package was created to supplement ifupdown system to support smooth reconfiguration of network address resolution by automating rewrite of resolver configuration file "/etc/resolv.conf". Now, most Debian network configuration packages are modified to use resolvconf package (see "/usr/share/doc/resolvconf/README.Debian"). Helper scripts to the ifupdown package such as ifplugd, guessnet, ifscheme, etc. are created to automate dynamic configuration of network environment such as one for mobile PC on wired LAN. These are relatively difficult to use but play well with existing ifupdown system. These are explained in detail with examples (see Section 5.5, The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy) and Section 5.6, The advanced network configuration with ifupdown (legacy)).

5.4. The network connection method (legacy)

Caution
The connection test method described in this section are meant for testing purposes. It is not meant to be used directly for the daily network connection. You are advised to use them via NM, Wicd, or the ifupdown package (see Section 5.2, The modern network configuration for desktop and Section 5.5, The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy)). The typical network connection method and connection path for a PC can be summarized as the following. Table 5.3. List of network connection methods and connection paths PC connection method connection path modem POTS dial-up access point ISP

Serial port (ppp0) PPP Ethernet port (eth0) Ethernet port (eth0)

PPPoE/DHCP/Static BB-modem BB service BB access point ISP DHCP/Static LAN BB-router with network address translation (NAT) ( BBmodem )

Here is the summary of configuration script for each connection method. Table 5.4. List of network connection configurations

connection method configuration PPP PPP (alternative) PPPoE DHCP static IP (IPv4) static IP (IPv6) pppconfig to create deterministic chat wvdialconf to create heuristic chat pppoeconf to create deterministic chat described in "/etc/network/interfaces" described in "/etc/network/interfaces"

backend package(s) pppconfig, ppp ppp, wvdial pppoeconf, ppp net-tools iproute

described in "/etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf" dhcp3-client

The network connection acronyms mean the following. Table 5.5. List of network connection acronyms acronym POTS BB meaning plain old telephone service broadband

BB-service e.g., the digital subscriber line (DSL), the cable TV, or the fiber to the premises (FTTP) BB-modem e.g., the DSL modem, the cable modem, or the optical network terminal (ONT) LAN WAN DHCP PPP PPPoE ISP local area network wide area network dynamic host configuration protocol point-to-point protocol point-to-point protocol over Ethernet Internet service provider

Note
The WAN connection services via cable TV are generally served by DHCP or PPPoE. The ones by ADSL and FTTP are generally served by PPPoE. You have to consult your ISP for exact configuration requirements of the WAN connection.

Note
When BB-router is used to create home LAN environment, PCs on LAN are connected to the WAN via BB-router with network address translation (NAT). For such case, PC's network interfaces on the LAN are served by static IP or DHCP from the BB-router. BB-router must be configured to connect the WAN following the instruction by your ISP.

5.4.1. The DHCP connection with the Ethernet

The typical modern home and small business network, i.e. LAN, are connected to the WAN(Internet) using some consumer grade broadband router. The LAN behind this router is usually served by the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server running on the router. Just install the dhcp3-client package for the Ethernet served by the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP).

5.4.2. The static IP connection with the Ethernet

No special action is needed for the Ethernet served by the static IP.

5.4.3. The PPP connection with pppconfig

The configuration script pppconfig configures the PPP connection interactively just by selecting the following. The The The The The The telephone number ISP user name ISP password port speed modem communication port authentication method

Table 5.6. List of configuration files for the PPP connection with pppconfig file /etc/ppp/peers/<isp_name> /etc/chatscripts/<isp_name> /etc/ppp/options /etc/ppp/pap-secret /etc/ppp/chap-secret function The pppconfig generated configuration file for pppd specific to <isp_name> The pppconfig generated configuration file for chat specific to <isp_name> The general execution parameter for pppd Authentication data for the PAP (security risk) Authentication data for the CHAP (more secure)

Caution

The "<isp_name>" value of "provider" is assumed if pon and poff commands are invoked without arguments. You can test configuration using low level network configuration tools as the following. $ sudo pon <isp_name> ... $ sudo poff <isp_name> See "/usr/share/doc/ppp/README.Debian.gz".

5.4.4. The alternative PPP connection with wvdialconf

A different approach to using pppd(8) is to run it from wvdial(1) which comes in the wvdial package. Instead of pppd running chat(8) to dial in and negotiate the connection, wvdial does the dialing and initial negotiating and then starts pppd to do the rest. The configuration script wvdialconf configures the PPP connection interactively just by selecting the following. The telephone number The ISP user name The ISP password wvdial succeeds in making the connection in most cases and maintains authentication data list automatically. Table 5.7. List of configuration files for the PPP connection with wvdialconf file function

/etc/ppp/peers/wvdial The wvdialconf generated configuration file for pppd specific to wvdial /etc/wvdial.conf /etc/ppp/options /etc/ppp/pap-secret /etc/ppp/chap-secret The wvdialconf generated configuration file The general execution parameter for pppd Authentication data for the PAP (security risk) Authentication data for the CHAP (more secure)

You can test configuration using low level network configuration tools as the following. $ sudo wvdial ... $ sudo killall wvdial See wvdial(1) and wvdial.conf(5).

5.4.5. The PPPoE connection with pppoeconf

When your ISP serves you with PPPoE connection and you decide to connect your PC directly to the WAN, the network of your PC must be configured with the PPPoE. The PPPoE stand for PPP over Ethernet. The configuration script pppoeconf configures the PPPoE connection interactively. The configuration files are the following. Table 5.8. List of configuration files for the PPPoE connection with pppoeconf file function

/etc/ppp/peers/dsl-provider The pppoeconf generated configuration file for pppd specific to pppoe /etc/ppp/options /etc/ppp/pap-secret /etc/ppp/chap-secret The general execution parameter for pppd Authentication data for the PAP (security risk) Authentication data for the CHAP (more secure)

You can test configuration using low level network configuration tools as the following. $ sudo $ sudo ... $ sudo $ sudo /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up pon dsl-provider poff dsl-provider /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down

See "/usr/share/doc/pppoeconf/README.Debian".

5.5. The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy)

The traditional TCP/IP network setup on Debian system uses ifupdown package as a high level tool. There are 2 typical cases. For dynamic IP system such as mobile PCs, you should setup TCP/IP network with the resolvconf package and enable you to switch your network configuration easily (see Section 5.5.4, The network interface served by the DHCP). For static IP system such as servers, you should setup TCP/IP network without the resolvconf package and keep your system simple (see Section 5.5.5, The network interface with the static IP).

These traditional setup methods are quite useful if you wish to set up advanced configuration (see Section 5.5, The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy)). The ifupdown package provides the standardized framework for the high level network configuration in the Debian system. In this section, we learn the basic network configuration with ifupdown with simplified introduction and many typical examples.

5.5.1. The command syntax simplified

The ifupdown package contains 2 commands: ifup(8) and ifdown(8). They offer high level network configuration dictated by the configuration file "/etc/network/interfaces". Table 5.9. List of basic network configuration commands with ifupdown command ifup eth0 ifdown eth0 action bring up a network interface eth0 with the configuration eth0 if "iface eth0" stanza exists bring down a network interface eth0 with the configuration eth0 if "iface eth0" stanza exists

Warning
Do not use low level configuration tools such as ifconfig(8) and ip(8) commands to configure an interface in up state.

Note
There is no command ifupdown.

5.5.2. The basic syntax of "/etc/network/interfaces"

The key syntax of "/etc/network/interfaces" as explained in interfaces(5) can be summarized as the following. Table 5.10. List of stanzas in "/etc/network/interfaces" stanza "auto <interface_name>" "allow-auto <interface_name>" "allow-hotplug <interface_name>" Lines started with "iface <config_name> " Lines started with "mapping <interface_name_glob> " A line starting with a hash "#" A line ending with a backslash "\" meaning start interface <interface_name> upon start of the system ,, start interface <interface_name> when the kernel detects a hotplug event from the interface define the network configuration <config_name> define mapping value of <config_name> for the matching <interface_name> ignore as comments (end-of-line comments are not supported) extend the configuration to the next line

Lines started with iface stanza has the following syntax. iface <config_name> <address_family> <method_name> <option1> <value1> <option2> <value2> ... For the basic configuration, the mapping stanza is not used and you use the network interface name as the network configuration name (See Section 5.6.5, The mapping stanza).

Warning
Do not define duplicates of the "iface" stanza for a network interface in "/etc/network/interfaces".

5.5.3. The loopback network interface

The following configuration entry in the "/etc/network/interfaces" file brings up the loopback network interface lo upon booting the system (via auto stanza). auto lo iface lo inet loopback This one always exists in the "/etc/network/interfaces" file.

5.5.4. The network interface served by the DHCP

After prepairing the system by Section 5.4.1, The DHCP connection with the Ethernet, the network interface served by the DHCP is configured by creating the configuration entry in the "/etc/network/interfaces" file as the following. allow-hotplug eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp

hostname "mymachine" When the Linux kernel detects the physical interface eth0, the allow-hotplug stanza causes ifup to bring up the interface and the iface stanza causes ifup to use DHCP to configure the interface.

5.5.5. The network interface with the static IP

The network interface served by the static IP is configured by creating the configuration entry in the "/etc/network/interfaces" file as the following. allow-hotplug eth0 iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.11.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.11.255 gateway 192.168.11.1 dns-domain lan dns-nameservers 192.168.11.1 When the Linux kernel detects the physical interface eth0, the allow-hotplug stanza causes ifup to bring up the interface and the iface stanza causes ifup to use the static IP to configure the interface. Here, I assumed the following. IP address range of the LAN network: 192.168.11.0 - 192.168.11.255 IP address of the gateway: 192.168.11.1 IP address of the PC: 192.168.11.100 The resolvconf package: installed The domain name: "lan" IP address of the DNS server: 192.168.11.1 When the resolvconf package is not installed, DNS related configuration needs to be done manually by editing the "/etc/resolv.conf" as the following. nameserver 192.168.11.1 domain lan

Caution
The IP addresses used in the above example are not meant to be copied literally. You have to adjust IP numbers to your actual network configuration.

5.5.6. The basics of wireless LAN interface

The wireless LAN (WLAN for short) provides the fast wireless connectivity through the spread-spectrum communication of unlicensed radio bands based on the set of standards called IEEE 802.11. The WLAN interfaces are almost like normal Ethernet interfaces but require some network ID and encryption key data to be provided when they are initialized. Their high level network tools are exactly the same as that of Ethernet interfaces except interface names are a bit different like eth1, wlan0, ath0, wifi0, depending on the kernel drivers used.

Tip
The wmaster0 device is the master device which is an internal device used only by SoftMAC with new mac80211 API of Linux. Here are some keywords to remember for the WLAN. Table 5.11. List of acronyms for WLAN acronym full word NWID (E)SSID WEP, (WEP2) WPA WPA2 Network ID meaning 16 bit network ID used by pre-802.11 WaveLAN network (very deprecated)

(Extended) Service network name of the Wireless Access Points (APs) interconnected to form an integrated 802.11 wireless LAN, Domain ID Set Identifier Wired Equivalent Privacy Wi-Fi Protected Access Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 1st generation 64-bit (128-bit) wireless encryption standard with 40-bit key (deprecated) 2nd generation wireless encryption standard (most of 802.11i), compatible with WEP 3rd generation wireless encryption standard (full 802.11i), non-compatible with WEP

The actual choice of protocol is usually limited by the wireless router you deploy.

5.5.7. The wireless LAN interface with WPA/WPA2

You need to install the wpasupplicant package to support the WLAN with the new WPA/WPA2. In case of the DHCP served IP on WLAN connection, the "/etc/network/interfaces" file entry should be as the following. allow-hotplug ath0 iface ath0 inet dhcp wpa-ssid homezone # hexadecimal psk is encoded from a plaintext passphrase

wpa-psk 000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f See "/usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/README.modes.gz".

5.5.8. The wireless LAN interface with WEP

You need to install the wireless-tools package to support the WLAN with the old WEP. (Your consumer grade router may still be using this insecure infrastructure but this is better than nothing.)

Caution
Please note that your network traffic on WLAN with WEP may be sniffed by others. In case of the DHCP served IP on WLAN connection, the "/etc/network/interfaces" file entry should be as the following. allow-hotplug eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp wireless-essid Home wireless-key1 0123-4567-89ab-cdef wireless-key2 12345678 wireless-key3 s:password wireless-defaultkey 2 wireless-keymode open See "/usr/share/doc/wireless-tools/README.Debian".

5.5.9. The PPP connection

You need to configure the PPP connection first as described before (see Section 5.4.3, The PPP connection with pppconfig). Then, add the "/etc/network/interfaces" file entry for the primary PPP device ppp0 as the following. iface ppp0 inet ppp provider <isp_name>

5.5.10. The alternative PPP connection

You need to configure the alternative PPP connection with wvdial first as described before (see Section 5.4.4, The alternative PPP connection with wvdialconf). Then, add the "/etc/network/interfaces" file entry for the primary PPP device ppp0 as the following. iface ppp0 inet wvdial

5.5.11. The PPPoE connection

For PC connected directly to the WAN served by the PPPoE, you need to configure system with the PPPoE connection as described before (see Section 5.4.5, The PPPoE connection with pppoeconf). Then, add the "/etc/network/interfaces" file entry for the primary PPPoE device eth0 as the following. allow-hotplug eth0 iface eth0 inet manual pre-up /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up up ifup ppp0=dsl down ifdown ppp0=dsl post-down /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down # The following is used internally only iface dsl inet ppp provider dsl-provider

5.5.12. The network configuration state of ifupdown

The "/etc/network/run/ifstate" file stores the intended network configuration states for all the currently active network interfaces managed by the ifupdown package are listed. Unfortunately, even if the ifupdown system fails to bring up the interface as intended, the "/etc/network/run/ifstate" file lists it active. Unless the output of the ifconfig(8) command for an interface does not have a line like following example, it can not be used as a part of IPV4 network. inet addr:192.168.11.2 Bcast:192.168.11.255 Mask:255.255.255.0

Note
For the Ethernet device connected to the PPPoE, the output of the ifconfig(8) command lacks a line which looks like above example.

5.5.13. The basic network reconfiguration

When you try to reconfigure the interface, e.g. eth0, you must disable it first with the "sudo ifdown eth0" command. This removes the entry of eth0 from the "/etc/network/run/ifstate" file. (This may result in some error message if eth0 is not active or it is configured improperly previously. So far, it seems to be safe to do this for the simple single user work station at any time.) You are now free to rewrite the "/etc/network/interfaces" contents as needed to reconfigure the network interface, eth0. Then, you can reactivate eth0 with the "sudo ifup eth0" command.

Tip
You can (re)initialize the network interface simply by "sudo ifdown eth0;sudo ifup eth0".

5.5.14. The ifupdown-extra package

The ifupdown-extra package provides easy network connection tests for use with the ifupdown package. The network-test(1) command can be used from the shell. The automatic scripts are run for each ifup command execution. The network-test command frees you from the execution of cumbersome low level commands to analyze the network problem. The automatic scripts are installed in "/etc/network/*/" and performs the following. Check the network cable connection Check duplicate use of IP address Setup system's static routes based on the "/etc/network/routes" definition Check if network gateway is reachable Record results in the "/var/log/syslog" file This syslog record is quite useful for administration of the network problem on the remote system.

Tip
The automatic behavior of the ifupdown-extra package is configurable with the "/etc/default/network-test". Some of these automatic checks slow down the system boot-up a little bit since it takes some time to listen for ARP replies.

5.6. The advanced network configuration with ifupdown (legacy)

The functionality of the ifupdown package can be improved beyond what was described in Section 5.5, The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy) with the advanced knowledge. The functionalities described here are completely optional. I, being lazy and minimalist, rarely bother to use these.

Caution
If you could not set up network connection by information in Section 5.5, The basic network configuration with ifupdown (legacy), you make situation worse by using information below.

5.6.1. The ifplugd package

The ifplugd package is older automatic network configuration tool which can manage only Ethernet connections. This solves unplugged/replugged Ethernet cable issues for mobile PC etc. If you have NetworkManager or Wicd (see Section 5.2, The modern network configuration for desktop) installed, you do not need this package. This package runs daemon and replaces auto or allow-hotplug functionalities (see Table 5.10, List of stanzas in "/etc/network/interfaces") and starts interfaces upon their connection to the network. Here is how to use the ifplugd package for the internal Ethernet port, e.g. eth0. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Remove stanza in "/etc/network/interfaces": "auto eth0" or "allow-hotplug eth0". Keep stanza in "/etc/network/interfaces": "iface eth0 inet " and "mapping ". Install the ifplugd package. Run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure ifplugd". Put eth0 as the "static interfaces to be watched by ifplugd".

Now, the network reconfiguration works as you desire. Upon power-on or upon hardware discovery, the interface is not brought up by itself. Quick boot process without the long DHCP timeout. No funny activated interface without proper IPv4 address (see Section 5.5.12, The network configuration state of ifupdown). Upon finding the Ethernet cable, the interface is brought up. Upon some time after unplugging the Ethernet cable, the interface is brought down automatically. Upon plugging in another Ethernet cable, the interface is brought up under the new network environment.

Tip
The arguments for the ifplugd(8) command can set its behaviors such as the delay for reconfiguring interfaces.

5.6.2. The ifmetric package

The ifmeric package enables us to manipulate metrics of routes a posteriori even for DHCP. The following sets the eth0 interface to be preferred over the wlan0 interface.

1. Install the ifmetric package. 2. Add an option line with "metric 0" just below the "iface eth0 inet dhcp" line. 3. Add an option line with "metric 1" just below the "iface wlan0 inet dhcp" line. The metric 0 means the highest priority route and is the default one. The larger metric value means lower priority routes. The IP address of the active interface with the lowest metric value becomes the originating one. See ifmetric(8).

5.6.3. The virtual interface

A single physical Ethernet interface can be configured as multiple virtual interfaces with different IP addresses. Usually the purpose is to connect an interface to several IP subnetworks. For example, IP address based virtual web hosting by a single network interface is one such application. For example, let's suppose the following. A single Ethernet interface on your host is connected to a Ethernet hub (not to the broadband router). The Ethernet hub is connected to both the Internet and LAN network. The LAN network uses subnet 192.168.0.x/24. Your host uses DHCP served IP address with the physical interface eth0 for the Internet. Your host uses 192.168.0.1 with the virtual interface eth0:0 for the LAN. The following stanzas in "/etc/network/interfaces" configure your network. iface eth0 inet dhcp metric 0 iface eth0:0 inet static address 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 192.168.0.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255 metric 1

Caution
Although this configuration example with network address translation (NAT) using netfilter/iptables (see Section 5.9, Netfilter infrastructure) can provide cheap router for the LAN with only single interface, there is no real firewall capability with such set up. You should use 2 physical interfaces with NAT to secure the local network from the Internet.

5.6.4. The advanced command syntax

The ifupdown package offers advanced network configuration using the network configuration name and the network interface name. I use slightly different terminology from one used in ifup(8) and interfaces(5). Table 5.12. List of terminology for network devices manpage terminology my terminology examples in the following text lo, eth0, <interface_name> config1, config2, <config_name> description name given by the Linux kernel (using udev mechanism) name token following iface in the "/etc/network/interfaces"

physical network interface name interface name network logical configuration interface name name

Basic network configuration commands in Section 5.5.1, The command syntax simplified require the network configuration name token of the iface stanza to match the network interface name in the "/etc/network/interfaces". Advanced network configuration commands enables separation of the network configuration name and the network interface name in the "/etc/network/interfaces" as the following. Table 5.13. List of advanced network configuration commands with ifupdown command ifup eth0=config1 ifdown eth0=config1 ifup eth0 ifdown eth0 action bring up a network interface eth0 with the configuration config1 bring down a network interface eth0 with the configuration config1 bring up a network interface eth0 with the configuration selected by mapping stanza bring down a network interface eth0 with the configuration selected by mapping stanza

5.6.5. The mapping stanza

We skipped explaining the mapping stanza in the "/etc/network/interfaces" in Section 5.5.2, The basic syntax of "/etc/network/interfaces" to avoid complication. This stanza has the following syntax. mapping <interface_name_glob> script <script_name>

map <script_input1> map <script_input2> map ... This provides advanced feature to the "/etc/network/interfaces" file by automating the choice of the configuration with the mapping script specified by <script_name>. Let's follow the execution of the following. $ sudo ifup eth0 When the "<interface_name_glob>" matches "eth0", this execution produces the execution of the following command to configure eth0 automatically. $ sudo ifup eth0=$(echo -e '<script_input1> \n <script_input2> \n ...' | <script_name> eth0) Here, script input lines with "map" are optional and can be repeated.

Note
The glob for mapping stanza works like shell filename glob (see Section 1.5.6, Shell glob).

5.6.6. The manually switchable network configuration

Here is how to switch manually among several network configurations without rewriting the "/etc/network/interfaces" file as in Section 5.5.13, The basic network reconfiguration . For all the network configuration you need to access, you create a single "/etc/network/interfaces" file as the following. auto lo iface lo inet loopback iface config1 inet dhcp hostname "mymachine" iface config2 inet static address 192.168.11.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.11.255 gateway 192.168.11.1 dns-domain lan dns-nameservers 192.168.11.1 iface pppoe inet manual pre-up /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up up ifup ppp0=dsl down ifdown ppp0=dsl post-down /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down # The following is used internally only iface dsl inet ppp provider dsl-provider iface pots inet ppp provider provider Please note the network configuration name which is the token after iface does not use the token for the network interface name. Also, there are no auto stanza nor allow-hotplug stanza to start the network interface eth0 automatically upon events. Now you are ready to switch the network configuration. Let's move your PC to a LAN served by the DHCP. You bring up the network interface (the physical interface) eth0 by assigning the network configuration name (the logical interface name) config1 to it by the following. $ sudo ifup eth0=config1 Password: ... The interface eth0 is up, configured by DHCP and connected to LAN. $ sudo ifdown eth0=config1 ... The interface eth0 is down and disconnected from LAN. Let's move your PC to a LAN served by the static IP. You bring up the network interface eth0 by assigning the network configuration name config2 to it by the following. $ sudo ifup eth0=config2 ... The interface eth0 is up, configured with static IP and connected to LAN. The additional parameters given as dns-* configures "/etc/resolv.conf" contents. This "/etc/resolv.conf" is better manged if the resolvconf package is installed. $ sudo ifdown eth0=config2

... The interface eth0 is down and disconnected from LAN, again. Let's move your PC to a port on BB-modem connected to the PPPoE served service. You bring up the network interface eth0 by assigning the network configuration name pppoe to it by the following. $ sudo ifup eth0=pppoe ... The interface eth0 is up, configured with PPPoE connection directly to the ISP. $ sudo ifdown eth0=pppoe ... The interface eth0 is down and disconnected, again. Let's move your PC to a location without LAN or BB-modem but with POTS and modem. You bring up the network interface ppp0 by assigning the network configuration name pots to it by the following. $ sudo ifup ppp0=pots ... The interface ppp0 is up and connected to the Internet with PPP. $ sudo ifdown ppp0=pots ... The interface ppp0 is down and disconnected from the Internet. You should check the "/etc/network/run/ifstate" file for the current network configuration state of the ifupdown system.

Warning
You may need to adjust numbers at the end of eth*, ppp*, etc. if you have multiple network interfaces.

5.6.7. Scripting with the ifupdown system

The ifupdown system automatically runs scripts installed in "/etc/network/*/" while exporting environment variables to scripts. Table 5.14. List of environment variables passed by the ifupdown system environment variable "$IFACE" "$LOGICAL" "$ADDRFAM" "$METHOD" "$MODE" "$PHASE" "$VERBOSITY" "$PATH" "$IF_<OPTION>" value passed physical name (interface name) of the interface being processed logical name (configuration name) of the interface being processed <address_family> of the interface <method_name> of the interface. (e.g., "static") "start" if run from ifup, "stop" if run from ifdown as per "$MODE", but with finer granularity, distinguishing the pre-up, post-up, predown and post-down phases indicates whether "--verbose" was used; set to 1 if so, 0 if not command search path: "/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin" value for the corresponding option under the iface stanza

Here, each environment variable, "$IF_<OPTION>", is created from the name for the corresponding option such as <option1> and <option2> by prepending "$IF_", converting the case to the upper case, replacing hyphens to underscores, and discarding non-alphanumeric characters.

Tip
See Section 5.5.2, The basic syntax of "/etc/network/interfaces" for <address_family>, <method_name>, <option1> and <option2>. The ifupdown-extra package (see Section 5.5.14, The ifupdown-extra package) uses these environment variables to extend the functionality of the ifupdown package. The ifmetric package (see Section 5.6.2, The ifmetric package) installs the "/etc/network/if-up.d/ifmetric" script which sets the metric via the "$IF_METRIC" variable. The guessnet package (see Section 5.6.8, Mapping with guessnet), which provides simple and powerful framework for the auto-selection of the network configuration via the mapping mechanism, also uses these.

Note
For more specific examples of custom network configuration scripts using these environment variables, you should check example scripts in "/usr/share/doc/ifupdown/examples/*" and scripts used in ifscheme and ifupdownscripts-zg2 packages. These additional scripts have some overlaps of functionalities with basic ifupdown-extra and guessnet packages. If you install these additional scripts, you should customize these scripts to avoid interferences.

5.6.8. Mapping with guessnet

Instead of manually choosing configuration as described in Section 5.6.6, The manually switchable network configuration, you can use the mapping mechanism described in Section 5.6.5, The mapping stanza to select network configuration automatically with custom scripts. The guessnet-ifupdown(8) command provided by the guessnet package is designed to be used as a mapping script and provides powerful framework to enhance the ifupdown system. You list test condition as the value for guessnet options for each network configuration under iface stanza. Mapping choses the iface with first non-ERROR result as the network configuration. This dual usage of the "/etc/network/interfaces" file by the mapping script, guessnet-ifupdown, and the original network configuration infrastructure, ifupdown, does not cause negative impacts since guessnet options only export extra environment variables to scripts run by the ifupdown system. See details in guessnet-ifupdown(8).

Note
When multiple guessnet option lines are required in "/etc/network/interfaces", use option lines started with guessnet1, guessnet2, and so on, since the ifupdown package does not allow starting strings of option lines to be repeated.

5.7. The low level network configuration

5.7.1. Iproute2 commands
Iproute2 commands offer complete low-level network configuration capabilities. Here is a translation table from obsolete net-tools commands to new iproute2 etc. commands. Table 5.15. Translation table from obsolete net-tools commands to new iproute2 commands obsolete net-tools new iproute2 etc. manipulation ifconfig(8) route(8) arp(8) ipmaddr iptunnel nameif(8) mii-tool(8) ip addr ip route ip neigh ip maddr ip tunnel ifrename(8) ethtool(8) protocol (IP or IPv6) address on a device routing table entry ARP or NDISC cache entry multicast address tunnel over IP name network interfaces based on MAC addresses Ethernet device settings

See ip(8) and IPROUTE2 Utility Suite Howto.

5.7.2. Safe low level network operations

You may use low level network commands as follows safely since they do not change network configuration. Table 5.16. List of low level network commands command ifconfig ip addr show route -n ip route show arp ip neigh plog ping yahoo.com whois yahoo.com traceroute yahoo.com tracepath yahoo.com mtr yahoo.com dig [@dns-server.com] example.com [{a|mx|any}] iptables -L -n netstat -a netstat -l --inet netstat -ln --tcp dlint example.com description display the link and address status of active interfaces display the link and address status of active interfaces display all the routing table in numerical addresses display all the routing table in numerical addresses display the current content of the ARP cache tables display the current content of the ARP cache tables display ppp daemon log check the Internet connection to "yahoo.com" check who registered "yahoo.com" in the domains database trace the Internet connection to "yahoo.com" trace the Internet connection to "yahoo.com" trace the Internet connection to "yahoo.com" (repeatedly) check DNS records of "example.com" by "dns-server.com" for a "a", "mx", or "any" record check packet filter find all open ports find listening ports find listening TCP ports (numeric) check DNS zone information of "example.com"

Tip

Some of these low level network configuration tools reside in "/sbin/". You may need to issue full command path such as "/sbin/ifconfig" or add "/sbin" to the "$PATH" list in your "~/.bashrc".

5.8. Network optimization

Generic network optimization is beyond the scope of this documentation. I touch only subjects pertinent to the consumer grade connection. Table 5.17. List of network optimization tools packages iftop * iperf * apt-spy * ifstat * bmon * bing * bwm-ng * ethstats * ipfm * popcon V:1.3, I:7 V:0.5, I:3 V:0.17, I:1.7 V:0.2, I:1.2 V:0.2, I:0.9 V:0.08, I:0.6 V:0.2, I:1.2 V:0.05, I:0.3 size description 72 display bandwidth usage information on an network interface

200 Internet Protocol bandwidth measuring tool 204 write a "/etc/apt/sources.list" file based on bandwidth tests 88 84 96 52 InterFace STATistics Monitoring script that quickly measures network device throughput empirical stochastic bandwidth tester console-based Ethernet statistics monitor 188 portable bandwidth monitor and rate estimator

ethstatus * V:0.10, I:0.7

152 small and simple console-based bandwidth monitor

V:0.04, I:0.19 156 bandwidth analysis tool

5.8.1. Finding optimal MTU

The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) value can be determined experimentally with ping(8) with "-M do" option which sends ICMP packets with data size starting from 1500 (with offset of 28 bytes for the IP+ICMP header) and finding the largest size without IP fragmentation. For example, try the following $ ping -c 1 -s $((1500-28)) -M do www.debian.org PING www.debian.org (194.109.137.218) 1472(1500) bytes of data. From 192.168.11.2 icmp_seq=1 Frag needed and DF set (mtu = 1454) --- www.debian.org ping statistics --0 packets transmitted, 0 received, +1 errors Try 1454 instead of 1500 You see ping(8) succeed with 1454. This process is Path MTU (PMTU) discovery (RFC1191) and the tracepath(8) command can automate this.

Tip
The above example with PMTU value of 1454 is for my previous FTTP provider which used Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as its backbone network and served its clients with the PPPoE. The actual PMTU value depends on your environment, e.g., 1500 for the my new FTTP provider. Table 5.18. Basic guide lines of the optimal MTU value network environment Dial-up link (IP: PPP) Ethernet link (IP: DHCP or fixed) Ethernet link (IP: PPPoE) Ethernet link (ISP's backbone: ATM, IP: DHCP or fixed) Ethernet link (ISP's backbone: ATM, IP: PPPoE) MTU 576 1500 1492 (=15008) rationale standard standard and default 2 bytes for PPP header and 6 bytes for PPPoE header

1462 (=48*31- author's speculation: 18 for Ethernet header, 8 for 18-8) SAR trailer 1454 (=48*31- see "Optimal MTU configuration for PPPoE ADSL 8-18-8) Connections" for rationale

In addtion to these basic guide lines, you should know the following. Any use of tunneling methods (VPN etc.) may reduce optimal MTU further by their overheads. The MTU value should not exceed the experimentally determined PMTU value. The bigger MTU value is generally better when other limitations are met.

5.8.2. Setting MTU

Here are examples for setting the MTU value from its default 1500 to 1454. For the DHCP (see Section 5.5.4, The network interface served by the DHCP), you can replace pertinent iface stanza lines in the "/etc/network/interfaces" with the following. iface eth0 inet dhcp hostname "mymachine"

pre-up /sbin/ifconfig $IFACE mtu 1454 For the static IP (see Section 5.5.5, The network interface with the static IP), you can replace pertinent 'iface' stanza lines in the "/etc/network/interfaces" with the following. iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.11.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.11.255 gateway 192.168.11.1 mtu 1454 dns-domain lan dns-nameservers 192.168.11.1 For the direct PPPoE (see Section 5.4.5, The PPPoE connection with pppoeconf), you can replace pertinent "mtu" line in the "/etc/ppp/peers/dsl-provider" with the following. mtu 1454 The maximum segment size (MSS) is used as an alternative measure of packet size. The relationship between MSS and MTU are the following. MSS = MTU - 40 for IPv4 MSS = MTU - 60 for IPv6

Note
The iptables(8) (see Section 5.9, Netfilter infrastructure) based optimization can clamp packet size by the MSS and is useful for the router. See "TCPMSS" in iptables(8).

5.8.3. WAN TCP optimization

The TCP throughput can be maximized by adjusting TCP buffer size parameters as described in "TCP Tuning Guide" and "TCP tuning" for the modern high-bandwidth and high-latency WAN. So far, the current Debian default settings serve well even for my LAN connected by the fast 1G bps FTTP service.

5.9. Netfilter infrastructure

Netfilter provides infrastructure for stateful firewall and network address translation (NAT) with Linux kernel modules (see Section 3.5.12, The kernel module initialization). Table 5.19. List of firewall tools packages iptables * iptstate * shorewallperl * shorewallshell * popcon size description V:27, I:99 V:0.14, I:0.9 V:0.15, I:0.5 I:1.9 1316 administration tools for netfilter 152 76 76 continuously monitor netfilter state (similar to top(1)) Shoreline Firewall, netfilter configuration file generator (Perl-based, recommended for lenny) Shoreline Firewall, netfilter configuration file generator (shell-based, alternative for lenny)

Main user space program of netfilter is iptables(8). You can manually configure netfilter interactively from shell, save its state with iptables-save(8), and restore it via init script with iptables-restore(8) upon system reboot. Configuration helper scripts such as shorewall ease this process. See documentations at http://www.netfilter.org/documentation/ (or in "/usr/share/doc/iptables/html/"). Linux Networking-concepts HOWTO Linux 2.4 Packet Filtering HOWTO Linux 2.4 NAT HOWTO

Tip
Although these were written for Linux 2.4, both iptables(8) command and netfilter kernel function apply for current Linux 2.6.

Chapter 6. Network applications

After establishing network connectivity (see Chapter 5, Network setup), you can run various network applications.

6.1. Web browsers

There are many web browser packages to access remote contents with Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Table 6.1. List of web browsers package popcon size type description of web browser

iceweasel *

V:30, I:48 3761

unbranded Mozilla Firefox unbrandedMozilla, removed due to security concerns bug#505565 GNOME, HIG compliant, Epiphany GNOME, Galeon, superseded by Epiphany KDE, Konqueror w3m Lynx ELinks Links (text only)

iceape-browser * V:1.4, I:2 35686 , , epiphanybrowser * galeon * konqueror * w3m * lynx * elinks * links * links2 * V:13, I:34 1060 V:0.9, I:1.4 V:8, I:15 I:22 V:2, I:5 V:3, I:9 1776 3584 252 1448 1380 ,, ,, ,, text ,, ,, ,,

V:24, I:84 1992

V:0.7, I:3 3288

graphics Links (console graphics without X)

6.1.1. Browser configuration

You may be able to use following special URL strings for some browsers to confirm their settings. "about:" "about:config" "about:plugins" Debian offers many free browser plugin packages in the main archive area which can handle not only Java (software platform) and Flash but also MPEG, MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, Windows Media Video (.wmv), QuickTime (.mov), MP3 (.mp3), Ogg/Vorbis files, DVDs, VCDs, etc. Debian also offers helper programs to install non-free browser plugin packages as contrib or non-free archive area. Table 6.2. List of browser plugin packages package icedtea6-plugin * sun-java6-plugin * mozilla-plugingnash * flashpluginnonfree * popcon size area V:0.9, I:1.6 I:10 272 main 100 nonfree main description Java plugin based on OpenJDK and IcedTea Java plugin for Sun's Java SE 6 (i386 only) Flash plugin based on Gnash Flash plugin helper to install Adobe Flash Player (i386, amd64 only) Multimedia plugin based on VLC media player Multimedia plugin based on GNOME's Totem media player Multimedia plugin based on (GNOME) MPlayer A wrapper to run i386 Netscape plugins on amd64 architecture

V:0.4, I:4 60 V:1.3, I:15

132 contrib 128 main 544 main 724 main

mozilla-plugin-vlc V:3, I:4 * totem-mozilla * gecko-mediaplayer * nspluginwrapper * V:20, I:34 V:0.6, I:0.8

V:1.8, I:3 472 contrib

Tip
Although use of above Debian packages are much easier, browser plugins can be still manually enabled by installing "*.so" into plugin directories (e.g., "/usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins/") and restarting browsers. Some web sites refuse to be connected based on the user-agent string of your browser. You can work around this situation by spoofing the user-agent string. For example, you can do this by adding following line into user configuration files such as "~/.gnome2/epiphany/mozilla/epiphany/user.js" or "~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/user.js". user_pref{"general.useragent.override","Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0)"}; Alternatively, you can add and reset this variable by typing "about:config" into URL and right clicking its display contents.

Caution
Spoofed user-agent string may cause bad side effects with Java.

6.2. The mail system

Caution
If you are to set up the mail server to exchange mail directly with the Internet, you should be better than reading this elementary document.

Note
The following configuration examples are only valid for the typical mobile workstation on

consumer grade Internet connections.

6.2.1. Modern mail service basics

In order to contain spam (unwanted and unsolicited email) problems, many ISPs which provide consumer grade Internet connections are implementing counter measures. The smarthost service for their customers to send message uses the message submission port (587) specified in rfc4409 with the password (SMTP AUTH service) specified in rfc4954. The SMTP port (25) connection from their internal network hosts (except ISP's own outgoing mail server) to the Internet are blocked. The SMTP port (25) connection to the ISP's incoming mail server from some suspicious external network hosts are blocked. (The connection from hosts on the dynamic IP address range used by the dial-up and other consumer grade Internet connections are the first ones to be blocked.) When configuring your mail system or resolving mail delivery problems, you must consider these new limitations. In light of these hostile Internet situation and limitations, some independent Internet mail ISPs such as Yahoo.com and Gmail.com offer the secure mail service which can be connected from anywhere on the Internet using Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). The smarthost service for their customers to send message uses the SMTP/SSL port (465) or the message submission port (587) with the password (SMTP AUTH service). The incoming mail is accessible at the TLS/POP3 port (995) with POP3.

Caution
It is not realistic to run SMTP server on consumer grade network to send mail directly to the remote host reliably. They are very likely to be rejected. You must use some smarthost services offered by your connection ISP or independent mail ISPs. For the simplicity, I assume that the smarthost is located at "smtp.hostname.dom", requires SMTP AUTH, and uses the message submission port (587) in the following text.

6.2.2. The mail configuration strategy for workstation

The most simple mail configuration is that the mail is sent to the ISP's smarthost and received from ISP's POP3 server by the MUA (see Section 6.4, Mail user agent (MUA)) itself. This type of configuration is popular with full featured GUI based MUA such as icedove(1), evolution(1), etc. If you need to filter mail by their types, you use MUA's filtering function. For this case, the local MTA (see Section 6.3, Mail transport agent (MTA)) need to do local delivery only. The alternative mail configuration is that the mail is sent via local MTA to the ISP's smarthost and received from ISP's POP3 by the mail retriever (see Section 6.5, The remote mail retrieval and forward utility) to the local mailbox. If you need to filter mail by their types, you use MDA with filter (see Section 6.6, Mail delivery agent (MDA) with filter) to filter mail into separate mailboxes. This type of configuration is popular with simple console based MUA such as mutt(1), gnus(1), etc., although this is possible with any MUAs (see Section 6.4, Mail user agent (MUA)). For this case, the local MTA (see Section 6.3, Mail transport agent (MTA)) need to do both smarthost delivery and local delivery. Since mobile workstation does not have valid FQDN, you must configure the local MTA to hide and spoof the real local mail name in outgoing mail to avoid mail delivery errors (see Section 6.3.3, The mail address configuration).

Tip
You may wish to configure MUA/MDA to use Maildir for storing email messages somewhere under your home directory.

6.3. Mail transport agent (MTA)

For normal workstation, the popular choice for Mail transport agent (MTA) is either exim4-* or postfix packages. It is really up to you. Table 6.3. List of basic mail transport agent related packages for workstation package popcon size description 1104 Exim4 mail transport agent (MTA: Debian default) 1688 Exim4 documentation (text) and common files 3440 Exim4 documentation (html) 556 Exim4 documentation (info)

exim4-daemon-light V:60, * I:65 exim4-base * exim4-doc-html * exim4-doc-info * postfix * postfix-doc * sasl2-bin * cyrus-sasl2-doc * V:62, I:68 I:0.6 I:0.3 V:18, I:20 I:1.9 V:2, I:5 I:2

3492 Postfix mail transport agent (MTA: alternative) 3420 Postfix documentation (html+text) 448 284 Cyrus SASL API implementation (supplement postfix for SMTP AUTH) Cyrus SASL - documentation

Although the popcon vote count of exim4-* looks several times popular than that of postfix, this does not mean postfix is not popular with Debian developers. The Debian server system uses both exim4 and postfix. The mail header analysis of mailing list postings from prominent Debian developers also indicate both of these MTAs are as popular.

The exim4-* packages are known to have very small memory consumption and very flexible for its configuration. The postfix package is known to be compact, fast, simple, and secure. Both come with ample documentation and are as good in quality and license. There are many choices for mail transport agent (MTA) packages with different capability and focus in Debian archive. Table 6.4. List of choices for mail transport agent (MTA) packages in Debian archive package popcon size 1104 3492 1220 2052 436 0 capability and focus full full (security) full (flexible) full (only if you are already familiar) strip down, no local mail strip down, no local mail light light light light (sendmail compatibility extension to esmtp) light light (sendmail compatibility extension to msmtp)

exim4-daemon-light * V:60, I:65 postfix * sendmail-bin * nullmailer * ssmtp * courier-mta * xmail * masqmail * esmtp * esmtp-run * msmtp * msmtp-mta * V:18, I:20 V:1.9, I:2 V:0.7, I:0.8 V:1.2, I:1.7 exim4-daemon-heavy * V:1.7, I:1.9

V:0.14, I:0.15 12316 very full (web interface etc.) V:0.14, I:0.16 836 V:0.04, I:0.05 624 V:0.09, I:0.2 V:0.3, I:0.8 172 340 V:0.07, I:0.11 64 V:0.11, I:0.15 32

6.3.1. The configuration of exim4

For the Internet mail via smarthost, you (re)configure exim4-* packages as the following. $ sudo /etc/init.d/exim4 stop $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config Select "mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail" for "General type of mail configuration". Set "System mail name:" to its default as the FQDN (see Section 5.1.2, The hostname resolution). Set "IP-addresses to listen on for incoming SMTP connections:" to its default as "127.0.0.1 ; ::1". Unset contents of "Other destinations for which mail is accepted:". Unset contents of "Machines to relay mail for:". Set "IP address or host name of the outgoing smarthost:" to "smtp.hostname.dom:587". Select "<No>" for "Hide local mail name in outgoing mail?". (Use "/etc/email-addresses" as in Section 6.3.3, The mail address configuration, instead.) Reply to "Keep number of DNS-queries minimal (Dial-on-Demand)?" as one of the following. "No" if the system is connected to the Internet while booting. "Yes" if the system is not connected to the Internet while booting. Set "Delivery method for local mail:" to "mbox format in /var/mail/". Select "<Yes>" for "Split configuration into small files?:". Create password entries for the smarthost by editing "/etc/exim4/passwd.client". $ sudo vim /etc/exim4/passwd.client ... $ cat /etc/exim4/passwd.client ^smtp.*\.hostname\.dom:[email protected]:password Start exim4 by the following. $ sudo /etc/init.d/exim4 start The host name in "/etc/exim4/passwd.client" should not be the alias. You check the real host name with the following. $ host smtp.hostname.dom smtp.hostname.dom is an alias for smtp99.hostname.dom. smtp99.hostname.dom has address 123.234.123.89 I use regex in "/etc/exim4/passwd.client" to work around the alias issue. SMTP AUTH probably works even if the ISP moves host pointed by the alias.

Caution
You must execute update-exim4.conf(8) after manually updating exim4 configuration files in "/etc/exim4/".

Caution

Starting exim4 takes long time if "No" (default value) was chosen for the debconf query of "Keep number of DNS-queries minimal (Dial-on-Demand)?" and the system is not connected to the Internet while booting.

Note
Please read the official guide at: "/usr/share/doc/exim4-base/README.Debian.gz" and update-exim4.conf(8).

Tip
Local customization file "/etc/exim4/exim4.conf.localmacros" may be created to set MACROs. For example, Yahoo's mail service is said to require "MAIN_TLS_ENABLE = true" and "AUTH_CLIENT_ALLOW_NOTLS_PASSWORDS = yes" in it.

Tip
If you are looking for a light weight MTA that respects "/etc/aliases" for your laptop PC, you should consider to configure exim4(8) with "QUEUERUNNER='queueonly'", "QUEUERUNNER='nodaemon'", etc. in "/etc/default/exim4".

6.3.2. The configuration of postfix with SASL

For the Internet mail via smarthost, you should first read postfix documentation and key manual pages. Table 6.5. List of important postfix manual pages command postfix(1) postconf(1) postconf(5) postmap(1) function Postfix control program Postfix configuration utility Postfix configuration parameters Postfix lookup table maintenance

postalias(1) Postfix alias database maintenance

You (re)configure postfix and sasl2-bin packages as follows. $ sudo /etc/init.d/postfix stop $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure postfix Chose "Internet with smarthost". Set "SMTP relay host (blank for none):" to "[smtp.hostname.dom]:587" and configure it by the following. $ $ $ $ $ sudo sudo sudo sudo sudo postconf -e 'smtp_sender_dependent_authentication = yes' postconf -e 'smtp_sasl_auth_enable = yes' postconf -e 'smtp_sasl_password_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd' postconf -e 'smtp_sasl_type = cyrus' vim /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd

Create password entries for the smarthost. $ cat /etc/postfix/sasl_passwd [smtp.hostname.dom]:587 username:password $ sudo postmap hush:/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd Start the postfix by the following. $ sudo /etc/init.d/postfix start Here the use of "[" and "]" in the dpkg-reconfigure dialog and "/etc/postfix/sasl_passwd" ensures not to check MX record but directly use exact hostname specified. See "Enabling SASL authentication in the Postfix SMTP client" in "usr/share/doc/postfix/html/SASL_README.html".

6.3.3. The mail address configuration

There are a few mail address configuration files for mail transport, delivery and user agents. Table 6.6. List of mail address related configuration files file /etc/mailname /etc/email-addresses /etc/postfix/generic /etc/aliases function default host name for (outgoing) mail host name spoofing for outgoing mail host name spoofing for outgoing mail account name alias for incoming mail application Debian specific, mailname(5) exim(8) specific, exim4-config_files(5) postfix(1) specific, activated after postmap(1) command execution. general, activated after newaliases(1) command execution.

The mailname in the "/etc/mailname" file is usually a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) that resolves to one of the host's IP addresses. For the mobile workstation which does not have a hostname with resolvable IP address, set this mailname to the value of "hostname -f". (This is safe choice and works for

both exim4-* and postfix.)

Tip
The contents of "/etc/mailname" is used by many non-MTA programs for their default behavior. For mutt, set "hostname" and "from" variables in ~/muttrc file to override the mailname value. For programs in the devscripts package, such as bts(1) and dch(1), export environment variables "$DEBFULLNAME" and "$DEBEMAIL" to override it.

Tip
The popularity-contest package normally send mail from root account with FQDN. You need to set MAILFROM in /etc/popularity-contest.conf as described in the /usr/share/popularity-contest/default.conf file. Otherwise, your mail will be rejected by the smarthost SMTP server. Although this is tedious, this approach is safer than rewriting the source address for all mails from root by MTA and should be used for other daemons and cron scripts. When setting the mailname to "hostname -f", the spoofing of the source mail address via MTA can be realized by the following. "/etc/email-addresses" file for exim4(8) as explained in the exim4-config_files(5) "/etc/postfix/generic" file for postfix(1) as explained in the generic(5) For postfix, the following extra steps are needed. # postmap hash:/etc/postfix/generic # postconf -e 'smtp_generic_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/generic' # postfix reload You can test mail address configuration using the following. exim(8) with -brw, -bf, -bF, -bV, options postmap(1) with -q option.

Tip
Exim comes with several utility programs such as exiqgrep(8) and exipick(8). See "dpkg -L exim4-base|grep man8/" for available commands.

6.3.4. Basic MTA operations

There are several basic MTA operations. Some may be performed via sendmail(1) compatibility interface. Table 6.7. List of basic MTA operation exim command postfix command sendmail mailq newaliases exim4 -q exim4 -qf exim4 -qff exim4 -Mg queue_id exim4 -Mrm queue_id N/A sendmail mailq newaliases postqueue -f postsuper -r ALL deferred; postqueue -f description read mails from standard input and arrange for delivery (-bm) list the mail queue with status and queue ID (bp) initialize alias database (-I) flush waiting mails (-q) flush all mails

postsuper -r ALL; postqueue -f flush even frozen mails postsuper -h queue_id postsuper -d queue_id postsuper -d ALL freeze one message by its queue ID remove one message by its queue ID remove all messages

Tip
It may be a good idea to flush all mails by a script in "/etc/ppp/ip-up.d/*".

6.4. Mail user agent (MUA)

If you subscribe to Debian related mailing list, it may be a good idea to use such MUA as mutt and gnus which are the de facto standard for the participant and known to behave as expected. Table 6.8. List of mail user agent (MUA) package popcon size 3761 4724 6004 type X GUI program (unbranded Mozilla Firefox) X GUI program (part of a groupware suite) character terminal program probably used with vim character terminal program under (x)emacs

iceweasel * V:30, I:48 evolution * V:16, I:34 icedove * mutt * gnus * V:8, I:12 V:26, I:83

38864 X GUI program (unbranded Mozilla Thunderbird)

V:0.06, I:0.3 6453

6.4.1. Basic MUA Mutt

Customize "~/.muttrc" as the following to use mutt as the mail user agent (MUA) in combination with vim. # # User configuration file to override /etc/Muttrc # # spoof source mail address set use_from set hostname=example.dom set from="Name Surname <[email protected]>" set signature="~/.signature" # vim: "gq" to reformat quotes set editor="vim -c 'set tw=72 et ft=mail'" # "mutt" goes to Inbox, while "mutt -y" lists mailboxes set mbox_type=Maildir # use qmail Maildir format for creating mbox set mbox=~/Mail # keep all mail boxes in $HOME/Mail/ set spoolfile=+Inbox # mail delivered to $HOME/Mail/Inbox set record=+Outbox # save fcc mail to $HOME/Mail/Outbox set postponed=+Postponed # keep postponed in $HOME/Mail/postponed set move=no # do not move Inbox items to mbox set quit=ask-yes # do not quit by "q" only set delete=yes # always delete w/o asking while exiting set fcc_clear # store fcc as non encrypted # Mailboxes in Maildir (automatic update) mailboxes `cd ~/Mail; /bin/ls -1|sed -e 's/^/+/' | tr "\n" " "` unmailboxes Maillog *.ev-summary ## Default #set index_format="%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %s" ## Thread index with senders (collapse) set index_format="%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15n %?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)? %s" ## Default #set folder_format="%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f" ## just folder names set folder_format="%2C %t %N %f" Add the following to "/etc/mailcap" or "~/.mailcap" to display HTML mail and MS Word attachments inline. text/html; lynx -force_html %s; needsterminal; application/msword; /usr/bin/antiword '%s'; copiousoutput; description="Microsoft Word Text"; nametemplate=%s.doc

Tip
Mutt can be used as the IMAP client and the mailbox format converter. You can tag messages with "t", "T", etc. These tagged messages can be copied with ";C" between different mailboxes and deleted with ";d" in one action.

6.5. The remote mail retrieval and forward utility

Although fetchmail(1) has been de facto standard for the remote mail retrieval on GNU/Linux, the author likes getmail(1) now. If you want to reject mail before downloading to save bandwidth, mailfilter or mpop may be useful. Whichever mail retriever utilities are used, it is good idea to configure system to deliver retrieved mails to MDA, such as maildrop, via pipe. Table 6.9. List of remote mail retrieval and forward utilities package fetchmail * getmail4 * mpop * popcon V:2, I:5 V:0.3, I:0.9 size description 2588 mail retriever (POP3, APOP, IMAP) (old) 668 mail retriever (POP3, IMAP4, and SDPS) (simple, secure, and reliable) mail retriever (POP3) with with regex filtering capability mail retriever (POP3) and MDA with filtering capability

mailfilter * V:0.00, I:0.07 332 V:0.01, I:0.08 324

6.5.1. getmail configuration

getmail(1) configuration is described in getmail documentation. Here is my set up to access multiple POP3 accounts as user. Create "/usr/local/bin/getmails" as the following. #!/bin/sh set -e if [ -f $HOME/.getmail/running ]; then echo "getmail is already running ... (if not, remove $HOME/.getmail/running)" >&2 pgrep -l "getmai[l]" exit 1

else echo "getmail has not been running ... " >&2 fi if [ -f $HOME/.getmail/stop ]; then echo "do not run getmail ... (if not, remove $HOME/.getmail/stop)" >&2 exit fi if [ "x$1" = "x-l" ]; then exit fi rcfiles="/usr/bin/getmail" for file in $HOME/.getmail/config/* ; do rcfiles="$rcfiles --rcfile $file" done date -u > $HOME/.getmail/running eval "$rcfiles $@" rm $HOME/.getmail/running Configure it as the following. $ $ $ $ sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/getmails mkdir -m 0700 $HOME/.getmail mkdir -m 0700 $HOME/.getmail/config mkdir -m 0700 $HOME/.getmail/log

Create configuration files "$HOME/.getmail/config/pop3_name" for each POP3 accounts as the following. [retriever] type = SimplePOP3SSLRetriever server = pop.example.com username = [email protected] password = secret [destination] type = MDA_external path = /usr/bin/maildrop unixfrom = True [options] verbose = 0 delete = True delivered_to = False message_log = ~/.getmail/log/pop3_name.log Configure it as the following. $ chmod 0600 $HOME/.getmail/config/* Schedule "/usr/local/bin/getmails" to run every 15 minutes with cron(8) by executing "sudo crontab -e -u <user_name>" and adding following to user's cron entry. 5,20,35,50 * * * * /usr/local/bin/getmails --quiet

Tip
Problems of POP3 access may not come from getmail. Some popular free POP3 services may be violating the POP3 protocol and their SPAM filter may not be perfect. For example, they may delete messages just after receiving RETR command before receiving DELE command and may quarantined messages into Spam mailbox. You should minimize damages by configuring them to archive accessed messages and not to delete them. See also "Some mail was not downloaded".

6.5.2. fetchmail configuration

fetchmail(1) configuration is set by "/etc/default/fetchmail", "/etc/fetchmailrc" and "$HOME/.fetchmailrc". See its example in "/usr/share/doc/fetchmail/examples/fetchmailrc.example".

6.6. Mail delivery agent (MDA) with filter

Most MTA programs, such as postfix and exim4, function as MDA (mail delivery agent). There are specialized MDA with filtering capabilities. Although procmail(1) has been de facto standard for MDA with filter on GNU/Linux, author likes maildrop(1) now. Whichever filtering utilities are used, it is good idea to configure system to deliver filtered mails to a qmail-style Maildir. Table 6.10. List of MDA with filter package procmail * maildrop * popcon V:19, I:84 size description 368 MDA with filter (old)

mailagent * V:0.3, I:5

1692 MDA with Perl filter

V:0.3, I:0.8 1000 MDA with structured filtering language

6.6.1. maildrop configuration

maildrop(1) configuration is described in maildropfilter documentation. Here is a configuration example for "$HOME/.mailfilter". # Local configuration MAILROOT="$HOME/Mail" # set this to /etc/mailname contents MAILHOST="example.dom" logfile $HOME/.maildroplog # rules are made to override the earlier value by the later one. # mailing list mails ? if ( /^Precedence:.*list/:h || /^Precedence:.*bulk/:h ) { # rules for mailing list mails # default mailbox for mails from mailing list MAILBOX="Inbox-list" # default mailbox for mails from debian.org if ( /^(Sender|Resent-From|Resent-Sender): .*debian.org/:h ) { MAILBOX="service.debian.org" } # default mailbox for mails from bugs.debian.org (BTS) if ( /^(Sender|Resent-From|Resent-sender): .*@bugs.debian.org/:h ) { MAILBOX="bugs.debian.org" } # mailbox for each properly maintained mailing list with "List-Id: foo" or "List-Id: ...<foo.bar>" if ( /^List-Id: ([^<]*<)?([^<>]*)>?/:h ) { MAILBOX="$MATCH2" } } else { # rules for non-mailing list mails # default incoming box MAILBOX="Inbox-unusual" # local mails if ( /Envelope-to: .*@$MAILHOST/:h ) { MAILBOX="Inbox-local" } # html mails (99% spams) if ( /DOCTYPE html/:b ||\ /^Content-Type: text\/html/ ) { MAILBOX="Inbox-html" } # blacklist rule for spams if ( /^X-Advertisement/:h ||\ /^Subject:.*BUSINESS PROPOSAL/:h ||\ /^Subject:.*URGENT.*ASISSTANCE/:h ||\ /^Subject: *I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE/:h ) { MAILBOX="Inbox-trash" } # whitelist rule for normal mails if ( /^From: .*@debian.org/:h ||\ /^(Sender|Resent-From|Resent-Sender): .*debian.org/:h ||\ /^Subject: .*(debian|bug|PATCH)/:h ) { MAILBOX="Inbox" } # whiltelist rule for BTS related mails if ( /^Subject: .*Bug#.*/:h ||\ /^(To|Cc): .*@bugs.debian.org/:h ) { MAILBOX="bugs.debian.org" } # whitelist rule for getmails cron mails if ( /^Subject: Cron .*getmails/:h ) { MAILBOX="Inbox-getmails" } } # check existance of $MAILBOX `test -d $MAILROOT/$MAILBOX` if ( $RETURNCODE == 1 ) { # create maildir mailbox for $MAILBOX

`maildirmake $MAILROOT/$MAILBOX` } # deliver to maildir $MAILBOX to "$MAILROOT/$MAILBOX/" exit

Warning
Unlike procmail, maildrop does not create missing maildir directories automatically. You must create them manually using maildirmake(1) in advance as in the example "$HOME/.mailfilter".

6.6.2. procmail configuration

Here is a similar configuration with "$HOME/.procmailrc" for procmail(1). MAILDIR=$HOME/Maildir DEFAULT=$MAILDIR/Inbox/ LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/Maillog # clearly bad looking mails: drop them into X-trash and exit :0 * 1^0 ^X-Advertisement * 1^0 ^Subject:.*BUSINESS PROPOSAL * 1^0 ^Subject:.*URGENT.*ASISSTANCE * 1^0 ^Subject: *I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE X-trash/ # Delivering mailinglist messages :0 * 1^0 ^Precedence:.*list * 1^0 ^Precedence:.*bulk * 1^0 ^List* 1^0 ^X-Distribution:.*bulk { :0 * 1^0 ^Return-path:.*[email protected] jp-debian-devel/ :0 * ^Resent-Sender.*[email protected] debian-user/ :0 * ^Resent-Sender.*[email protected] debian-devel/ :0 * ^Resent-Sender.*[email protected] debian-announce :0 mailing-list/ } :0 Inbox/

6.6.3. Redeliver mbox contents

You need to manually deliver mails to the sorted mailboxes in your home directory from "/var/mail/<username>" if your home directory became full and procmail(1) failed. After making disk space in the home directory, run the following. # /etc/init.d/${MAILDAEMON} stop # formail -s procmail </var/mail/<username> # /etc/init.d/${MAILDAEMON} start

6.7. POP3/IMAP4 server

If you are to run a private server on LAN, you may consider to run POP3 / IMAP4 server for delivering mail to LAN clients. Table 6.11. List of POP3/IMAP4 servers package qpopper * courier-pop * ipopd * xmail * courier-imap * uw-imapd * popcon V:1.1, I:4 V:1.6, I:2 size type description 636 244 852 POP3 Qualcomm enhanced BSD POP3 server POP3 Courier mail server - POP3 server (maildir format only) POP3 The University of Washington POP2 and POP3 server POP3 Cyrus mail system (POP3 support) POP3 ESMTP/POP3 mail server IMAP The University of Washington IMAP server

V:0.10, I:0.18 212 V:0.14, I:0.16 836 V:2, I:3 V:0.7, I:4 280

cyrus-pop3d-2.2 * V:0.18, I:0.3

1624 IMAP Courier mail server - IMAP server (maildir format only)

cyrus-imapd-2.2 * V:0.4, I:0.6

2632 IMAP Cyrus mail system (IMAP support)

6.8. The print server and utility

In the old Unix-like system, the BSD Line printer daemon was the standard. Since the standard print out format of the free software is PostScript on the Unix like system, some filter system was used along with Ghostscript to enable printing to the non-PostScript printer. Recently, Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) is the new de facto standard. The CUPS uses Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). The IPP is now supported by other OSs such as Windows XP and Mac OS X and has became new cross-platform de facto standard for remote printing with bi-directional communication capability. The standard printable data format for the application on the Debian system is the PostScript (PS) which is a page description language. The data in PS format is fed into the Ghostscript PostScript interpreter to produce the printable data specific to the printer. See Section 11.3.1, Ghostscript. Thanks to the file format dependent auto-conversion feature of the CUPS system, simply feeding any data to the lpr command should generate the expected print output. (In CUPS, lpr can be enabled by installing the cups-bsd package.) The Debian system has some notable packages for the print servers and utilities. Table 6.12. List of print servers and utilities package lpr * lprng * cups * popcon size V:2, I:2 V:0.6, I:1.3 V:33, I:44 V:17, I:46 440 2904 port printer (515) ,, description BSD lpr/lpd (Line printer daemon) , , (Enhanced)

15540 IPP (631) Internet Printing CUPS server System V printer commands for CUPS: lp(1), lpstat(1), lpoptions(1), cancel(1), lpmove(8), lpinfo(8), lpadmin(8), BSD printer commands for CUPS: lpr(1), lpq(1), lprm(1), lpc(8)

cups-client *

908

,,

cups-bsd * cups-drivergutenprint *

V:7, I:41 420 V:12, I:38 1212

,,

Not printer drivers for CUPS applicable

Tip
You can configure CUPS system by pointing your web browser to "http://localhost:631/" .

6.9. The remote access server and utility (SSH)

The Secure SHell (SSH) is the secure way to connect over the Internet. A free version of SSH called OpenSSH is available as openssh-client and openssh-server packages in Debian. Table 6.13. List of remote access server and utilities package openssh-client * openssh-server * ssh-askpassfullscreen * ssh-askpass * popcon size tool V:52, I:99 2104 ssh(1) V:70, I:83 700 V:0.08, I:0.4 92 sshd(8) ssh-askpassfullscreen(1) ssh-askpass(1) description Secure shell client Secure shell server asks user for a pass phrase for ssh-add (GNOME2) asks user for a pass phrase for ssh-add (plain X)

V:0.7, I:5 156

Caution
See Section 4.7.3, Extra security measures for the Internet if your SSH is accessible from the Internet.

Tip
Please use the screen(1) program to enable remote shell process to survive the interrupted connection (see Section 9.1, The screen program).

6.9.1. Basics of SSH Warning

"/etc/ssh/sshd_not_to_be_run" must not be present if one wishes to run the OpenSSH server. SSH has two authentication protocols.

Table 6.14. List of SSH authentication protocols and methods SSH SSH method protocol SSH-1 ,, ,, ,, ,, SSH-2 ,, ,, ,, "RSAAuthentication" "RhostsAuthentication" "RhostsRSAAuthentication" description RSA identity key based user authentication ".rhosts" based host authentication (insecure, disabled) ".rhosts" based host authentication combined with RSA host key (disabled) password based authentication public key based user authentication "~/.rhosts" or "/etc/hosts.equiv" based host authentication combined with public key client host authentication (disabled) password based authentication

"ChallengeResponseAuthentication" RSA challenge-response authentication "PasswordAuthentication" "PubkeyAuthentication" "HostbasedAuthentication"

"ChallengeResponseAuthentication" challenge-response authentication "PasswordAuthentication"

Caution
Be careful about these differences if you are using a non-Debian system. See "/usr/share/doc/ssh/README.Debian.gz", ssh(1), sshd(8), ssh-agent(1), and ssh-keygen(1) for details. Following are the key configuration files. Table 6.15. List of SSH configuration files configuration file /etc/ssh/ssh_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config ~/.ssh/authorized_keys ~/.ssh/identity ~/.ssh/id_rsa ~/.ssh/id_dsa description of configuration file SSH client defaults, see ssh_config(5) SSH server defaults, see sshd_config(5) default public SSH keys that clients use to connect to this account on this SSH server secret SSH-1 RSA key of the user secret SSH-2 RSA key of the user secret SSH-2 DSA key of the user

Tip
See ssh-keygen(1), ssh-add(1) and ssh-agent(1) for how to use public and secret SSH keys.

Tip
Make sure to verify settings by testing the connection. In case of any problem, use "ssh v".

Tip
You can change the pass phrase to encrypt local secret SSH keys later with "ssh-keygen p".

Tip
You can add options to the entries in "~/.ssh/authorized_keys" to limit hosts and to run specific commands. See sshd(8) for details. The following starts an ssh(1) connection from a client. Table 6.16. List of SSH client startup examples command ssh [email protected] ssh -v [email protected] ssh -1 [email protected] ssh -1 -o RSAAuthentication=no -l username hostname.domain.ext description connect with default mode connect with default mode with debugging messages force to connect with SSH version 1 force to use password with SSH version 1

ssh -o PreferredAuthentications=password -l username force to use password with SSH hostname.domain.ext version 2

If you use the same user name on the local and the remote host, you can eliminate typing "username@". Even if you use different user name on the local and the remote host, you can eliminate it using "~/.ssh/config". For Debian Alioth service with account name "foo-guest", you set "~/.ssh/config" to

contain the following. Host alioth.debian.org svn.debian.org git.debian.org User foo-guest For the user, ssh(1) functions as a smarter and more secure telnet(1). Unlike telnet command, ssh command does not bomb on the telnet escape character (initial default CTRL-]).

6.9.2. Port forwarding for SMTP/POP3 tunneling

To establish a pipe to connect to port 25 of remote-server from port 4025 of localhost, and to port 110 of remote-server from port 4110 of localhost through ssh, execute on the local host as the following. # ssh -q -L 4025:remote-server:25 4110:remote-server:110 username@remote-server This is a secure way to make connections to SMTP/POP3 servers over the Internet. Set the "AllowTcpForwarding" entry to "yes" in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" of the remote host.

6.9.3. Connecting without remote passwords

One can avoid having to remember passwords for remote systems by using "RSAAuthentication" (SSH-1 protocol) or "PubkeyAuthentication" (SSH-2 protocol). On the remote system, set the respective entries, "RSAAuthentication yes" or "PubkeyAuthentication yes", in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config". Generate authentication keys locally and install the public key on the remote system by the following. "RSAAuthentication": RSA key for SSH-1 (deprecated because it is superseded.) $ ssh-keygen $ cat .ssh/identity.pub | ssh user1@remote "cat - >>.ssh/authorized_keys" "PubkeyAuthentication": RSA key for SSH-2 $ ssh-keygen -t rsa $ cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh user1@remote "cat - >>.ssh/authorized_keys" "PubkeyAuthentication": DSA key for SSH-2 (deprecated because it is slow.) $ ssh-keygen -t dsa $ cat .ssh/id_dsa.pub | ssh user1@remote "cat - >>.ssh/authorized_keys"

Tip
Use of DSA key for SSH-2 is deprecated because key is smaller and slow. There are no more reasons to work around RSA patent using DSA since it has been expired. DSA stands for Digital Signature Algorithm and slow. Also see DSA-1571-1.

Note
For "HostbasedAuthentication" to work in SSH-2, you must adjust the settings of "HostbasedAuthentication" to "yes" in both "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" on the server host and "/etc/ssh/ssh_config" or "~/.ssh/config" on the client host.

6.9.4. Dealing with alien SSH clients

There are some free SSH clients available for other platforms. Table 6.17. List of free SSH clients for other platforms environment Windows free SSH program puTTY (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/) (GPL)

Windows (cygwin) SSH in cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/) (GPL) Macintosh Classic macSSH (http://www.macssh.com/) (GPL) Mac OS X OpenSSH; use ssh in the Terminal application (GPL)

6.9.5. Setting up ssh-agent

It is safer to protect your SSH authentication secret keys with a pass phrase. If a pass phrase was not set, use "ssh-keygen -p" to set it. Place your public SSH key (e.g. "~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub") into "~/.ssh/authorized_keys" on a remote host using a password-based connection to the remote host as described above. $ ssh-agent bash $ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa Enter passphrase for /home/<username>/.ssh/id_rsa: Identity added: /home/<username>/.ssh/id_rsa (/home/<username>/.ssh/id_rsa) No remote password needed from here on for the next command. $ scp foo <username>@remote.host:foo Press ^D to terminating ssh-agent session. For the X server, the normal Debian startup script executes ssh-agent as the parent process. So you only

need to execute ssh-add once. For more, read ssh-agent(1)and ssh-add(1).

6.9.6. How to shutdown the remote system on SSH

You need to protect the process doing "shutdown -h now" (see Section 1.1.8, How to shutdown the system) from the termination of SSH using the at(1) command (see Section 9.5.13, Scheduling tasks once) by the following. # echo "shutdown -h now" | at now Running "shutdown -h now" in screen(1) (see Section 9.1, The screen program) session is another way to do the same.

6.9.7. Troubleshooting SSH

If you have problems, check the permissions of configuration files and run ssh with the "-v" option. Use the "-P" option if you are root and have trouble with a firewall; this avoids the use of server ports 1 1023. If ssh connections to a remote site suddenly stop working, it may be the result of tinkering by the sysadmin, most likely a change in "host_key" during system maintenance. After making sure this is the case and nobody is trying to fake the remote host by some clever hack, one can regain a connection by removing the "host_key" entry from "~/.ssh/known_hosts" on the local host.

6.10. Other network application servers

Here are other network application servers. Table 6.18. List of other network application servers package telnetd * telnetd-ssl * nfs-kernel-server * samba * netatalk * proftpd-basic * wu-ftpd * apache2-mpm-worker * squid * squid3 * slpd * bind9 * dhcp3-server * popcon V:0.4, I:1.1 V:12, I:21 V:18, I:31 V:5, I:9 V:6, I:7 V:0.4, I:0.6 V:6, I:7 V:6, I:7 V:1.5, I:1.8 V:10, I:17 V:5, I:10 size 156 412 3428 4064 820 68 68 1848 3600 1080 64 protocol description TELNET ,, NFS ATP FTP ,, HTTP ,, ,, ,, SLP DNS DHCP TELNET server , , (SSL support) Unix file sharing Windows file and printer sharing Apple/Mac file and printer sharing (AppleTalk) General file download ,, General web server ,, General web proxy server ,, OpenSLP Server as LDAP server IP address for other hosts IP address of client itself

V:0.10, I:0.3 152

23096 SMB

apache2-mpm-prefork * V:38, I:42

V:0.14, I:0.2 180

Common Internet File System Protocol (CIFS) is the same protocol as Server Message Block (SMB) and is used widely by Microsoft Windows.

Tip
Use of proxy server such as squid is much more efficient for saving bandwidth than use of local mirror server with the full Debian archive contents.

6.11. Other network application clients

Here are other network application clients. Table 6.19. List of network application clients package netcat * openssl * stunnel4 * telnet * popcon size I:28 36 protocol TCP/IP SSL ,, TELNET ,, NFS ,, FTP ,, ,, description TCP/IP swiss army knife Secure Socket Layer (SSL) binary and related cryptographic tools universal SSL Wrapper TELNET client , , (SSL support) Unix file sharing MS Windows file and printer sharing client mount and umount commands for remote MS Windows file FTP client ,, full screen FTP client

V:56, I:91 2380 V:0.6, I:2 512 V:13, I:89 200 208

V:0.2, telnet-ssl * I:1.1 smbclient * smbfs * ftp * lftp * ncftp * V:6, I:35 V:5, I:24 V:9, I:85

nfs-common * V:49, I:81 660 56 168

45200 SMB

V:1.3, I:6 1876 V:1.4, I:7 1276

wget * curl * dnsutils *

V:33, I:99 2364 V:7, I:23 352

HTTP and FTP ,, DNS ,, DHCP LDAP

web downloader ,, host(1) from bind9, "Priority: standard" dig(1) from bind, "Priority: standard" obtain IP address obtain data from LDAP server

bind9-host * V:43, I:91 188 V:14, I:90 412 dhcp3-client V:32, I:92 60 * ldap-utils * V:2, I:7 672

6.12. The diagnosis of the system daemons

The telnet program enables manual connection to the system daemons and its diagnosis. For testing plain POP3 service, try the following $ telnet mail.ispname.net pop3 For testing the TLS/SSL enabled POP3 service by some ISPs, you need TLS/SSL enabled telnet client by the telnet-ssl or openssl packages. $ telnet -z ssl pop.gmail.com 995 $ openssl s_client -connect pop.gmail.com:995 The following RFCs provide required knowledge to each system daemon. Table 6.20. List of popular RFCs RFC description

rfc1939 and rfc2449 POP3 service rfc3501 rfc2821 (rfc821) rfc2822 (rfc822) rfc2045 rfc819 rfc2616 rfc2396 IMAP4 service SMTP service Mail file format Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) DNS service HTTP service URI definition

The port usage is described in "/etc/services".

Chapter 7. The X Window System

The X Window System on the Debian system is based on the source from X.Org. As of July 2009, they are X11R7.1(etch), X11R7.3(lenny), X11R7.3(squeeze) and X11R7.4(sid).

7.1. Key packages

There are a few (meta)packages provided to ease installation. Table 7.1. List of key (meta)packages for X Window (meta)package xorg * xserver-xorg * xbase-clients * x11-common * xorg-docs * menu * gksu * menu-xdg * xdg-utils * gnome-desktopenvironment * kde-standard * xfce4 * lxde-core * popcon size description I:43 V:30, I:51 V:41, I:92 I:6 V:28, I:52 V:23, I:46 I:47 V:16, I:46 I:29 I:3 I:4 I:2 80 228 X libraries, an X server, a set of fonts, and a group of basic X clients and utilities (metapackage) full suits of the X server and its configuration miscellaneous assortment of X clients filesystem infrastructure for the X Window System

V:3, I:47 132 568

1956 miscellaneous documentation for the X.Org software suite 2060 generate the Debian menu for all menu-aware applications 540 76 300 44 36 40 36 Gtk+ frontend to su(1) or sudo(8) convert the Debian menu structure to the freedesktop.org xdg menu structure utilities to integrate desktop environment provided by the freedesktop.org standard GNOME desktop environment (metapackage) core KDE desktop environment (metapackage) Xfce lightweight desktop environment (metapackage) LXDE lightweight desktop environment (metapackage)

fluxbox *

V:0.9, I:2

4424

Fluxbox: package for highly configurable and low resource X window manager

For the basics of X, refer to X(7), the LDP XWindow-User-HOWTO.

7.2. Setting up desktop environment

A desktop environment is usually a combination of a X window manager, a file manager, and a suite of compatible utility programs. You can setup a full desktop environment such as GNOME, KDE, Xfce, or LXDE, from the aptitude under the task menu.

Tip
Task menu may be out of sync with the latest package transition state under Debian unstable/testing environment. In such situation, you need to deselect some (meta)packages listed under aptitude(8) task menu to avoid package conflicts. When deselecting (meta)packages, you must select certain packages providing their dependencies manually to avoid them deleted automatically. You may alternatively setup a simple environment manually just with a X window manager such as Fluxbox. See Window Managers for X for the guide to the X window manager and the desktop environment.

7.2.1. Debian menu

Debian menu system provides a general interface for both text- and X-oriented programs with updatemenus(1) from the menu package. Each package installs its menu data in the "/usr/share/menu/" directory. See "/usr/share/menu/README".

7.2.2. Freedesktop.org menu

Each package which is compliant to Freedesktop.org's xdg menu system installs its menu data provided by "*.desktop" under "/usr/share/applications/". Modern desktop environments which are compliant to Freedesktop.org standard use these data to generate their menu using the xdg-utils package. See "/usr/share/doc/xdg-utils/README".

7.2.3. Debian menu under GNOME desktop environment

In order to obtain access to the traditional Debian menu under GNOME desktop environment, you must install the menu-xdg package, click "System" "Preference" "Main Menu", and check the box for "Debian".

Tip
You may need to do the similar for other modern desktop environments which are compliant to Freedesktop.org standard.

7.3. The server/client relationship

The X Window System is activated as a combination of the server and client programs. The meaning for the words server and client with respect to the words local and remote requires attention here. Table 7.2. List of server/client terminology type X server X client description a program run on a local host connected to the user's display and input devices. a program run on a remote host that processes data and talks to the X server.

application server a program run on a remote host that processes data and talks to the clients. application client a program run on a local host connected to the user's display and input devices.

7.4. The X server

See xorg(1) for X server information.

7.4.1. The (re)configuration of the X server Note

X server (post-lenny) is rewritten to use more information from standardized OS services such as HAL and D-bus, for its configuration than that from "/etc/X11/xorg.conf". So contents in "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" are getting less. You may need to work around transitional problems of X server. The following (re)configures an X server by generating a new "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" file using dexconf(1). # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low x11-common # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-xorg If you have manually edited this "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" file but would like it to be automatically updated again, run the following command.

# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg Please check your X configuration with respect to the specification of your monitor carefully. For the large high resolution CRT monitor, it is a good idea to set the refresh rate as high as your monitor can handle (85 Hz is great, 75 Hz is OK) to reduce flicker. For the LCD monitor, slower standard refresh rate (60Hz) is usually fine due to its slow response.

Note
Be careful not to use too high refresh rate which may cause fatal hardware failure of your monitor system.

7.4.2. The connection methods to the X server

There are several ways of getting the "X server" (display side) to accept connections from an "X client" (application side). Table 7.3. List of connection methods to the X server method xhost command xauth command ssh -X command GNOME display manager package xbaseclients * xbaseclients * opensshclient * gdm * popcon size V:3, I:47 V:3, I:47 132 132 user encryption pertinent use deprecated local connection via pipe remote network connection

unchecked no checked checked no yes

V:52, I:99 2104

V:22, I:33 16548 checked V:8, I:11 V:0.7, I:1.8 5510 780 checked checked checked checked

no(XDMCP) local connection via pipe no(XDMCP) local connection via pipe no(XDMCP) local connection via pipe no(XDMCP) local connection via pipe yes remote SSH network connection (thin client)

KDE display manager kdm * X display manager WindowMaker display manager xdm * wdm *

V:24, I:84 1992 V:0.02, I:0.09 392

LTSP display manager ldm *

Warning
Do not use remote TCP/IP connection over unsecured network for X connection unless you have very good reason such as use of encryption. A remote TCP/IP socket connection without encryption is prone to the eavesdropping attack and is disabled by default on the Debian system. Use "ssh -X".

Warning
Do not use XDMCP connection over unsecured network either. It sends data via UDP/IP without encryption and is prone to the eavesdropping attack.

Tip
You can dare to enable remote TCP/IP connection by setting "DisallowTCP=false" in "/etc/gdm/gdm.conf" to override "/usr/share/gdm/defaults.conf" and by removing "nolisten" from lines found by "find /etc/X11 -type f -print0 | xargs -0 grep nolisten", if you are in the fully secured environment.

Tip
LTSP stands for Linux Terminal Server Project.

7.5. Starting the X Window System

The X Window System is usually started as an X session which is the combination of an X server and connecting X clients. For the normal desktop system, both of them are executed on a workstation. The X session is started by the following. startx command started from the command line One of the X display manager daemon programs *dm started from the end of the start up script in "/etc/rc?.d/" ("?" corresponding to the runlevel) directory

Tip
The start up script for the display manager daemons checks the content of the "/etc/X11/default-display-manager" file before actually executing themselves. This ensures to have only one X display manager daemon program activated.

Tip
See Section 8.3.5, Specific locale only under X Window for initial environment variables of the X display manager.

Essentially, all these programs execute the "/etc/X11/Xsession" script. Then the "/etc/X11/Xsession" script performs run-parts(8) like action to execute scripts in the "/etc/X11/Xsession.d/" directory. This is essentially an execution of a first program which is found in the following order with the exec builtin command. 1. The script specified as the argument of "/etc/X11/Xsession" by the X display manager, if it is defined. 2. The "~/.xsession" or "~/.Xsession" script, if it is defined. 3. The "/usr/bin/x-session-manager" command, if it is defined. 4. The "/usr/bin/x-window-manager" command, if it is defined. 5. The "/usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator" command, if it is defined. This process is affected by the content of "/etc/X11/Xsession.options". The exact programs to which these "/usr/bin/x-*" commands point, are determined by the Debian alternative system and changed by "update-alternatives --config x-session-manager", etc.

7.5.1. Starting X session with gdm

gdm(1) lets you select the session type (or desktop environment: Section 7.2, Setting up desktop environment), and language (or locale: Section 8.3, The locale) of the X session from its menu. It keeps the selected default value in "~/.dmrc" as the following. [Desktop] Session=default Language=ja_JP.UTF-8

7.5.2. Customizing the X session (classic method)

On a system where "/etc/X11/Xsession.options" contains a line "allow-user-xsession" without preceding "#" characters, any user who defines "~/.xsession" or "~/.Xsession" is able to customize the action of "/etc/X11/Xsession" by completely overriding the system code. The last command in the "~/.xsession" file should use form of "exec some-window/session-manager" to start your favorite X window/session managers.

7.5.3. Customizing the X session (new method)

Here are new methods to customize the X session without completely overriding the system code as above. The display manager gdm can select a specific session and set it as the argument of "/etc/X11/Xsession". The "~/.xsessionrc" file is executed as a part of start up process. (desktop independent) The "~/.gnomerc" file is executed as a part of start up process. (GNOME desktop only) The GUI program based session management software may use the "~/.gnome2/session" file etc.

7.5.4. Connecting a remote X client via SSH

The use of "ssh -X" enables a secure connection from a local X server to a remote application server. Set "X11Forwarding" entries to "yes" in "/etc/ssh/sshd_config" of the remote host, if you want to avoid "-X" command-line option. Start the X server on the local host. Open an xterm in the local host. Run ssh(1) to establish a connection with the remote site as the following. localname @ localhost $ ssh -q -X [email protected] Password: Run an X application command, e.g. "gimp", on the remote site as the following. loginname @ remotehost $ gimp & This method can display the output from a remote X client as if it were locally connected through a local UNIX domain socket.

7.5.5. Secure X terminal via the Internet

Secure X terminal via the Internet, which displays remotely run entire X desktop environment, can easily achieved by using specialized package such as ldm. Your local machine becomes a secure thin client to the remote application server connected via SSH. If you want to add similar feature to your normal display manager gdm, create executable shell script at "/usr/local/bin/ssh-session" as the following. #!/bin/sh -e # Based on gdm-ssh-session in gdm source (GPL) ZENITY=$(type -p zenity) TARGETHOST=$($ZENITY --width=600 \ --title "Host to connect to" --entry \ --text "Enter the name of the host you want to log in to as [email protected]:") TARGETSESSION=$($ZENITY --width=600 --height=400 \ --title "Remote session name" --list --radiolist --text "Select one" \ --column " " --column "Session" --column "description" --print-column 2 \ TRUE "/etc/X11/Xsession" "Debian" \ FALSE "/etc/X11/xinit/Xclients" "RH variants" \

FALSE "gnome-session" "GNOME session" \ FALSE "xterm" "Safe choice" \ FALSE "rxvt" "Safe choice" \ FALSE "gnome-terminal" "Safe choice") echo "Connecting to "$TARGETHOST" with $TARGETSESSION" /usr/bin/ssh -A -X -T -n "$TARGETHOST" "$TARGETSESSION" #SSH_ASKPASS=/usr/bin/ssh-askpass /usr/bin/ssh -A -X -T -n "$TARGETHOST" "$TARGETSESSION" Add followings to "/etc/dm/Sessions/ssh.desktop". [Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Name=SSH Comment=This session logs you into a remote host using ssh Exec=/usr/local/bin/ssh-session Type=Application

7.6. Fonts in the X Window

Fontconfig 2.0 was created to provide a distribution independent library for configuring and customizing font access in 2002. Debian after squeeze uses Fontconfig 2.0 for its font configuration. Font supports on X Window System can be summarized as follows. Legacy X server side font support system The original core X11 font system provides backward compatibility for older version of X client applications. The original core X11 fonts are installed on the X server. Modern X client side font support system Modern X system supports all fonts listed below (Section 7.6.1, Basic fonts, Section 7.6.2, Additional fonts, and Section 7.6.3, CJK fonts) with advanced features such as antialiasing. Xft 2.0 connects modern X applications such as ones from GNOME, KDE, and OpenOffice.org with FreeType 2.0 library. FreeType 2.0 provides font rasterization library. Fontconfig provides resolution of the font specification for Xft 2.0. See fonts.conf(5) for its configuration. All modern X applications using Xft 2.0 can talk to modern X server using the X Rendering Extension. The X Rendering Extension moves font access and glyph image generation from the X server to the X client. Table 7.4. Table of packages to support X Window font systems package xfonts-utils * libxft2 * libfreetype6 * fontconfig * fontconfigconfig * popcon size description V:23, I:71 V:44, I:74 V:58, I:87 V:21, I:73 I:81 516 X Window System font utility programs 148 Xft, a library that connects X applications with the FreeType font rasterization library

740 FreeType 2.0 font rasterization library 472 Fontconfig, a generic font configuration library support binaries 440 Fontconfig, a generic font configuration library configuration data

You can check font configuration information by the following. "xset q" for core X11 font path "fc-match" for fontconfig font default "fc-list" for available fontconfig fonts

Tip
"The Penguin and Unicode" is a good overview of modern X Window System. Other documentations at http://unifont.org/ should provide good information on Unicode fonts, Unicode-enabled software, internationalization, and Unicode usability issues on free/libre/open source (FLOSS) operating systems.

7.6.1. Basic fonts

There are 2 major types of computer fonts. Bitmap fonts (good for low resolution rasterization) Outline/stroke fonts (good for high resolution rasterization) While scaling of bitmap fonts causes jugged image, scaling of outline/stroke fonts produces smooth image. Bitmap fonts on the Debian system are usually provided by compressed X11 pcf bitmap font files having their file extension ".pcf.gz".

Outline fonts on the Debian system are provided by the following. PostScript Type 1 font files having their file extension ".pfb" (binary font file) and ".afm" (font metrics file). TrueType (or OpenType) font files usually having their file extension ".ttf".

Tip
OpenType is intended to supersede both TrueType and PostScript Type 1. Table 7.5. Table of corresponding PostScript Type 1 fonts font popcon size package PostScript N/A gsfonts * V:18, I:66 N/A 4632 sansserif font monospace source of font font Courier Adobe

serif font

Helvetica Times Nimbus Sans L Nimbus Sans L

Nimbus Nimbus Mono Roman No9 URW (Adobe compatible size) L L Nimbus Nimbus Mono X font support with PostScript Type 1 Roman No9 L fonts. L URW extended (Adobe compatible size) scalable PostScript and OpenType fonts based on Computer Modern (from TeX)

gsfontsx11 * t1-cyrillic *

I:30

116

I:1.9

5008

Free Free Times Free Courier Helvetian

lmodern * V:2, I:16 45644 LMSans* LMRoman* LMTypewriter*

Table 7.6. Table of corresponding TrueType fonts font package sansserif font Arial serif font Times New Roman monospace source of font font Microsoft (Adobe compatible size) (This installs non-free data) Liberation Fonts project (Microsoft compatible size) GNU freefont (Microsoft compatible size)

popcon size

ttfmscorefonts- I:11 installer * ttf-liberation I:43 * ttf-freefont * ttf-dejavu * ttf-dejavucore * ttf-dejavuextra * V:10, I:26 I:77

200

Courier New

1724 4204 68

Liberation Liberation Liberation Sans Serif Mono FreeSans FreeSerif FreeMono DejaVu Sans DejaVu Sans DejaVu Serif DejaVu Serif

DejaVu Sans DejaVu, Bitstream Vera with Unicode Mono coverage DejaVu, Bitstream Vera with Unicode DejaVu Sans coverage (sans, sans-bold, serif, serifMono bold, mono, mono-bold) N/A DejaVu, Bitstream Vera with Unicode coverage (oblique, italic, bold-oblique, bold-italic, condensed) GNU Unifont, with all printable character code in Unicode 5.1 Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP)

I:72

2592

I:69

5788

N/A

N/A

ttf-unifont *

I:4

16060 N/A

N/A

unifont

Tip
DejaVu fonts are based on and superset of Bitstream Vera fonts.

7.6.2. Additional fonts

aptitude(8) helps you find additional fonts easily. The short package list under "Tasks" "Localization" The filtered flat package list of font data with regex on debtag: "~Gmade-of::data:font" The filtered flat package list of the BDF (bitmap) font packages with regex on package name: "~nxfonts-" The filtered flat package list of the TrueType (outline) font packages with regex on package name: "~nttf-" Since Free fonts are sometimes limited, installing or sharing some commercial TrueType fonts is an option for a Debian users. In order to make this process easy for the user, some convenience packages have been created. ttf-mathematica4.1 ttf-mscorefonts-installer You'll have a really good selection of TrueType fonts at the expense of contaminating your Free system with non-Free fonts.

7.6.3. CJK fonts

Here are some key points focused on fonts of CJK characters.

Table 7.7. Table of key words used in CJK font names to indicate font types font type Japanese font name Chinese font name Korean font name sans-serif gothic, serif mincho, hei, gothic song, ming dodum, gulim, gothic batang

Font name such as "VL PGothic" with "P" is a proportional font which corresponds to the fixed width "VL Gothic" font. For example, Shift_JIS code table comprises 7070 characters. They can be grouped as the following. JIS X 0201 single-byte characters (191 characters, a.k.a. half-width characters) JIS X 0208 double-byte characters (6879 characters, a.k.a. full-width characters) Double-byte characters occupy double width on console terminals which uses CJK fixed width fonts. In order to cope with such situation, Hanzi Bitmap Font (HBF) File with file extension ".hbf" may be deployed for fonts containing single-byte and double-byte characters. In order to save space for TrueType font files, TrueType font collection file with file extension ".ttc" may be used. In order to cover complicated code space of characters, CID keyed PostScript Type 1 font is used with CMap files starting themselves with "%!PS-Adobe-3.0 Resource-CMap". This is rarely used for normal X display but used for PDF rendering etc. (see Section 7.7.2, X utility applications).

Tip
The multiple glyphs are expected for some Unicode code points due to Han unification. One of the most annoying ones are "U+3001 IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA" and "U+3002 IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP" whose character positions differ among CJK countries. Configuring priority of Japanese centric fonts over Chinese ones using "~/.fonts.conf" should give peace of minds to Japanese.

7.7. X applications
7.7.1. X office applications
Here is a list of basic office applications (OO is OpenOffice.org). Table 7.8. List of basic X office applications package openoffice.org-writer * openoffice.org-calc * openoffice.org-impress * openoffice.org-base * openoffice.org-draw * openoffice.org-math * abiword * gnumeric * gimp * inkscape * dia-gnome * planner * kword * kspread * kpresenter * kexi * karbon * krita * kchart * kformula * kplato * popcon V:21, I:41 V:21, I:40 V:18, I:40 V:16, I:39 V:18, I:40 V:17, I:40 V:6, I:10 V:5, I:11 V:12, I:44 V:15, I:32 V:1.4, I:2 V:0.4, I:4 package size 26892 20524 4208 10708 10720 2712 4776 7860 13560 87436 576 6704 type OO OO OO OO OO OO description word processor spreadsheet presentation database management vector graphics editor (draw) mathematical equation/formula editor

GNOME word processor GNOME spreadsheet GTK bitmap graphics editor (paint) GNOME vector graphics editor (draw) GNOME flowchart and diagram editor GNOME project management KDE KDE KDE KDE KDE KDE KDE KDE KDE word processor spreadsheet presentation database management vector graphics editor (draw) bitmap graphics editor (paint) graph and chart drawing program mathematical equation/formula editor project management

V:0.6, I:1.5 5334 V:0.6, I:1.6 8792 V:0.5, I:1.3 2877 V:0.2, I:1.6 7625 V:0.6, I:1.4 2403 V:0.6, I:1.6 11822 V:0.8, I:1.9 2503 V:0.4, I:1.3 2065 V:0.15, I:1.4 5978

7.7.2. X utility applications

Here is a list of basic utility applications which caught my eyes. Table 7.9. List of basic X utility applications package popcon package size type description

evince * okular * evolution * kontact * scribus * glabels * kbarcode * gnucash *

V:26, I:38 V:4, I:6 V:16, I:34 V:1.3, I:8 V:0.5, I:3 V:0.16, I:0.7 V:0.05, I:0.3 V:0.7, I:2

1116 3408 4724 1326 26888 1148 2180 5748 1092 144 748

GNOME document(pdf) viewer KDE GNOME KDE KDE document(pdf) viewer Personal information Management (groupware and email) Personal information Management (groupware and email) desktop page layout editor

GNOME label editor KDE barcode and label printing application

GNOME personal accounting GTK KDE GTK personal accounting personal accounting scanner frontend

V:0.09, homebank * I:0.4 kmymoney2 * xsane * V:0.06, I:0.5 V:5, I:36

Caution
The poppler-data package (previously non-free, see Section 11.3.1, Ghostscript) needs to be installed for evince and okular to display CJK PDF documents using Cmap data (Section 7.6.3, CJK fonts).

Note
Installing softwares such as scribus (KDE) on GNOME desktop environment are quite acceptable since corresponding functionality is not available under GNOME desktop environment. But installing too many packages with duplicated functionalities clutter your menu.

7.8. The X trivia

7.8.1. Keymaps and pointer button mappings in X
xmodmap(1) is a utility for modifying keymaps and pointer button mappings in the X Window System. To get the keycode, run xev(1) in the X and press keys. To get the meaning of keysym, look into the MACRO definition in "/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h" file (x11proto-core-dev package). All "#define" statements in this file are named as "XK_" prepended to keysym names.

7.8.2. Classic X clients

Most traditional X client programs, such as xterm(1), can be started with a set of standard command line options to specify geometry, font, and display. They also use the X resource database to configure their appearance. The system-wide defaults of X resources are stored in "/etc/X11/Xresources/*" and application defaults of them are stored in "/etc/X11/app-defaults/*". Use these settings as the starting points. The "~/.Xresources" file is used to store user resource specifications. This file is automatically merged into the default X resources upon login. To make changes to these settings and make them effective immediately, merge them into the database using the following command. $ xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources See x(7) and xrdb(1).

7.8.3. The X terminal emulator xterm

Learn everything about xterm(1) at http://dickey.his.com/xterm/xterm.faq.html.

7.8.4. Running X clients as root Warning

Never start the X display/session manager under the root account by typing in root to the prompt of the display manager such as gdm because it is considered unsafe (insecure), even when you plan to perform administrative activities. The entire X architecture is considered insecure if run as root. You must always use the lowest privilege level possible, like a regular user account. Easy ways to run a particular X client, e.g. "foo" as root is to use sudo(8) etc. as the following. $ sudo foo & $ sudo -s # foo & $ gksu foo & $ ssh -X root@localhost # foo &

Caution
Use of ssh(1) just for this purpose as above is waste of resource. In order for the X client to connect to the X server, please note the following. Values of the old user's "$XAUTHORITY" and "$DISPLAY" environment variables must be copied to the new user's ones. The file pointed by value of the "$XAUTHORITY" environment variable must be readable by the new user. The gksu package (popcon: V:23, I:46) is a specialized GTK+ GUI package for gaining the root privileges. It can be configured to use su(1) or sudo(8) as its backend depending on the "/apps/gksu/sudo-mode" gconf key. You can edit gconf key using gconf-editor(1) (menu: "Applications" "System Tools" "Configuration Editor").

Chapter 8. I18N and L10N

Multilingualization (M17N) or Native Language Support for an application software is done in 2 steps. Internationalization (I18N): To make a software potentially handle multiple locales. Localization (L10N): To make a software handle an specific locale.

Tip
There are 17, 18, or 10 letters between "m" and "n", "i" and "n", or "l" and "n" in multilingualization, internationalization, and localization which correspond to M17N, I18N, and L10N. The modern software such as GNOME and KDE are multilingualized. They are internationalized by making them handle UTF-8 data and localized by providing their translated messages through the gettext(1) infrastructure. Translated messages may be provided as separate localization packages. They can be selected simply by setting pertinent environment variables to the appropriate locale. The simplest representation of the text data is ASCII which is sufficient for English and uses less than 127 characters (representable with 7 bits). In order to support much more characters for the international support, many character encoding systems have been invented. The modern and sensible encoding system is UTF-8 which can handle practically all the characters known to the human (see Section 8.3.1, Basics of encoding). See Introduction to i18n for details. The international hardware support is enabled with localized hardware configuration data.

8.1. The keyboard input

The Debian system can be configured to work with many international keyboard arrangements. Table 8.1. List of keyboard reconfiguration methods environment command Linux console dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low console-data X Window dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-xorg

This supports keyboard input for accented characters of many European languages with its dead-key function. For Asian languages, you need more complicated input method support such as IBus discussed next.

8.1.1. The input method support with IBus

Setup of multilingual input for the Debian system is simplified by using the IBus family of packages with the im-config package. The list of IBus packages are the following. Table 8.2. List of input method supports with IBus package ibus * ibus-anthy * ibus-skk * ibus-pinyin * ibus-chewing * ibus-hangul * ibus-table * ibus-unikey * ibus-m17n * popcon V:0.2, I:0.2 size 4220 supported locale input method framework using dbus Japanese ,, Chinese (for zh_CN) , , (for zh_TW) Korean table engine for IBus Vietnamese Multilingual: Indic, Arabic and others

V:0.04, I:0.10 684 V:0.00, I:0.03 404 V:0.06, I:0.09 1184 V:0.01, I:0.02 252 V:0.01, I:0.03 216 V:0.05, I:0.10 680 V:0.00, I:0.00 316 V:0.02, I:0.05 180

ibus-table-thai * I:0.00

156 160 Thai

The kinput2 method and other locale dependent Asian classic input methods still exist but are not recommended for the modern UTF-8 X environment. The SCIM and uim tool chains are an slightly older

recommended for the modern UTF-8 X environment. The SCIM and uim tool chains are an slightly older approach for the international input method for the modern UTF-8 X environment.

8.1.2. An example for Japanese

I find the Japanese input method started under English environment ("en_US.UTF-8") very useful. Here is how I did this with IBus. 1. Install the Japanese input tool package ibus-anthy with its recommended packages such as imconfig. 2. Execute "im-config" from user's shell and select "ibus". 3. Select "System" "Preferences" "IBus Preferences" "Input Method" "Select an input method" "Japanese" "Anthy" and click "Add". 4. Relogin to user's account. 5. Verify setting by "im-config". 6. Setup input method and mode by right clicking GUI toolbar. (You can reduce menu choice of input method.) 7. Start IBus input method by CTRL-SPACE. Please note the following. im-config(8) behaves differently if command is executed from root or not. im-config(8) enables the best input method on the system as default without any user actions. The GUI menu entry for im-config(8) is disable as default to prevent cluttering.

8.1.3. Disabling the input method

If you wish to input without going through XIM, set "$XMODIFIERS" value to "none" while starting a program. This may be the case if you use Japanese input infrastructure egg on emacs(1). From shell, execute as the following. $ XMODIFIERS=none emacs In order to adjust the command executed by the Debian menu, place customized configuration in "/etc/menu/" following method described in "/usr/share/doc/menu/html".

8.2. The display output

Linux console can only display limited characters. (You need to use special terminal program such as jfbterm(1) to display non-European languages on the non-X console.) X Window can display any characters in the UTF-8 as long as required font data exists. (The encoding of the original font data is taken care by the X Window System and transparent to the user.)

8.3. The locale

The following focuses on the locale for applications run under X Window environment started from gdm(1).

8.3.1. Basics of encoding

The environment variable "LANG=xx_YY.ZZZZ" sets the locale to language code "xx", country code "yy", and encoding "ZZZZ" (see Section 1.5.2, "$LANG" variable). Current Debian system normally sets the locale as "LANG=xx_YY.UTF-8". This uses the UTF-8 encoding with the Unicode character set. This UTF-8 encoding system is a multibyte code system and uses code points smartly. The ASCII data, which consist only with 7-bit range codes, are always valid UTF-8 data consisting only with 1 byte per character. Previous Debian system used to set the locale as "LANG=C" or "LANG=xx_YY" (without ".UTF-8"). The ASCII character set is used for "LANG=C" or "LANG=POSIX". The traditional encoding system in Unix is used for "LANG=xx_YY". Actual traditional encoding system used for "LANG=xx_YY" can be identified by checking "/usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED". For example, "en_US" uses "ISO-8859-1" encoding and "fr_FR@euro" uses "ISO-8859-15" encoding.

Tip
For meaning of encoding values, see Table 11.2, List of encoding values and their usage.

8.3.2. Rationale for UTF-8 locale

The UTF-8 encoding is the modern and sensible text encoding system for I18N and enables to represent Unicode characters, i.e., practically all characters known to human. UTF stands for Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) schemes. I recommend to use UTF-8 locale for your desktop, e.g., "LANG=en_US.UTF-8". The first part of the locale determines messages presented by applications. For example, gedit(1) (text editor for the GNOME Desktop) under "LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8" locale can display and edit Chinese character text data while presenting menus in French, as long as required fonts and input methods are installed. I also recommend to set the locale only using the "$LANG" environment variable. I do not see much benefit of setting a complicated combination of "LC_*" variables (see locale(1)) under UTF-8 locale. Even plain English text may contain non-ASCII characters, e.g. left and right quotation marks are not available in ASCII.

double quoted text single quoted text When ASCII plain text data is converted to UTF-8 one, it has exactly the same content and size as the original ASCII one. So you loose nothing by deploying UTF-8 locale. Some programs consume more memory after supporting I18N. This is because they are coded to use UTF32(UCS4) internally to support Unicode for speed optimization and consume 4 bytes per each ASCII character data independent of locale selected. Again, you loose nothing by deploying UTF-8 locale. The vendor specific old non-UTF-8 encoding systems tend to have minor but annoying differences on some characters such as graphic ones for many countries. The deployment of the UTF-8 system by the modern OSs practically solved these conflicting encoding issues.

8.3.3. The reconfiguration of the locale

In order for the system to access a particular locale, the locale data must be compiled from the locale database. (The Debian system does not come with all available locales pre-compiled unless you installed the locales-all package.) The full list of supported locales available for compiling are listed in "/usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED". This lists all the proper locale names. The following lists all the available UTF-8 locales already compiled to the binary form. $ locale -a | grep utf8 The following command execution reconfigures the locales package. # dpkg-reconfigure locales This process involves 3 steps. 1. Update the list of available locales 2. Compile them into the binary form 3. Set the system wide default locale value in the "/etc/defaults/locale" for use by PAM (see Section 4.5, PAM and NSS) The list of available locale should include "en_US.UTF-8" and all the interesting languages with "UTF-8". The recommended default locale is "en_US.UTF-8" for US English. For other languages, please make sure to chose locale with "UTF-8". Any one of these settings can handle any international characters.

Note
Although setting locale to "C" uses US English message, it handles only ASCII characters.

8.3.4. The value of the "$LANG" environment variable

The value of the "$LANG" environment variable is set and changed by many applications. Set initially by the PAM mechanism of login(1) for the local Linux console programs Set initially by the PAM mechanism of the display manager for all X programs Set initially by the PAM mechanism of ssh(1) for the remote console programs Changed by some display manager such as gdm(1) for all X programs Changed by the X session startup code via "~/.xsessionrc" for all X programs (lenny feature) Changed by the shell startup code, e.g. "~/.bashrc", for all console programs

Tip
It is good idea to install system wide default locale as "en_US.UTF-8" for maximum compatibility.

8.3.5. Specific locale only under X Window

You can chose specific locale only under X Window irrespective of your system wide default locale using PAM customization (see Section 4.5, PAM and NSS) as follows. This environment should provide you with your best desktop experience with stability. You have access to the functioning character terminal with readable messages even when the X Window System is not working. This becomes essential for languages which use non-roman characters such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Note
There may be another way available as the improvement of X session manager package but please read following as the generic and basic method of setting the locale. For gdm(1), I know you can select the locale of X session via its memu. The following line defines file location of the language environment in the PAM configuration file, such as "/etc/pam.d/gdm. auth required pam_env.so read_env=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale

Change this to the following. auth required pam_env.so read_env=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale-x

For Japanese, create a "/etc/defaults/locale-gdm" file with "-rw-r--r-- 1 root root" permission containing the following. LANG="ja_JP.UTF-8"

Keep the default "/etc/defaults/locale" file for other programs as the the following. LANG="en_US.UTF-8" This is the most generic technique to customize locale and makes the menu selection dialog of gdm(1) itself to be localized. Alternatively for this case, you may simply change locale using the "~/.xsessionrc" file.

8.3.6. Filename encoding

For cross platform data exchanges (see Section 10.1.10, Removable storage device), you may need to mount some filesystem with particular encodings. For example, mount(8) for vfat filesystem assumes CP437 if used without option. You need to provide explicit mount option to use UTF-8 or CP932 for filenames.

Note
When auto-mounting a hot-pluggable USB memory stick under modern desktop environment such as GNOME, you may provide such mount option by right clicking the icon on the desktop, click "Drive" tab, click to expand "Setting", and entering "utf8" to "Mount options:". The next time this memory stick is mounted, mount with UTF-8 is enabled.

Note
If you are upgrading system or moving disk drives from older non-UTF-8 system, file names with non-ASCII characters may be encoded in the historic and deprecated encodings such as ISO-8859-1 or eucJP. Please seek help of text conversion tools to convert them to UTF-8. See Section 11.1, Text data conversion tools. Samba uses Unicode for newer clients (Windows NT, 200x, XP) but uses CP850 for older clients (DOS and Windows 9x/Me) as default. This default for older clients can be changed using "dos charset" in the "/etc/samba/smb.conf" file, e.g., to CP932 for Japanese.

8.3.7. Localized messages and translated documentation

Translations exist for many of the text messages and documents that are displayed in the Debian system, such as error messages, standard program output, menus, and manual pages. GNU gettext(1) command tool chain is used as the backend tool for most translation activities. aptitude(8) lists under "Tasks" "Localization" provide extensive list of useful binary packages which add localized messages to applications and provide translated documentation. For example, you can obtain the localized message for manpage by installing the manpages-<LANG> package. To read the Italian-language manpage for <programname> from "/usr/share/man/it/", execute as the following. LANG=it_IT.UTF-8 man <programname>

8.3.8. Effects of the locale

The sort order of characters with sort(1) is affected by the language choice of the locale. Spanish and English locale sort differently. The date format of ls(1) is affected by the locale. The date format of "LANG=C ls -l" and "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" are different (see Section 9.2.5, Customized display of time and date). Number punctuation are different for locales. For example, in English locale, one thousand one point one is displayed as "1,000.1" while in German locale, it is displayed as "1.000,1". You may see this difference in spreadsheet program.

Chapter 9. System tips

Here, I describe basic tips to configure and manage systems, mostly from the console.

9.1. The screen program

screen(1) is a very useful tool for people to access remote sites via unreliable or intermittent connections since it support interrupted network connections. Table 9.1. List of programs to support interrupted network connections package popcon size description screen * V:11, I:34 952 terminal multiplexer with VT100/ANSI terminal emulation

9.1.1. The use scenario for screen(1)

screen(1) not only allows one terminal window to work with multiple processes, but also allows remote shell process to survive interrupted connections. Here is a typical use scenario of screen(1). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. You login to a remote machine. You start screen on a single console. You execute multiple programs in screen windows created with ^A c ("Control-A" followed by "c"). You switch among the multiple screen windows by ^A n ("Control-A" followed by "n"). Suddenly you need to leave your terminal, but you don't want to lose your active work by keeping the

connection. 6. You may detach the screen session by any methods. Brutally unplug your network connection Type ^A d ("Control-A" followed by "d") and manually logging out from the remote connection Type ^A DD ("Control-A" followed by "DD") to have screen detach and log you out 7. You log in again to the same remote machine (even from a different terminal). 8. You start screen as "screen -r". 9. screen magically reattaches all previous screen windows with all actively running programs.

Tip
You can save connection fees with screen for metered network connections such as dial-up and packet ones, because you can leave a process active while disconnected, and then reattach it later when you connect again.

9.1.2. Key bindings for the screen command

In a screen session, all keyboard inputs are sent to your current window except for the command keystroke. All screen command keystrokes are entered by typing ^A ("Control-A") plus a single key [plus any parameters]. Here are important ones to remember. Table 9.2. List of key bindings for screen key binding meaning ^A ? ^A c ^A n ^A p ^A 0 ^A 1 ^A w ^A a ^A h ^A H ^A ^X ^A d ^A DD show a help screen (display key bindings) create a new window and switch to it go to next window go to previous window go to window number 0 go to window number 1 show a list of windows send a Ctrl-A to current window as keyboard input write a hardcopy of current window to file begin/end logging current window to file lock the terminal (password protected) detach screen session from the terminal detach screen session and log out

See screen(1) for details.

9.2. Data recording and presentation

9.2.1. The log daemon
Many programs record their activities under the "/var/log/" directory. The kernel log daemon: klogd(8) The system log daemon: syslogd(8) See Section 3.5.9, The system message and Section 3.5.10, The kernel message.

9.2.2. Log analyzer

Here are notable log analyzers ("~Gsecurity::log-analyzer" in aptitude(8)). Table 9.3. List of system log analyzers package logwatch * fail2ban * analog * awstats * sarg * pflogsumm * lire * fwlogwatch * squidview * visitors * swatch * crm114 * icmpinfo * popcon V:3, I:3 V:4, I:5 V:1.0, I:16 V:1.8, I:3 V:1.9, I:2 V:0.3, I:0.7 size description 2592 log analyzer with nice output written in Perl 660 ban IPs that cause multiple authentication errors 4520 web server log analyzer 5200 powerful and featureful web server log analyzer 644 160 84 440 244 228 112 84 squid analysis report generator Postfix log entry summarizer summarize the contents of a syslog log file firewall log analyzer monitor and analyze squid access.log files fast web server log analyzer log file viewer with regexp matching, highlighting, and hooks interpret ICMP messages

syslog-summary * V:0.2, I:0.9 V:0.10, I:0.2 V:0.11, I:0.6 V:0.09, I:0.3 V:0.06, I:0.2 V:0.04, I:0.2

V:0.15, I:0.17 5304 full-featured log analyzer and report generator

V:0.06, I:0.18 1300 Controllable Regex Mutilator and Spam Filter (CRM114)

Note
CRM114 provides language infrastructure to write fuzzy filters with the TRE regex library. Its popular use is spam mail filter but it can be used as log analyzer.

9.2.3. Recording the shell activities cleanly

The simple use of script(1) (see Section 1.4.9, Recording the shell activities) to record shell activity produces a file with control characters. This can be avoided by using col(1) as the following. $ script Script started, file is typescript Do whatever and press Ctrl-D to exit script. $ col -bx <typescript >cleanedfile $ vim cleanedfile If you don't have script (for example, during the boot process in the initramfs), you can use following instead. $ sh -i 2>&1 | tee typescript

Tip
Some x-terminal-emulator such as gnome-terminal can record. You may wish to extend line buffer for scrollback.

Tip
You may use screen(1) with "^A H" (see Section 9.1.2, Key bindings for the screen command) to perform recording of console.

Tip
You may use emacs(1) with "M-x shell", "M-x eshell", or "M-x term" to perform recording of console. You may later use "C-x C-w" to write the buffer to a file.

9.2.4. Customized display of text data

Although pager tools such as more(1) and less(1) (see Section 1.4.5, The pager) and custom tools for highlighting and formatting (see Section 11.1.8, Highlighting and formatting plain text data) can display text data nicely, general purpose editors (see Section 1.4.6, The text editor) are most versatile and customizable.

Tip
For vim(1) and its pager mode alias view(1), ":set hls" enables highlighted search.

9.2.5. Customized display of time and date

The default display format of time and date by the "ls -l" command depends on the locale (see Section 1.2.6, Timestamps for value). The "$LANG" variable is referred first and it can be overridden by the "$LC_TIME" variable. The actual default display format for each locale depends on the version of the standard C library (the libc6 package) used. I.e., different releases of Debian had different defaults. If you really wish to customize this display format of time and date beyond the locale, you should set the time style value by the "--time-style" argument or by the "$TIME_STYLE" value (see ls(1), date(1), "info coreutils 'ls invocation'"). Table 9.4. Display examples of time and date for the "ls -l" command for lenny time style value locale iso long-iso full-iso locale locale locale any any any C en_US.UTF-8 es_ES.UTF-8 display of time and date 01-19 00:15 2009-01-19 00:15 2009-01-19 00:15:16.000000000 +0900 Jan 19 00:15 2009-01-19 00:15 ene 19 00:15 19.01.09 00:15 19.ene.09 00:15

+%d.%m.%y %H:%M any +%d.%b.%y %H:%M es_ES.UTF-8

+%d.%b.%y %H:%M C or en_US.UTF-8 19.Jan.09 00:15

Tip
You can eliminate typing long option on commandline using command alias, e.g. "alias ls='ls --time-style=+%d.%m.%y\ %H:%M'" (see Section 1.5.9, Command alias).

Tip

ISO 8601 is followed for these iso-formats.

9.2.6. Colorized shell echo

Shell echo to most modern terminals can be colorized using ANSI escape code (see "/usr/share/doc/xterm/ctlseqs.txt.gz"). For example, try the following $ $ $ $ RED=$(printf "\x1b[31m") NORMAL=$(printf "\x1b[0m") REVERSE=$(printf "\x1b[7m") echo "${RED}RED-TEXT${NORMAL} ${REVERSE}REVERSE-TEXT${NORMAL}"

9.2.7. Colorized commands

Colorized commands are handy for inspecting their output in the interactive environment. I include the following in my "~/.bashrc". if [ "$TERM" != "dumb" ]; then eval "`dircolors -b`" alias ls='ls --color=always' alias ll='ls --color=always -l' alias la='ls --color=always -A' alias less='less -R' alias ls='ls --color=always' alias grep='grep --color=always' alias egrep='egrep --color=always' alias fgrep='fgrep --color=always' alias zgrep='zgrep --color=always' else alias ll='ls -l' alias la='ls -A' fi The use of alias limits color effects to the interactive command usage. It has advantage over exporting environment variable "export GREP_OPTIONS='--color=auto'" since color can be seen under pager programs such as less(1). If you wish to suppress color when piping to other programs, use "-color=auto" instead in the above example for "~/.bashrc".

Tip
You can turn off these colorizing aliases in the interactive environment by invoking shell with "TERM=dumb bash".

9.2.8. Recording the editor activities for complex repeats

You can record the editor activities for complex repeats. For Vim, as follows. "qa": start recording typed characters into named register "a". editor activities "q": end recording typed characters. "@a": execute the contents of register "a". For Emacs, as follows. "C-x (": start defining a keyboard macro. editor activities "C-x )": end defining a keyboard macro. "C-x e": execute a keyboard macro.

9.2.9. Recording the graphic image of an X application

There are few ways to record the graphic image of an X application, including an xterm display. Table 9.5. List of graphic image manipulation tools package popcon size 132 268 command xwd(1) import(1) scrot(1)

xbase-clients * V:3, I:47 gimp * imagemagick * scrot * V:12, I:44 V:13, I:35

13560 GUI menu

V:0.3, I:1.4 80

9.2.10. Recording changes in configuration files

There are specialized tools to record changes in configuration files with help of DVCS system. Table 9.6. List of packages to record configuration history in VCS package popcon size description store configuration files and their metadata with Git (default), Mercurial,

etckeeper * V:1.0, I:1.5 376

etckeeper * V:1.0, I:1.5 376 changetrack V:0.07, * I:0.09

or Bazaar (new)

152 store configuration files with RCS (old)

I recommend to use the etckeeper package with git(1) which put entire "/etc" under VCS control. Its installation guide and tutorial are found in "/usr/share/doc/etckeeper/README.gz". Essentially, running "sudo etckeeper init" initializes the git repository for "/etc" just like the process explained in Section 10.9.5, Git for recording configuration history but with special hook scripts for more thorough setups. As you change your configuration, you can use git(1) normally to record them. It automatically records changes nicely every time you run package management commands, too.

Tip
You can browse the change history of "/etc" by executing "sudo GIT_DIR=/etc/.git gitk" with clear view for new installed packages, removed packages, and version changes of packages.

9.3. Data storage tips

Booting your system with Linux live CDs or debian-installer CDs in rescue mode make it easy for you to reconfigure data storage on your boot device. See also Section 10.3, The binary data.

9.3.1. Disk partition configuration

For disk partition configuration, although fdisk(8) has been considered standard, parted(8) deserves some attention. "Disk partitioning data", "partition table", "partition map", and "disk label" are all synonyms. Most PCs use the classic Master Boot Record (MBR) scheme to hold disk partitioning data in the first sector, i.e., LBA sector 0 (512 bytes).

Note
Some new PCs with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), including Intel-based Macs, use GUID Partition Table (GPT) scheme to hold disk partitioning data not in the first sector. Although fdisk(8) has been standard for the disk partitioning tool, parted(8) is replacing it. Table 9.7. List of disk partition management packages package utillinux * parted * gparted * qtparted * gptsync * kpartx * popcon V:91, I:99 V:1.0, I:9 V:3, I:31 V:0.10, I:0.9 V:0.01, I:0.18 size 2216 236 4548 GPT Not supported Supported Supported description miscellaneous system utilities including fdisk(8) and cfdisk(8) GNU Parted disk partition resizing program GNOME partition editor based on libparted KDE partition editor based on libparted synchronize classic MBR partition table with the GPT one program to create device mappings for partitions

NOT_FOUND Supported 72 Supported Supported

V:1.0, I:1.8 132

Caution
Although parted(8) claims to create and to resize filesystem too, it is safer to do such things using best maintained specialized tools such as mkfs(8) (mkfs.msdos(8), mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.ext3(8), ) and resize2fs(8).

Note
In order to switch between GPT and MBR, you need to erase first few blocks of disk contents directly (see Section 10.3.6, Clearing file contents) and use "parted /dev/sdx mklabel gpt" or "parted /dev/sdx mklabel msdos" to set it. Please note "msdos" is use here for MBR.

9.3.2. Accessing partition using UUID

Although reconfiguration of your partition or activation order of removable storage media may yield different names for partitions, you can access them consistently. This is also helpful if you have multiple disks and your BIOS doesn't give them consistent device names. mount(8) with "-U" option can mount a block device using UUID, instead of using its file name such as "/dev/sda3". "/etc/fstab" (see fstab(5)) can use UUID. Boot loaders (Section 3.3, Stage 2: the boot loader) may use UUID too.

Tip
You can probe UUID of a block special device with blkid(8).

Tip
Device nodes of devices such as removable storage media can be made static by using udev rules, if needed. See Section 3.5.11, The udev system.

9.3.3. Filesystem configuration

For ext3 filesystem, the e2fsprogs package provides the following. mkfs.ext3(8) to create new ext3 filesystem fsck.ext3(8) to check and to repair existing ext3 filesystem tune2fs(8) to configure superblock of ext3 filesystem The mkfs(8) and fsck(8) commands are provided by the e2fsprogs package as front-ends to various filesystem dependent programs (mkfs.fstype and fsck.fstype). For ext3 filesystem, they are mkfs.ext3(8) and fsck.ext3(8) (they are hardlinked to mke2fs(8) and e2fsck(8)). Similar commands are available for each filesystem supported by Linux. Table 9.8. List of filesystem management packages package e2fsprogs * dosfstools * xfsprogs * ntfsprogs * jfsutils * reiser4progs * hfsprogs * btrfs-tools * zerofree * popcon V:60, I:99 V:3, I:31 V:2, I:10 V:3, I:20 V:0.5, I:2 size description 1924 utilities for the ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystems 1200 utilities for the Reiserfs filesystem 192 676 utilities for the FAT filesystem. (Microsoft: MS-DOS, Windows) utilities for the NTFS filesystem. (Microsoft: Windows NT, ) 3272 utilities for the XFS filesystem. (SGI: IRIX) 1112 utilities for the JFS filesystem. (IBM: AIX, OS/2) utilities for HFS and HFS Plus filesystem. (Apple: Mac OS) program to zero free blocks from ext2/3 filesystems

reiserfsprogs * V:2, I:8

V:0.09, I:0.7 1264 utilities for the Reiser4 filesystem V:0.06, I:0.8 316 V:0.3, I:0.6 V:0.10, I:0.7 56 1288 utilities for the btrfs filesystem

Tip
Ext3 filesystem is the default filesystem for the Linux system and strongly recommended to use it unless you have some specific reasons not to. After Linux kernel 2.6.30 (Debian squeeze), ext4 filesystem is available and expected to be the default filesystem for the Linux system. btrfs filesystem is expected to be the next default filesystem after ext4 filesystem for the Linux system.

Warning
You might face some limitations with ext4 since it is new. For example, you must have Linux kernel 2.6.30 or later if you wish to resize an ext4 partition.

Tip
Some tools allow access to filesystem without Linux kernel support (see Section 10.3.2, Manipulating files without mounting disk).

9.3.4. Filesystem creation and integrity check

The mkfs(8) command creates the filesystem on a Linux system. The fsck(8) command provides the filesystem integrity check and repair on a Linux system.

Caution
It is generally not safe to run fsck on mounted filesystems.

Tip
Check files in "/var/log/fsck/" for the result of the fsck(8) command run from the boot script.

Tip
Use "shutdown -F -r now" to force to run the fsck(8) command safely on all filesystems including root filesystem on reboot. See the shutdown(8) manpage for more.

9.3.5. Optimization of filesystem by mount options

Performance and characteristics of a filesystem can be optimized by mount options used on it (see fstab(5) and mount(8)). Notable ones are the following. "defaults" option implies default options: "rw,suid,dev,exec,auto,nouser,async". (general) "noatime" or "relatime" option is very effective for speeding up the read access. (general) "user" option allows an ordinary user to mount the filesystem. This option implies "noexec,nosuid,nodev" option combination. (general, used for CD and floppy) "noexec,nodev,nosuid" option combination is used to enhance security. (general) "noauto" option limits mounting by explicit operation only. (general) "data=journal" option for ext3fs can enhance data integrity against power failure with some loss of

write speed.

Tip
You need to provide kernel boot parameter (see Section 3.3, Stage 2: the boot loader), e.g. "rootflags=data=journal" to deploy a non-default journaling mode for the root filesystem. For lenny, the default jounaling mode is "rootflags=data=ordered". For squeeze, it is "rootflags=data=writeback".

9.3.6. Optimization of filesystem via superblock

Characteristics of a filesystem can be optimized via its superblock using the tune2fs(8) command. Execution of "sudo tune2fs -l /dev/hda1" displays the contents of the filesystem superblock on "/dev/hda1". Execution of "sudo tune2fs -c 50 /dev/hda1" changes frequency of filesystem checks (fsck execution during boot-up) to every 50 boots on "/dev/hda1". Execution of "sudo tune2fs -j /dev/hda1" adds journaling capability to the filesystem, i.e. filesystem conversion from ext2 to ext3 on "/dev/hda1". (Do this on the unmounted filesystem.) Execution of "sudo tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/hda1 && fsck -pf /dev/hda1" converts it from ext3 to ext4 on "/dev/hda1". (Do this on the unmounted filesystem.)

Warning
Filesystem conversion for the boot device to the ext4 filesystem should be avoided until GRUB boot loader supports the ext4 filesystem well and installed Linux Kernel version is newer than 2.6.30.

Tip
Despite its name, tune2fs(8) works not only on the ext2 filesystem but also on the ext3 and ext4 filesystems.

9.3.7. Optimization of hard disk Warning

Please check your hardware and read manpage of hdparam(8) before playing with hard disk configuration because this may be quite dangerous for the data integrity. You can test disk access speed of a hard disk, e.g. "/dev/hda", by "hdparm -tT /dev/hda". For some hard disk connected with (E)IDE, you can speed it up with "hdparm -q -c3 -d1 -u1 -m16 /dev/hda" by enabling the "(E)IDE 32-bit I/O support", enabling the "using_dma flag", setting "interrupt-unmask flag", and setting the "multiple 16 sector I/O" (dangerous!). You can test write cache feature of a hard disk, e.g. "/dev/sda", by "hdparm -W /dev/sda". You can disable its write cache feature with "hdparm -W 0 /dev/sda". You may be able to read badly pressed CDROMs on modern high speed CD-ROM drive by slowing it down with "setcd -x 2".

9.3.8. Using SMART to predict hard disk failure

You can monitor and log your hard disk which is compliant to SMART with the smartd(8) daemon. 1. Enable SMART feature in BIOS. 2. Install the smartmontools package. 3. Identify your hard disk drives by listing them with df(1). Let's assume a hard disk drive to be monitored as "/dev/hda". 4. Check the output of "smartctl -a /dev/hda" to see if SMART feature is actually enabled. If not, enable it by "smartctl -s on -a /dev/hda". 5. Enable smartd(8) daemon to run by the following. uncomment "start_smartd=yes" in the "/etc/default/smartmontools" file. restart the smartd(8) daemon by "sudo /etc/init.d/smartmontools restart".

Tip
The smartd(8) daemon can be customized with the /etc/smartd.conf file including how to be notified of warnings.

9.3.9. Expansion of usable storage space via LVM

For partitions created on Logical Volume Manager (LVM) (Linux feature) at install time, they can be resized easily by concatenating extents onto them or truncating extents from them over multiple storage devices without major system reconfiguration.

Caution
Deployment of the current LVM system may degrade guarantee against filesystem corruption offered by journaled filesystems such as ext3fs unless their system performance is sacrificed by disabling write cache of hard disk.

9.3.10. Expansion of usable storage space by mounting another partition

If you have an empty partition (e.g., "/dev/sdx"), you can format it with mkfs.ext3(1) and mount(8) it to a directory where you need more space. (You need to copy original data contents.) $ $ $ $ $ sudo sudo sudo sudo sudo mv work-dir old-dir mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdx mount -t ext3 /dev/sdx work-dir cp -a old-dir/* work-dir rm -rf old-dir

Tip
You may alternatively mount an empty disk image file (see Section 10.2.5, Making the empty disk image file) as a loop device (see Section 10.2.3, Mounting the disk image file). The actual disk usage grows with the actual data stored.

9.3.11. Expansion of usable storage space using symlink

If you have an empty directory (e.g., "/path/to/emp-dir") in another partition with usable space, you can create a symlink to the directory with ln(8). $ $ $ $ $ sudo sudo sudo sudo sudo mv work-dir old-dir mkdir -p /path/to/emp-dir ln -sf /path/to/emp-dir work-dir cp -a old-dir/* work-dir rm -rf old-dir

Caution
Some software may not function well with "symlink to a directory".

9.3.12. Expansion of usable storage space using aufs

If you have usable space in another partition (e.g., "/path/to/"), you can create a directory in it and stack that on to a directory where you need space with aufs. $ $ $ $ sudo sudo sudo sudo mv work-dir old-dir mkdir work-dir mkdir -p /path/to/emp-dir mount -t aufs -o br:/path/to/emp-dir:old-dir none work-dir

Caution
Use of aufs for long term data storage is not good idea since it is under development and its design change may introduce issues.

Tip
In order to use aufs, its utility package aufs-tools and kernel module package for aufs such as aufs-modules-2.6-amd64 need to be installed.

Tip
aufs is used to provide writable root filesystem by many modern live CD projects.

9.4. Data encryption tips

With physical access to your PC, anyone can easily gain root privilege and access all the files on your PC (see Section 4.7.4, Securing the root password). This means that login password system can not secure your private and sensitive data against possible theft of your PC. You must deploy data encryption technology to do it. Although GNU privacy guard (see Section 10.4, Data security infrastructure) can encrypt files, it takes some user efforts. dm-crypt and eCryptfs facilitates automatic data encryption natively via Linux kernel modules with minimal user efforts. Table 9.9. List of data encryption utilities package popcon size description 1172 utilities for encrypted block device (dm-crypt / LUKS) 360 416 utilities for encrypted block device (dm-crypt / LUKS) with focus on mount/unmount by normal users utilities for encrypted stacked filesystem (eCryptfs)

cryptsetup * V:3, I:5 cryptmount * ecryptfsutils * V:0.2, I:0.5 V:0.2, I:0.3

Dm-crypt is a cryptographic filesystem using device-mapper. Device-mapper maps one block device to another. eCryptfs is another cryptographic filesystem using stacked filesystem. Stacked filesystem stacks itself on top of an existing directory of a mounted filesystem.

Caution

Data encryption costs CPU time etc. Please weigh its benefits and costs.

Note
Entire Debian system can be installed on a encrypted disk by the debian-installer (lenny or newer) using dm-crypt/LUKS and initramfs.

Tip
See Section 10.4, Data security infrastructure for user space encryption utility: GNU Privacy Guard.

9.4.1. Removable disk encryption with dm-crypt/LUKS

You can encrypt contents of removable mass devices, e.g. USB memory stick on "/dev/sdx", using dmcrypt/LUKS. You simply formatting it as the following. # badblocks -c 10240 -s -w -t random -v /dev/sdx # shred -v -n 1 /dev/sdx # fdisk /dev/sdx ... "n" "p" "1" "return" "return" "w" # cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdx1 ... # cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdx1 sdx1 ... # ls -l /dev/mapper/ total 0 crw-rw---- 1 root root 10, 60 2008-10-04 18:44 control brw-rw---- 1 root disk 254, 0 2008-10-04 23:55 sdx1 # mkfs.vfat /dev/mapper/sdx1 ... # cryptsetup luksClose sdx1 Then, it can be mounted just like normal one on to "/media/<disk_label>", except for asking password (see Section 10.1.10, Removable storage device) under modern desktop environment, such as GNOME using gnome-mount(1). The difference is that every data written to it is encrypted. You may alternatively format media in different file format, e.g., ext3 with "mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdx1".

Note
If you are really paranoid for the security of data, you may need to overwrite multiple times in the above example. This operation is very time consuming though.

9.4.2. Encrypted swap partition with dm-crypt

Let's assume that your original "/etc/fstab" contains the following. /dev/sda7 swap sw 0 0 You can enable encrypted swap partition using dm-crypt by as the following. # # # # # aptitude install cryptsetup swapoff -a echo "cswap /dev/sda7 /dev/urandom swap" >> /etc/crypttab perl -i -p -e "s/\/dev\/sda7/\/dev\/mapper\/cswap/" /etc/fstab /etc/init.d/cryptdisks restart ... # swapon -a

9.4.3. Automatically encrypting files with eCryptfs

You can encrypt files written under "~/Private/" automatically using eCryptfs and the ecryptfs-utils package. Run ecryptfs-setup-private(1) and set up "~/Private/" by following prompts. Activate "~/Private/" by running ecryptfs-mount-private(1). Move sensitive data files to "~/Private/" and make symlinks as needed. Candidates: "~/.fetchmailrc", "~/.ssh/identity", "~/.ssh/id_rsa", "~/.ssh/id_dsa" and other files with "go-rwx" Move sensitive data directories to a subdirectory in "~/Private/" and make symlinks as needed. Candidates: "~/.gnupg" and other directories with "go-rwx" Create symlink from "~/Desktop/Private/" to "~/Private/" for easier desktop operations. Deactivate "~/Private/" by running ecryptfs-umount-private(1). Activate "~/Private/" by issuing "ecryptfs-mount-private" as you need encrypted data.

Tip
Since eCryptfs selectively encrypt only the sensitive files, its system cost is much less than using dm-crypt on the entire root or "/home" device. It does not require any special on-disk storage allocation effort but cannot keep all filesystem metadata confidential.

9.4.4. Automatically mounting eCryptfs

If you use your login password for wrapping encryption keys, you can automate mounting eCryptfs via PAM

(Pluggable Authentication Modules). Insert the following line just before "pam_permit.so" in "/etc/pam.d/common-auth". auth required pam_ecryptfs.so unwrap Insert the following line just at the last line in "/etc/pam.d/common-session". session optional pam_ecryptfs.so unwrap Insert the following line at first active line in "/etc/pam.d/common-password". password required pam_ecryptfs.so This is quite convenient.

Warning
Configuration errors of PAM may lock you out of your own system. See Chapter 4, Authentication.

Caution
If you use your login password for wrapping encryption keys, your encrypted data are as secure as your user login password (see Section 4.3, Good password). Unless you are careful to set up a strong password, your data is at risk when someone runs password cracking software after stealing your laptop (see Section 4.7.4, Securing the root password).

9.5. Monitoring, controlling, and starting program activities

Program activities can be monitored and controlled using specialized tools. Table 9.10. List of tools for monitoring and controlling program activities package popcon size description

coreutils V:92, I:99 * bsdutils * V:77, I:99 procps * psmisc * time * sysstat * isag * lsof * strace * ltrace * xtrace * V:86, I:99 V:47, I:88 V:6, I:84 V:4, I:9 V:16, I:90 V:5, I:39 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.02, I:0.18

13828 nice(1): run a program with modified scheduling priority 196 772 716 152 872 444 396 188 372 524 240 120 220 renice(1): modify the scheduling priority of a running process "/proc" filesystem utilities: ps(1), top(1), kill(1), watch(1), "/proc" filesystem utilities: killall(1), fuser(1), peekfd(1), pstree(1) time(1): run a program to report system resource usages with respect to time sar(1), iostat(1), mpstat(1), : system performance tools for Linux Interactive System Activity Grapher for sysstat lsof(8): list open files by a running process using "-p" option strace(1): trace system calls and signals ltrace(1): trace library calls xtrace(1): trace communication between X11 client and server powertop(1): information about system power use on Intel-based laptops run processes according to a schedule in background from cron(8) daemon cron-like command scheduler for systems that don't run 24 hours a day at(1) or batch(1): run a job at a specified time or below certain load level

V:0.07, I:0.4 152

powertop * V:0.7, I:12 cron * anacron * at * V:91, I:99 V:41, I:44 V:50, I:83

Tip
The procps packages provide very basics of monitoring, controlling, and starting program activities. You should learn all of them.

9.5.1. Timing a process

Display time used by the process invoked by the command. # time some_command >/dev/null real 0m0.035s # time on wall clock (elapsed real time) user 0m0.000s # time in user mode sys 0m0.020s # time in kernel mode

9.5.2. The scheduling priority

A nice value is used to control the scheduling priority for the process. Table 9.11. List of nice values for the scheduling priority

nice value scheduling priority 19 0 -20 lowest priority process (nice) very high priority process for user very high priority process for root (not-nice)

# nice -19 top # very nice # nice --20 wodim -v -eject speed=2 dev=0,0 disk.img # very fast Sometimes an extreme nice value does more harm than good to the system. Use this command carefully.

9.5.3. The ps command

The ps(1) command on the Debian support both BSD and SystemV features and helps to identify the process activity statically. Table 9.12. List of ps command styles style BSD typical command feature ps aux display %CPU %MEM display PPID

System V ps -efH

For the zombie (defunct) children process, you can kill them by the parent process ID identified in the "PPID" field. The pstree(1) command display a tree of processes.

9.5.4. The top command

top(1) on the Debian has rich features and helps to identify what process is acting funny dynamically. Table 9.13. List of commands for top command key description of response h or ? f o F k r q show help set/reset display field reorder display field set sort key field kill a process renice a process quit the top command

9.5.5. Listing files opened by a process

You can list all files opened by a process with a process ID (PID), e.g. 1, by the following. $ sudo lsof -p 1 PID=1 is usually init program.

9.5.6. Tracing program activities

You can trace program activity with strace(1), ltrace(1), or xtrace(1) for system calls and signals, library calls, or communication between X11 client and server. You can trace system calls of the ls command as the following. $ sudo strace ls

9.5.7. Identification of processes using files or sockets

You can also identify processes using files by fuser(1), e.g. for "/var/log/mail.log" by the following. $ sudo fuser -v /var/log/mail.log USER PID ACCESS COMMAND /var/log/mail.log: root 2946 F.... syslogd You see that file "/var/log/mail.log" is open for writing by the syslogd(8) command. You can also identify processes using sockets by fuser(1), e.g. for "smtp/tcp" by the following. $ sudo fuser -v smtp/tcp USER PID ACCESS COMMAND smtp/tcp: Debian-exim 3379 F.... exim4 Now you know your system runs exim4(8) to handle TCP connections to SMTP port (25).

9.5.8. Repeating a command with a constant interval

watch(1) executes a program repeatedly with a constant interval while showing its output in fullscreen.

$ watch w This displays who is logged on to the system updated every 2 seconds.

9.5.9. Repeating a command looping over files

There are several ways to repeat a command looping over files matching some condition, e.g. matching glob pattern "*.ext". Shell for-loop method (see Section 12.1.4, Shell loops): for x in *.ext; do if [ -f "$x"]; then command "$x" ; fi; done find(1) and xargs(1) combination: find . -type f -maxdepth 1 -name '*.ext' -print0 | xargs -0 -n 1 command find(1) with "-exec" option with a command: find . -type f -maxdepth 1 -name '*.ext' -exec command '{}' \; find(1) with "-exec" option with a short shell script: find . -type f -maxdepth 1 -name '*.ext' -exec sh -c "command '{}' && echo 'successful'" \; The above examples are written to ensure proper handling of funny file names such as ones containing spaces. See Section 10.1.5, Idioms for the selection of files for more advance uses of find(1).

9.5.10. Starting a program from GUI

You can set up to start a process from graphical user interface (GUI). Under GNOME desktop environment, a program can be started with proper argument by double-clicking the launcher icon, by drag-and-drop of a file icon to the launcher icon, or by "Open with " menu via right clicking a file icon. KDE can do the equivalent, too. Here is an example under GNOME to create a launcher icon for mc(1) started in gnome-terminal(1). Create an executable program "mc-term" by the following. # cat >/usr/local/bin/mc-term <<EOF #!/bin/sh gnome-terminal -e "mc \$1" EOF # chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/mc-term Create a desktop launcher as the following. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Right click desktop space to select "Create Launcher ". Set "Type" to "Application". Set "Name" to "mc". Set "Command" to "mc-term %f". Click "OK".

Create an open-with association as as the following. 1. Right click folder to select "Open with Other Application ". 2. Click open "Use a custom command" dialog and enter "mc-term %f". 3. Click "Open".

Tip
Launcher is a file at "~/Desktop" with ".desktop" as its extension.

9.5.11. Customizing program to be started

Some programs start another program automatically. Here are check points for customizing this process. Application configuration menu: GNOME desktop: "System" "Preferences" "Preferred Application" KDE desktop: "K" "Control Center" "KDE Components" "Component Chooser" Iceweasle browser: "Edit" "Preferences" "Applications" mc(1): "/etc/mc/mc.ext" Environment variables such as "$BROWSER", "$EDITOR", "$VISUAL", and "$PAGER" (see eviron(7)) The update-alternatives(8) system for programs such as "editor", "view", "x-www-browser", "gnome-www-browser", and "www-browser" (see Section 1.4.7, Setting a default text editor) the "~/.mailcap" and "/etc/mailcap" file contents which associate MIME type with program (see mailcap(5)) The "~/.mime.types" and "/etc/mime.types" file contents which associate file name extension with MIME type (see run-mailcap(1))

Tip
update-mime(8) updates the "/etc/mailcap" file using "/etc/mailcap.order" file (see mailcap.order(5)).

Tip
The debianutils package provides sensible-browser(1), sensible-editor(1), and

sensible-pager(1) which make sensible decisions on which editor, pager, and web browser to call, respectively. I recommend you to read these shell scripts.

Tip
In order to run a console application such as mutt under X as your preferred application, you should create an X application as following and set "/usr/local/bin/mutt-term" as your preferred application to be started as described. # cat /usr/local/bin/mutt-term <<EOF #!/bin/sh gnome-terminal -e "mutt \$@" EOF chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/mutt-term

9.5.12. Killing a process

Use kill(1) to kill (or send a signal to) a process by the process ID. Use killall(1) or pkill(1) to do the same by the process command name and other attributes. Table 9.14. List of frequently used signals for kill command signal value signal name function 1 15 9 HUP TERM KILL restart daemon normal kill kill hard

9.5.13. Scheduling tasks once

Run the at(1) command to schedule a one-time job by the following. $ echo 'command -args'| at 3:40 monday

9.5.14. Scheduling tasks regularly

Use cron(8) to schedule tasks regularly. See crontab(1) and crontab(5). If you are a member of crontab group, you can schedule to run processes as a normal user, e.g. foo by creating a crontab(5) file as "/var/spool/cron/crontabs/foo" with "crontab -e" command. Here is an example of a crontab(5) file. # use /bin/sh to run commands, no matter what /etc/passwd says SHELL=/bin/sh # mail any output to paul, no matter whose crontab this is MAILTO=paul # Min Hour DayOfMonth Month DayOfWeek command (Day... are OR'ed) # run at 00:05, every day 5 0 * * * $HOME/bin/daily.job >> $HOME/tmp/out 2>&1 # run at 14:15 on the first of every month -- output mailed to paul 15 14 1 * * $HOME/bin/monthly # run at 22:00 on weekdays(1-5), annoy Joe. % for newline, last % for cc: 0 22 * * 1-5 mail -s "It's 10pm" joe%Joe,%%Where are your kids?%.%% 23 */2 1 2 * echo "run 23 minutes after 0am, 2am, 4am ..., on Feb 1" 5 4 * * sun echo "run at 04:05 every Sunday" # run at 03:40 on the first Monday of each month 40 3 1-7 * * [ "$(date +%a)" == "Mon" ] && command -args

Tip
For the system not running continuously, install the anacron package to schedule periodic commands at the specified intervals as closely as machine-uptime permits. See anacron(8) and anacrontab(5).

Tip
For scheduled system maintenance scripts, you can run them periodically from root account by placing such scripts in "/etc/cron.hourly/", "/etc/cron.daily/", "/etc/cron.weekly/", or "/etc/cron.monthly/". Execution timings of these scripts can be customized by "/etc/crontab" and "/etc/anacrontab".

9.5.15. Alt-SysRq key

Insurance against system malfunction is provided by the kernel compile option "Magic SysRq key" (SAK key) which is now the default for the Debian kernel. Pressing Alt-SysRq followed by one of the following keys does the magic of rescuing control of the system. Table 9.15. List of SAK command keys key following Alt-SysRq description of action r 0 restore the keyboard from raw mode after X crashes change the console loglevel to 0 to reduce error messages

k e i s u b

kill all processes on the current virtual console send a SIGTERM to all processes, except for init(8) send a SIGKILL to all processes, except for init(8) sync all mounted filesystems remount all mounted filesystems read-only (umount) reboot the system without syncing or unmounting

The combination of "Alt-SysRq s", "Alt-SysRq u", and "Alt-SysRq r" is good for getting out of really bad situations. See "/usr/share/doc/linux-doc-2.6.*/Documentation/sysrq.txt.gz".

Caution
The Alt-SysRq feature may be considered a security risk by allowing users access to rootprivileged functions. Placing "echo 0 >/proc/sys/kernel/sysrq" in "/etc/rc.local" or "kernel.sysrq = 0" in "/etc/sysctl.conf" disables the Alt-SysRq feature.

Tip
From SSH terminal etc., you can use the Alt-SysRq feature by writing to the "/proc/sysrqtrigger". For example, "echo s > /proc/sysrq-trigger; echo u > /proc/sysrqtrigger" from the root shell prompt syncs and umounts all mounted filesystems.

9.6. System maintenance tips

9.6.1. Who is on the system?
You can check who is on the system by the following. who(1) shows who is logged on. w(1) shows who is logged on and what they are doing. last(1) shows listing of last logged in user. lastb(1) shows listing of last bad logged in users.

Tip
"/var/run/utmp", "/var/log/wtmp", and "/var/run/utmp" hold such user information. See login(1) and utmp(5).

9.6.2. Warning everyone

You can send message to everyone who is logged on to the system with wall(1) by the following. $ echo "We are shutting down in 1 hour" | wall

9.6.3. Hardware identification

For the PCI-like devices (AGP, PCI-Express, CardBus, ExpressCard, etc.), lspci(8) (probably with "-nn" option) is a good start for the hardware identification Alternatively, you can identify the hardware by reading contents of "/proc/bus/pci/devices" or browsing directory tree under "/sys/bus/pci" (see Section 1.2.12, procfs and sysfs). Table 9.16. List of hardware identification tools package pciutils * usbutils * scsitools * pnputils * procinfo * lshw * discover * popcon V:15, I:92 V:38, I:97 V:0.18, I:1.1 V:0.3, I:3 V:1.2, I:7 V:2, I:15 size description 908 Linux PCI Utilities: lspci(8) 604 Linux USB utilities: lsusb(8) 100 PCMCIA utilities for Linux 2.6: pccardctl(8) 484 collection of tools for SCSI hardware management: lsscsi(8) 164 system information obtained from "/proc": lsdev(8) 604 information about hardware configuration: lshw(1) 120 hardware identification system: discover(8)

pcmciautils * V:0.8, I:13

V:0.01, I:0.16 108 Plug and Play BIOS utilities: lspnp(8)

9.6.4. Hardware configuration

Although most of the hardware configuration on modern GUI desktop systems such as GNOME and KDE can be managed through accompanying GUI configuration tools, it is a good idea to know some basics methods to configure them. Table 9.17. List of hardware configuration tools package hal * popcon size description V:37, I:49 1668 Hardware Abstraction Layer: lshal(1) Linux console font and keytable utilities

console-tools V:47, I:84 956 *

x11-xserverutils * acpid * acpi * apmd * noflushd * sleepd * hdparm *

V:34, I:51 544 V:51, I:91 208 V:4, I:35 V:1.2, I:11 V:0.04, I:0.09 V:0.07, I:0.09 92 252 248 148

X server utilities: xset(1), xmodmap(1) daemon to manage events delivered by the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) utility to display information on ACPI devices daemon to manage events delivered by the Advanced Power Management (APM) daemon to allow idle hard disks to spin down daemon to put a laptop to sleep during inactivity hard disk access optimization (see Section 9.3.7, Optimization of hard disk)

V:11, I:38 304

smartmontools V:7, I:23 * setserial * memtest86+ * scsitools * tpconfig * setcd * big-cursor *

1076 control and monitor storage systems using S.M.A.R.T. collection of tools for serial port management collection of tools for memory hardware management collection of tools for SCSI hardware management utility to configure touchpad devices compact disc drive access optimization larger mouse cursors for X

V:1.5, I:3 180 V:0.5, I:5 652 V:0.18, I:1.1 V:0.3, I:0.5 V:0.06, I:0.3 I:0.16 484 220 28 68

Here, ACPI is a newer framework for the power management system than APM.

Tip
CPU frequency scaling on modern system is governed by kernel modules such as acpi_cpufreq.

9.6.5. System and hardware time

The following sets system and hardware time to MM/DD hh:mm, CCYY. # date MMDDhhmmCCYY # hwclock --utc --systohc # hwclock --show Times are normally displayed in the local time on the Debian system but the hardware and system time usually use UT(GMT). If the hardware (BIOS) time is set to UT, change the setting to "UTC=yes" in the "/etc/default/rcS". If you wish to update system time via network, consider to use the NTP service with the packages such as ntp, ntpdate, and chrony. See the following. Managing Accurate Date and Time HOWTO NTP Public Services Project The ntp-doc package

Tip
ntptrace(8) in the ntp package can trace a chain of NTP servers back to the primary source.

9.6.6. The terminal configuration

There are several components to configure character console and ncurses(3) system features. The "/etc/terminfo/*/*" file (terminfo(5)) The "$TERM" environment variable (term(7)) setterm(1), stty(1), tic(1), and toe(1) If the terminfo entry for xterm doesn't work with a non-Debian xterm, change your terminal type, "$TERM", from "xterm" to one of the feature-limited versions such as "xterm-r6" when you log in to a Debian system remotely. See "/usr/share/doc/libncurses5/FAQ" for more. "dumb" is the lowest common denominator for "$TERM".

9.6.7. The sound infrastructure

Device drivers for sound cards for current Linux 2.6 are provided by Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA). ALSA provides emulation mode for previous Open Sound System (OSS) for compatibility. Run "dpkg-reconfigure linux-sound-base" to select the sound system to use ALSA via blacklisting of kernel modules. Unless you have very new sound hardware, udev infrastructure should configure your sound system.

Tip
Use "cat /dev/urandom > /dev/audio" or speaker-test(1) to test speaker. (^C to stop)

Tip
If you can not get sound, your speaker may be connected to a muted output. Modern sound system has many outputs. alsamixer(1) in the alsa-utils package is useful to configure volume and mute settings. Application softwares may be configured not only to access sound devices directly but also to access them via some standardized sound server system. Table 9.18. List of sound packages package linux-sound-base * alsa-base * alsa-utils * oss-compat * esound-common * esound * esound-clients * libesd0 * arts * libarts1c2a * libartsc0 * jackd * libjack0 * nas * libaudio2 * pulseaudio * libpulse0 * popcon size description base package for ALSA and OSS sound systems ALSA driver configuration files OSS compatibility under ALSA preventing "/dev/dsp not found" errors Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD) common (Enlightenment and GNOME) Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD) server (Enlightenment and GNOME) Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD) client (Enlightenment and GNOME) Enlightened Sound Daemon (ESD) library (Enlightenment and GNOME) aRts server (KDE) aRts library (KDE) JACK Audio Connection Kit. (JACK) server (low latency) JACK Audio Connection Kit. (JACK) library (low latency) Network Audio System (NAS) server Network Audio System (NAS) library PulseAudio client library, replacement for ESD

V:39, I:49 132 V:2, I:48 500

V:34, I:48 1984 utilities for configuring and using ALSA V:28, I:33 60 V:19, I:56 232 V:0.6, I:6 V:7, I:20 80 188

V:32, I:55 84 I:7 40

V:13, I:23 5968 aRts library (KDE) V:10, I:32 48 V:0.8, I:3 V:0.14, I:0.2 V:3, I:5 32 V:1.3, I:33 164 328

V:26, I:46 200 V:15, I:36 792

4052 PulseAudio server, replacement for ESD

libgstreamer0.10V:30, I:51 3368 GStreamer: GNOME sound engine 0* libxine1 * libphonon4 * V:5, I:27 I:16 36 572 xine: KDE older sound engine Phonon: KDE new sound engine

There is usually a common sound engine for each popular desktop environment. Each sound engine used by the application can choose to connect to different sound servers.

9.6.8. Disabling the screen saver

For disabling the screen saver, use following commands. Table 9.19. List of commands for disabling the screen saver environment The Linux console The X Window (turning off screensaver) The X Window (disabling dpms) command setterm -powersave off xset s off xset -dpms

The X Window (GUI configuration of screen saver) xscreensaver-command -prefs

9.6.9. Disabling beep sounds

One can always unplug the PC speaker to disable beep sounds. Removing pcspkr kernel module does this for you. The following prevents the readline(3) program used by bash(1) to beep when encountering "\a" (ASCII=7). $ echo "set bell-style none">> ~/.inputrc

9.6.10. Memory usage

The kernel boot message in the "/var/log/dmesg" contains the total exact size of available memory.

free(1) and top(1) display information on memory resources on the running system. $ grep '\] Memory' /var/log/dmesg [ 0.004000] Memory: 990528k/1016784k available (1975k kernel code, 25868k reserved, 931k data, 296k init) $ free -k total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 997184 976928 20256 0 129592 171932 -/+ buffers/cache: 675404 321780 Swap: 4545576 4 4545572

Tip
Do not worry about the large size of "used" and the small size of "free" in the "Mem:" line, but read the one under them (675404 and 321780 in the example below) and relax. For my MacBook with 1GB=1048576k DRAM (video system steals some of this), I see the following. Table 9.20. List of memory sizes reported report size

Total size in dmesg 1016784k = 1GB - 31792k Free in dmesg Total under shell Free under shell 990528k 997184k 20256k (but effectively 321780k)

9.6.11. System security and integrity check

Poor system maintenance may expose your system to external exploitation. For system security and integrity check, you should start with the following. The debsums package, See debsums(1) and Section 2.5.2, Top level "Release" file and authenticity. The chkrootkit package, See chkrootkit(1). The clamav package family, See clamscan(1) and freahclam(1). Debian security FAQ. Securing Debian Manual. Table 9.21. List of tools for system security and integrity check package logcheck * debsums * clamav * tiger * tripwire * john * aide * bastille * integrit * crack * popcon V:3, I:3 V:2, I:3 V:2, I:11 V:0.8, I:1.0 V:0.6, I:0.7 V:0.7, I:2 V:0.2, I:0.4 V:0.12, I:0.4 V:0.03, I:0.2 size description 152 320 808 616 daemon to mail anomalies in the system logfiles to the administrator utility to verify installed package files against MD5 checksums rootkit detector anti-virus utility for Unix - command-line interface

chkrootkit * V:2, I:6

3148 report system security vulnerabilities 9456 file and directory integrity checker 532 active password cracking tool 1213 Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment - static binary 1960 security hardening tool file integrity verification program password guessing program 204

V:0.08, I:0.16 440

Here is a simple script to check for typical world writable incorrect file permissions. # find / -perm 777 -a \! -type s -a \! -type l -a \! \( -type d -a -perm 1777 \)

Caution
Since the debsums package uses MD5 checksums stored locally, it can not be fully trusted as the system security audit tool against malicious attacks.

9.7. The kernel

Debian distributes modularized Linux kernel as packages for supported architectures.

9.7.1. Linux kernel 2.6

There are few notable features on Linux kernel 2.6 compared to 2.4. Devices are created by the udev system (see Section 3.5.11, The udev system). Read/write accesses to IDE CD/DVD devices do not use the ide-scsi module. Network packet filtering functions use iptable kernel modules.

9.7.2. Kernel parameters

Many Linux features are configurable via kernel parameters as follows. Kernel parameters initialized by the bootloader (see Section 3.3, Stage 2: the boot loader) Kernel parameters changed by syscrl(8) at runtime for ones accessible via sysfs (see

Section 1.2.12, procfs and sysfs) Module parameters set by arguments of modprobe(8) when a module is activated (see Section 10.2.3, Mounting the disk image file) See "kernel-parameters.txt(.gz)" and other related documents in the Linux kernel documentation ("/usr/share/doc/linux-doc-2.6.*/Documentation/filesystems/*") provided by the linux-doc2.6.* package.

9.7.3. Kernel headers

Most normal programs don't need kernel headers and in fact may break if you use them directly for compiling. They should be compiled against the headers in "/usr/include/linux" and "/usr/include/asm" provided by the libc6-dev package (created from the glibc source package) on the Debian system.

Note
For compiling some kernel-specific programs such as the kernel modules from the external source and the automounter daemon (amd), you must include path to the corresponding kernel headers, e.g. "-I/usr/src/linux-particular-version/include/", to your command line. module-assistant(8) (or its short form m-a) helps users to build and install module package(s) easily for one or more custom kernels.

9.7.4. Compiling the kernel and related modules

Debian has its own method of compiling the kernel and related modules. Table 9.22. List of key packages to be installed for the kernel recompilation on the Debian system package build-essential * bzip2 * libncurses5-dev * git * fakeroot * initramfs-tools * kernel-package * dkms * devscripts * linux-tree-2.6.* popcon I:47 V:4, I:25 V:5, I:17 V:4, I:32 size 48 6900 444 description essential packages for building Debian packages: make, gcc, compress and decompress utilities for bz2 files developer's libraries and docs for ncurses provide fakeroot environment for building package as non-root tool to build an initramfs (Debian specific) tool to build Linux kernel packages (Debian specific) tool to help build module packages (Debian specific) dynamic kernel module support (DKMS) (generic) helper scripts for a Debian Package maintainer (Debian specific) Linux kernel source tree meta package (Debian specific)

V:51, I:79 132

10632 git: distributed revision control system used by the Linux kernel

V:49, I:98 468 V:1.5, I:14 2316 568 468 1696 N/A V:6, I:9 V:2, I:11 N/A

module-assistant * V:2, I:18

If you use initrd in Section 3.3, Stage 2: the boot loader, make sure to read the related information in initramfs-tools(8), update-initramfs(8), mkinitramfs(8) and initramfs.conf(5).

Warning
Do not put symlinks to the directories in the source tree (e.g. "/usr/src/linux*") from "/usr/include/linux" and "/usr/include/asm" when compiling the Linux kernel source. (Some outdated documents suggest this.)

Note
When compiling the latest Linux kernel on the Debian stable system, the use of backported latest tools from the Debian unstable may be needed.

Note
The dynamic kernel module support (DKMS) is a new distribution independent framework designed to allow individual kernel modules to be upgraded without changing the whole kernel. This will be endorsed for the maintenance of out-of-tree modules for squeeze. This also makes it very easy to rebuild modules as you upgrade kernels.

9.7.5. Compiling the kernel source: Debian standard method

The Debian standard method for compiling kernel source to create a custom kernel package uses makekpkg(1). The official documentation is in (the bottom of) "/usr/share/doc/kernelpackage/README.gz". See kernel-pkg.conf(5) and kernel-img.conf(5) for customization. Here is an example for amd64 system. # $ $ $ $ $ aptitude install linux-tree-<version> cd /usr/src tar -xjvf linux-source-<version>.tar.bz2 cd linux-source-<version> cp /boot/config-<oldversion> .config make menuconfig ... $ make-kpkg clean $ fakeroot make-kpkg --append_to_version -amd64 --initrd --revision=rev.01 kernel_image modules_image

$ cd .. # dpkg -i linux-image*.deb Reboot to new kernel with "shutdown -r now".

Caution
When you intend to create a non-modularized kernel compiled only for one machine, invoke make-kpkg without "--initrd" option since initrd is not used. Invocation of "make oldconfig" and "make dep" are not required since "make-kpkg kernel_image" invokes them.

9.7.6. Compiling the module source: Debian standard method

The Debian standard method for creating and installing a custom module package for a custom kernel package uses module-assistant(8) and module-source packages. For example, the following builds the unionfs kernel module package and installs it. $ sudo ... $ sudo $ sudo $ sudo $ sudo ... $ sudo aptitude install module-assistant aptitude install unionfs-source unionfs-tools unionfs-utils m-a update m-a prepare m-a auto-install unionfs apt-get autoremove

9.7.7. Compiling the kernel source: classic method

You can still build Linux kernel from the pristine sources with the classic method. You must take care the details of the system configuration manually. cd /usr/src wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-<version>.tar.bz2 tar -xjvf linux-<version>.tar.bz2 cd linux-<version> cp /boot/config-<version> .config make menuconfig ... $ make dep; make bzImage $ make modules # cp ./arch/x86_64/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-<version> # make modules_install # depmod -a # update-initramfs -c -k <version> Set up bootloader by the following. Edit "/etc/lilo.conf" and run "/sbin/lilo", if you use lilo. Edit "/boot/grub/menu.lst", if you use grub. Reboot to new kernel with "shutdown -r now". $ $ $ $ $ $

9.7.8. Non-free hardware drivers

Although most of hardware drivers are available as free software and as a part of the Debian system, you may need to load some non-free external drivers to support some hardwares, such as Winmodem, on your system. Check pertinent resources. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softmodem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open_source_wireless_drivers Google or other search engines with keyword "Linmodem". http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net http://linuxwireless.org http://madwifi-project.org (there is ath5k which contains free drivers)

9.8. Virtualized system

Use of virtualized system enables us to run multiple instances of system simultaneously on a single hardware.

Tip
See http://wiki.debian.org/SystemVirtualization .

9.8.1. Virtualization tools

There are several system virtualization and emulation related packages in Debian beyond simple chroot. Some packages also help you to setup such system. Table 9.23. List of virtualization tools package schroot * popcon V:1.0, size 2460 description specialized tool for executing Debian binary packages in chroot

schroot * sbuild * pbuilder * debootstrap * cdebootstrap * rootstrap * virt-manager * libvirt-bin * user-modelinux * bochs * qemu * qemu-system * qemu-user * qemu-utils * qemu-kvm * virtualboxose * xen-tools * wine * dosbox * dosemu * vzctl * vzquota * lxc *

I:1.6 V:0.11, I:0.3 V:0.5, I:2

2460 428 1192

specialized tool for executing Debian binary packages in chroot tool for building Debian binary packages from Debian sources personal package builder for Debian packages bootstrap a basic Debian system (written in sh) bootstrap a Debian system (written in C) tool for building complete Linux filesystem images Virtual Machine Manager: desktop application for managing virtual machines programs for the libvirt library

V:1.6, I:12 268 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.02, I:0.17 V:0.5, I:1.6 V:1.4, I:2 V:0.07, I:0.3 V:0.05, I:0.3 V:0.6, I:6 V:2, I:3 V:0.3, I:3 V:0.4, I:3 V:1.3, I:2 V:2, I:4 V:0.2, I:1.9 116 156 5908 2240

20540 User-mode Linux (kernel) 3280 460 Bochs: IA-32 PC emulator QEMU: fast generic processor emulator

38196 QEMU: full system emulation binaries 16716 QEMU: user mode emulation binaries 756 4308 QEMU: utilities KVM: full virtualization on x86 hardware with the hardware-assisted virtualization

31728 VirtualBox: x86 virtualization solution on i386 and amd64 1236 tools to manage debian XEN virtual server Wine: Windows API Implementation (standard suite) DOSBox: x86 emulator with Tandy/Herc/CGA/EGA/VGA/SVGA graphics, sound and DOS DOSEMU: The Linux DOS Emulator OpenVZ server virtualization solution - control tools OpenVZ server virtualization solution - quota tools Linux containers user space tools

V:1.7, I:13 96 V:0.5, I:2 V:0.2, I:1.2 V:0.7, I:1.1 V:0.7, I:1.2 V:0.05, I:0.2 2460 5940 1056 204 744

See Wikipedia article Comparison of platform virtual machines for detail comparison of different platform virtualization solutions.

9.8.2. Virtualization work flow Note

Some functionalities described here are only available in squeeze.

Note
Default Debian kernels support KVM since lenny. Typical work flow for virtualization involves several steps. Create an empty filesystem (a file tree or a disk image). The file tree can be created by "mkdir -p /path/to/chroot". The raw disk image file can be created with dd(1) (see Section 10.2.1, Making the disk image file and Section 10.2.5, Making the empty disk image file). qemu-img(1) can be used to create and convert disk image files supported by QEMU. The raw and VMDK file format can be used as common format among virtualization tools. Mount the disk image with mount(8) to the filesystem (optional). For the raw disk image file, mount it as loop device or device mapper devices (see Section 10.2.3, Mounting the disk image file). For disk images supported by QEMU, mount them as network block device (see Section 9.8.3, Mounting the virtual disk image file). Populate the target filesystem with required system data. Use programs such as debootstrap and cdebootstrap help this process (see Section 9.8.4, Chroot system). Use installers of OSs under the full system emulation. Run a program under a virtualized environment. chroot provides basic virtualized environment enough to compile programs, run console applications, and run daemons in it.

QEMU provides cross-platform CPU emulation. QEMU with KVM provides full system emulation by the hardware-assisted virtualization. VirtualBox provides full system emulation on i386 and amd64 with or without the hardwareassisted virtualization.

9.8.3. Mounting the virtual disk image file

For the raw disk image file, see Section 10.2, The disk image. For other virtual disk image files, you can use qemu-nbd(8) to export them using network block device protocol and mount them using the nbd kernel module. qemu-nbd(8) supports disk formats supported by QEMU: QEMU supports following disk formats: raw, qcow2, qcow, vmdk, vdi, bochs, cow (user-mode Linux copy-on-write), parallels, dmg, cloop, vpc, vvfat (virtual VFAT), and host_device. The network block device can support partitions in the same way as the loop device (see Section 10.2.3, Mounting the disk image file). You can mount the first partition of "disk.img" as follows. # modprobe nbd max_part=16 # qemu-nbd -v -c /dev/nbd0 disk.img ... # mkdir /mnt/part1 # mount /dev/nbd0p1 /mnt/part1

Tip
You may export only the first partition of "disk.img" using "-P 1" option to qemu-nbd(8).

9.8.4. Chroot system

chroot(8) offers most basic way to run different instances of the GNU/Linux environment on a single system simultaneously without rebooting.

Caution
Examples below assumes both parent system and chroot system share the same CPU architecture. You can learn how to setup and use chroot(8) by running pbuilder(8) program under script(1) as follows. $ sudo mkdir /sid-root $ sudo pbuilder --create --no-targz --debug --buildplace /sid-root You see how debootstrap(8) or cdebootstrap(1) populate system data for sid environment under "/sid-root".

Tip
These debootstrap(8) or cdebootstrap(1) are used to install Debian by the Debian Installer. These can also be used to install Debian to a system without using a Debian install disk, but instead from another GNU/Linux distribution. $ sudo pbuilder --login --no-targz --debug --buildplace /sid-root

You see how a system shell running under sid environment is created as the following. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Copy local configuration ("/etc/hosts", "/etc/hostname", "/etc/resolv.conf") Mount "/proc" filesystem Mount "/dev/pts" filesystem Create "/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d" which always exits with 101 Run "chroot /sid-root bin/bash -c 'exec -a -bash bin/bash'"

Note
Some programs under chroot may require access to more files from the parent system to function than pbuilder provides. For example, "/sys", "/etc/passwd", "/etc/group", "/var/run/utmp", "/var/log/wtmp", etc. may need to be bind-mounted or copied.

Note
The "/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d" file prevents daemon programs to be started automatically on Debian system. See "/usr/share/doc/sysv-rc/README.policy-rc.d.gz".

Tip
The original purpose of the specialized chroot package, pbuilder is to construct a chroot system and builds a package inside the chroot. It is an ideal system to use to check that a package's build-dependencies are correct, and to be sure that unnecessary and wrong build dependencies do not exist in the resulting package.

Tip
Similar schroot package may give you an idea to run i386 chroot system under amd64 parent system.

9.8.5. Multiple desktop systems

I recommend you to use QEMU or VirtualBox on a Debian stable system to run multiple desktop systems safely using virtualization. These enable you to run desktop applications of Debian unstable and testing without usual risks associated with them. Since pure QEMU is very slow, it is recommended to accelerate it with KVM when the host system support it. The virtual disk image "virtdisk.qcow2" containing Debian system for QEMU can be created using debian-installer: Small CDs as follows. $ wget http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.3/amd64/iso-cd/debian-503-amd64-netinst.iso $ qemu-img create -f qcow2 virtdisk.qcow2 5G $ qemu -hda virtdisk.qcow2 -cdrom debian-503-amd64-netinst.iso -boot d -m 256 ... See more tips at Debian wiki: QEMU. VirtualBox comes with Qt GUI tools and quite intuitive. Its GUI and command line tools are explained in VirtualBox User Manual and VirtualBox User Manual (PDF).

Tip
Running other GNU/Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedra under virtualization is a great way to learn configuration tips. Other proprietary OSs may be run nicely under this GNU/Linux virtualization, too.

Chapter 10. Data management

Tools and tips for managing binary and text data on the Debian system are described.

Warning
The uncoordinated write access to actively accessed devices and files from multiple processes must not be done to avoid the race condition. File locking mechanisms using flock(1) may be used to avoid it.

10.1. Sharing, copying, and archiving

The security of the data and its controlled sharing have several aspects. The The The The The The The creation of data archive remote storage access duplication tracking of the modification history facilitation of data sharing prevention of unauthorized file access detection of unauthorized file modification

These can be realized by using some combination of tools. Archive and compression tools Copy and synchronization tools Network filesystems Removable storage media The secure shell The authentication system Version control system tools Hash and cryptographic encryption tools

10.1.1. Archive and compression tools

Here is a summary of archive and compression tools available on the Debian system. Table 10.1. List of archive and compression tools package popcon size tar * cpio * V:61, I:99 V:41, I:99 2660 920 command extension comment tar(1) cpio(1) .tar .cpio .ar the standard archiver (de facto standard) Unix System V style archiver, use with find(1) archiver for the creation of static libraries archiver for Java (zip like) new POSIX standard archiver, compromise between tar and cpio extended cpio with per-file compression etc. GNU LZ77 compression utility (de facto standard) Burrows-Wheeler block-sorting compression utility with higher compression ratio than gzip(1) (slower

binutils V:58, * I:74 fastjar * pax * afio * gzip *

11996 ar(1)

V:7, I:31 216 V:1.5, I:6 V:0.3, I:1.7 V:91, I:99 V:51, I:79 172 240 284

fastjar(1) .jar pax(1) afio(1) .pax .afio

gzip(1), .gz zcat(1), bzip2(1), bzcat(1), .bz2

bzip2 *

132

I:79 lzma * V:8, I:80 172

lzma(1) xz(1), xzdec(1), 7zr(1), p7zip(1) 7z(1), 7za(1) lzop(1) zip(1) unzip(1) .lzma

than gzip with similar syntax) LZMA compression utility with higher compression ratio than gzip(1) (deprecated) XZ compression utility with higher compression ratio than bzip2(1) (slower than gzip but faster than bzip2; replacement for LZMA compression utility) 7-Zip file archiver with high compression ratio (LZMA compression) 7-Zip file archiver with high compression ratio (LZMA compression and others) LZO compression utility with higher compression and decompression speed than gzip(1) (lower compression ratio than gzip with similar syntax) InfoZIP: DOS archive and compression tool InfoZIP: DOS unarchive and decompression tool

xz-utils V:5, I:26 460 * p7zip * p7zipfull * lzop * zip * unzip * V:2, I:23 1052 V:14, I:26 V:0.7, I:6 3612

.xz

.7z .7z

144

.lzo .zip .zip

V:8, I:52 632 V:24, I:69 408

Warning
Do not set the "$TAPE" variable unless you know what to expect. It changes tar(1) behavior.

Note
The gzipped tar(1) archive uses the file extension ".tgz" or ".tar.gz".

Note
The xz-compressed tar(1) archive uses the file extension ".txz" or ".tar.xz".

Note
Popular compression method in FOSS tools such as tar(1) has been moving as follows: gzip bzip2 xz

Note
cp(1), scp(1) and tar(1) may have some limitation for special files. cpio(1) and afio(1) are most versatile.

Note
cpio(1) and afio(1) are designed to be used with find(1) and other commands and suitable for creating backup scripts since the file selection part of the script can be tested independently.

Note
afio(1) compresses each file in the archive. This makes afio to be much safer for the file corruption than the globally compressed tar or cpio archives and to be the best archive engine for the backup script.

Note
Internal structure of OpenOffice data files are ".jar" file.

10.1.2. Copy and synchronization tools

Here is a summary of simple copy and backup tools available on the Debian system. Table 10.2. List of copy and synchronization tools package coreutils * openssh-client * openssh-server * rsync * unison * popcon size V:92, I:99 V:52, I:99 V:70, I:83 V:19, I:52 13828 2104 700 704 tool GNU cp scp sshd function locally copy files and directories ("-a" for recursive) remotely copy files and directories (client, "-r" for recursive) remotely copy files and directories (remote server) 1-way remote synchronization and backup 2-way remote synchronization and backup

V:0.9, I:3 1816

Copying files with rsync(8) offers richer features than others. delta-transfer algorithm that sends only the differences between the source files and the existing files in the destination quick check algorithm (by default) that looks for files that have changed in size or in last-modified time

"--exclude" and "--exclude-from" options similar to tar(1) "a trailing slash on the source directory" syntax that avoids creating an additional directory level at the destination.

Tip
Execution of the bkup script mentioned in Section 10.1.9, A copy script for the data backup with the "-gl" option under cron(8) should provide very similar functionality as Plan9's dumpfs for the static data archive.

Tip
Version control system (VCS) tools in Table 10.16, List of version control system tools can function as the multi-way copy and synchronization tools.

10.1.3. Idioms for the archive

Here are several ways to archive and unarchive the entire content of the directory "./source" using different tools. GNU tar(1): $ tar cvzf archive.tar.gz ./source $ tar xvzf archive.tar.gz cpio(1): $ find ./source -xdev -print0 | cpio -ov --null > archive.cpio; gzip archive.cpio $ zcat archive.cpio.gz | cpio -i afio(1): $ find ./source -xdev -print0 | afio -ovZ0 archive.afio $ afio -ivZ archive.afio

10.1.4. Idioms for the copy

Here are several ways to copy the entire content of the directory "./source" using different tools. Local copy: "./source" directory "/dest" directory Remote copy: "./source" directory at local host "/dest" directory at "[email protected]" host rsync(8): # cd ./source; rsync -av . /dest # cd ./source; rsync -av . [email protected]:/dest You can alternatively use "a trailing slash on the source directory" syntax. # rsync -av ./source/ /dest # rsync -av ./source/ [email protected]:/dest GNU cp(1) and openSSH scp(1): # cd ./source; cp -a . /dest # cd ./source; scp -pr . [email protected]:/dest GNU tar(1): # (cd ./source && tar cf - . ) | (cd /dest && tar xvfp - ) # (cd ./source && tar cf - . ) | ssh [email protected] '(cd /dest && tar xvfp - )' cpio(1): # cd ./source; find . -print0 | cpio -pvdm --null --sparse /dest afio(1): # cd ./source; find . -print0 | afio -pv0a /dest You can substitude "." with "foo" for all examples containing "." to copy files from "./source/foo" directory to "/dest/foo" directory. You can substitude "." with the absolute path "/path/to/source/foo" for all examples containing "." to drop "cd ./source;". These copy files to different locations depending on tools used as follows. "/dest/foo": rsync(8), GNU cp(1), and scp(1) "/dest/path/to/source/foo": GNU tar(1), cpio(1), and afio(1)

Tip
rsync(8) and GNU cp(1) have option "-u" to skip files that are newer on the receiver.

10.1.5. Idioms for the selection of files

find(1) is used to select files for archive and copy commands (see Section 10.1.3, Idioms for the archive and Section 10.1.4, Idioms for the copy) or for xargs(1) (see Section 9.5.9, Repeating a command looping over files). This can be enhanced by using its command arguments. Basic syntax of find(1) can be summarized as the following.

Its conditional arguments are evaluated from left to right. This evaluation stops once its outcome is determined. "Logical OR" (specified by "-o" between conditionals) has lower precedence than "logical AND" (specified by "-a" or nothing between conditionals). "Logical NOT" (specified by "!" before a conditional) has higher precedence than "logical AND". "-prune" always returns logical TRUE and, if it is a directory, searching of file is stopped beyond this point. "-name" matches the base of the filename with shell glob (see Section 1.5.6, Shell glob) but it also matches its initial "." with metacharacters such as "*" and "?". (New POSIX feature) "-regex" matches the full path with emacs style BRE (see Section 1.6.2, Regular expressions) as default. "-size" matches the file based on the file size (value precedented with "+" for larger, precedented with "-" for smaller) "-newer" matches the file newer than the one specified in its argument. "-print0" always returns logical TRUE and print the full filename (null terminated) on the standard output. find(1) is often used with an idiomatic style as the following. # find /path/to \ -xdev -regextype posix-extended \ -type f -regex ".*\.afio|.*~" -prune -o \ -type d -regex ".*/\.git" -prune -o \ -type f -size +99M -prune -o \ -type f -newer /path/to/timestamp -print0 This means to do following actions. 1. Search all files starting from "/path/to" 2. Globally limit its search within its starting filesystem and uses ERE (see Section 1.6.2, Regular expressions) instead 3. Exclude files matching regex of ".*\.afio" or ".*~" from search by stop processing 4. Exclude directories matching regex of ".*/\.git" from search by stop processing 5. Exclude files larger than 99 Megabytes (units of 1048576 bytes) from search by stop processing 6. Print filenames which satisfy above search conditions and newer than "/path/to/timestamp" Please note the idiomatic use of "-prune -o" to exclude files in the above example.

Note
For non-Debian Unix-like system, some options may not be supported by find(1). In such a case, please consider to adjust matching methods and replace "-print0" with "-print". You may need to adjust related commands too.

10.1.6. Backup and recovery

We all know that computers fail sometime or human errors cause system and data damages. Backup and recovery operations are the essential part of successful system administration. All possible failure modes hit you some day.

Tip
Keep your backup system simple and backup your system often. Having backup data is more important than how technically good your backup method is. There are 3 key factors which determine actual backup and recovery policy. 1. Knowing what to backup and recover. Data files directly created by you: data in "~/" Data files created by applications used by you: data in "/var/" (except "/var/cache/", "/var/run/", and "/var/tmp/") System configuration files: data in "/etc/" Local softwares: data in "/usr/local/" or "/opt/" System installation information: a memo in plain text on key steps (partition, ) Proven set of data: confirmed by experimental recovery operations in advance 2. Knowing how to backup and recover. Secure storage of data: protection from overwrite and system failure Frequent backup: scheduled backup Redundant backup: data mirroring Fool proof process: easy single command backup 3. Assessing risks and costs involved. Value of data when lost Required resources for backup: human, hardware, software, Failure mode and their possibility As for secure storage of data, data should be at least on different disk partitions preferably on different disks and machines to withstand the filesystem corruption. Important data are best stored on a write-once media such as CD/DVD-R to prevent overwrite accidents. (See Section 10.3, The binary data for how to write to the storage media from the shell commandline. GNOME desktop GUI environment gives you easy access via menu: "PlacesCD/DVD Creator".)

Note

You may wish to stop some application daemons such as MTA (see Section 6.3, Mail transport agent (MTA)) while backing up data.

Note
You should pay extra care to the backup and restoration of identity related data files such as "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key", "/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key", "~/.gnupg/*", "~/.ssh/*", "/etc/passwd", "/etc/shadow", "/etc/fetchmailrc", "popularitycontest.conf", "/etc/ppp/pap-secrets", and "/etc/exim4/passwd.client". Some of these data can not be regenerated by entering the same input string to the system.

Note
If you run a cron job as a user process, you must restore files in "/var/spool/cron/crontabs" directory and restart cron(8). See Section 9.5.14, Scheduling tasks regularly for cron(8) and crontab(1).

10.1.7. Backup utility suites

Here is a select list of notable backup utility suites available on the Debian system. Table 10.3. List of backup suite utilities package rdiffbackup * dump * xfsdump * popcon size description (remote) incremental backup 4.4 BSD dump(8) and restore(8) for ext2/ext3 filesystems dump and restore with xfsdump(8) and xfsrestore(8) for XFS filesystem on GNU/Linux and IRIX lightweight, extensible meta-backup system

V:1.4, I:3 804 V:0.4, I:1.5 V:0.3, I:1.9 716 628 452

backupninja V:0.5, * I:0.6 mondo * sbackup * keep * baculacommon * baculaclient * baculaconsole * baculaserver * amandacommon * amandaclient * amandaserver * backuppc * backupmanager * backup2l * V:0.11, I:0.5 V:0.05, I:0.16 V:0.13, I:0.3

1168 Mondo Rescue: disaster recovery backup suite 488 simple backup suite for GNOME desktop

1232 backup system for KDE

V:1.3, I:2 1404 Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - common support files I:0.9 V:0.3, I:1.2 I:0.5 V:0.4, I:0.8 V:0.4, I:0.8 V:0.11, I:0.3 V:0.8, I:1.0 V:0.4, I:0.6 V:0.2, I:0.3 84 184 84 Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - client meta-package Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - text console Bacula: network backup, recovery and verification - server meta-package

6924 Amanda: Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Libs) 748 916 2460 672 152 Amanda: Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Client) Amanda: Advanced Maryland Automatic Network Disk Archiver (Server) BackupPC is a high-performance, enterprise-grade system for backing up PCs (disk based) command-line backup tool low-maintenance backup/restore tool for mountable media (disk based)

Backup tools have their specialized focuses. Mondo Rescue is a backup system to facilitate restoration of complete system quickly from backup CD/DVD etc. without going through normal system installation processes. sbackup and keep packages provide easy GUI frontend for desktop users to make regular backups of user data. An equivalent function can be realized by a simple script (Section 10.1.8, An example script for the system backup) and cron(8). Bacula, Amanda, and BackupPC are full featured backup suite utilities which are focused on regular backups over network. Basic tools described in Section 10.1.1, Archive and compression tools and Section 10.1.2, Copy and synchronization tools can be used to facilitate system backup via custom scripts. Such script can be enhanced by the following. The rdiff-backup package enables incremental (remote) backups. The dump package helps to archive and restore the whole filesystem incrementally and efficiently.

Tip

See files in "/usr/share/doc/dump/" and "Is dump really deprecated?" to lean about the dump package.

10.1.8. An example script for the system backup

For a personal Debian desktop system running unstable suite, I only need to protect personal and critical data. I reinstall system once a year anyway. Thus I see no reason to backup the whole system or to install a full featured backup utility. I use a simple script to make a backup archive and burn it into CD/DVD using GUI. Here is an example script for this. #!/bin/sh -e # Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Osamu Aoki <[email protected]>, Public Domain BUUID=1000; USER=osamu # UID and name of a user who accesses backup files BUDIR="/var/backups" XDIR0=".+/Mail|.+/Desktop" XDIR1=".+/\.thumbnails|.+/\.?Trash|.+/\.?[cC]ache|.+/\.gvfs|.+/sessions" XDIR2=".+/CVS|.+/\.git|.+/\.svn|.+/Downloads|.+/Archive|.+/Checkout|.+/tmp" XSFX=".+\.iso|.+\.tgz|.+\.tar\.gz|.+\.tar\.bz2|.+\.afio|.+\.tmp|.+\.swp|.+~" SIZE="+99M" DATE=$(date --utc +"%Y%m%d-%H%M") [ -d "$BUDIR" ] || mkdir -p "BUDIR" umask 077 dpkg --get-selections \* > /var/lib/dpkg/dpkg-selections.list debconf-get-selections > /var/cache/debconf/debconf-selections { find /etc /usr/local /opt /var/lib/dpkg/dpkg-selections.list \ /var/cache/debconf/debconf-selections -xdev -print0 find /home/$USER /root -xdev -regextype posix-extended \ -type d -regex "$XDIR0|$XDIR1" -prune -o -type f -regex "$XSFX" -prune -o \ -type f -size "$SIZE" -prune -o -print0 find /home/$USER/Mail/Inbox /home/$USER/Mail/Outbox -print0 find /home/$USER/Desktop -xdev -regextype posix-extended \ -type d -regex "$XDIR2" -prune -o -type f -regex "$XSFX" -prune -o \ -type f -size "$SIZE" -prune -o -print0 } | cpio -ov --null -O $BUDIR/BU$DATE.cpio chown $BUUID $BUDIR/BU$DATE.cpio touch $BUDIR/backup.stamp This is meant to be a script example executed from root. I expect you to change and execute this as follows. Edit this script to cover all your important data (see Section 10.1.5, Idioms for the selection of files and Section 10.1.6, Backup and recovery). Replace "find -print0" with "find -newer $BUDIR/backup.stamp -print0" to make a incremental backup. Transfer backup files to the remote host using scp(1) or rsync(1) or burn them to CD/DVD for extra data security. (I use GNOME desktop GUI for burning CD/DVD. See Section 12.1.8, Shell script example with zenity for extra redundancy.) Keep it simple!

Tip
You can recover debconf configuration data with "debconf-set-selections debconfselections" and dpkg selection data with "dpkg --set-selection <dpkgselections.list".

10.1.9. A copy script for the data backup

For the set of data under a directory tree, the copy with "cp -a" provides the normal backup. For the set of large non-overwritten static data under a directory tree such as the one under the "/var/cache/apt/packages/" directory, hardlinks with "cp -al" provide an alternative to the normal backup with efficient use of the disk space. Here is a copy script, which I named as bkup, for the data backup. This script copies all (non-VCS) files under the current directory to the dated directory on the parent directory or on a remote host. #!/bin/sh -e # Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Osamu Aoki <[email protected]>, Public Domain fdot(){ find . -type d \( -iname ".?*" -o -iname "CVS" \) -prune -o -print0;} fall(){ find . -print0;} mkdircd(){ mkdir -p "$1";chmod 700 "$1";cd "$1">/dev/null;} FIND="fdot";OPT="-a";MODE="CPIOP";HOST="localhost";EXTP="$(hostname -f)" BKUP="$(basename $(pwd)).bkup";TIME="$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)";BU="$BKUP/$TIME" while getopts gcCsStrlLaAxe:h:T f; do case $f in g) MODE="GNUCP";; # cp (GNU) c) MODE="CPIOP";; # cpio -p C) MODE="CPIOI";; # cpio -i s) MODE="CPIOSSH";; # cpio/ssh S) MODE="AFIOSSH";; # afio/ssh t) MODE="TARSSH";; # tar/ssh r) MODE="RSYNCSSH";; # rsync/ssh

l) OPT="-alv";; # hardlink (GNU cp) L) OPT="-av";; # copy (GNU cp) a) FIND="fall";; # find all A) FIND="fdot";; # find non CVS/ .???/ x) set -x;; # trace e) EXTP="${OPTARG}";; # hostname -f h) HOST="${OPTARG}";; # [email protected] T) MODE="TEST";; # test find mode \?) echo "use -x for trace." esac; done shift $(expr $OPTIND - 1) if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then for x in $@; do cp $OPT $x $x.$TIME; done elif [ $MODE = GNUCP ]; then mkdir -p "../$BU";chmod 700 "../$BU";cp $OPT . "../$BU/" elif [ $MODE = CPIOP ]; then mkdir -p "../$BU";chmod 700 "../$BU" $FIND|cpio --null --sparse -pvd ../$BU elif [ $MODE = CPIOI ]; then $FIND|cpio -ov --null | ( mkdircd "../$BU"&&cpio -i ) elif [ $MODE = CPIOSSH ]; then $FIND|cpio -ov --null|ssh -C $HOST "( mkdircd \"$EXTP/$BU\"&&cpio -i )" elif [ $MODE = AFIOSSH ]; then $FIND|afio -ov -0 -|ssh -C $HOST "( mkdircd \"$EXTP/$BU\"&&afio -i - )" elif [ $MODE = TARSSH ]; then (tar cvf - . )|ssh -C $HOST "( mkdircd \"$EXTP/$BU\"&& tar xvfp - )" elif [ $MODE = RSYNCSSH ]; then rsync -rlpt ./ "${HOST}:${EXTP}-${BKUP}-${TIME}" else echo "Any other idea to backup?" $FIND |xargs -0 -n 1 echo fi This is meant to be command examples. Please read script and edit it by yourself before using it.

Tip
I keep this bkup in my "/usr/local/bin/" directory. I issue this bkup command without any option in the working directory whenever I need a temporary snapshot backup.

Tip
For making snapshot history of a source file tree or a configuration file tree, it is easier and space efficient to use git(7) (see Section 10.9.5, Git for recording configuration history).

10.1.10. Removable storage device

Removable storage devices may be any one of the following. Hard disk Any format of flash memory devices Digital camera which are connected via USB, IEEE 1394 / Firewire, PC Card, etc. These removable storage devices can be automatically mounted as a user under modern desktop environment, such as GNOME using gnome-mount(1). Mount point under GNOME is chosen as "/media/<disk_label>" which can be customized by the following. mlabel(1) for FAT filesystem genisoimage(1) with "-V" option for ISO9660 filesystem tune2fs(1) with "-L" option for ext2/ext3 filesystem The choice of encoding may need to be provided as mount option (see Section 8.3.6, Filename encoding). The ownership of the mounted filesystem may need to be adjusted for use by the normal user.

Note
Automounting under modern desktop environment happens only when those removable media devices are not listed in "/etc/fstab".

Tip
When providing wrong mount option causes problem, erase its corresponding setting under "/system/storage/" via gconf-editor(1). Table 10.4. List of packages which permit normal users to mount removable devices without a matching "/etc/fstab" entry package popcon size description

gnome-mount wrapper for (un)mounting and ejecting storage devices (used by V:15, I:28 NOT_FOUND GNOME) * pmount * cryptmount * V:4, I:19 V:0.2, I:0.5 548 360 mount removable devices as normal user (used by KDE) Management and user-mode mounting of encrypted filesystems

usbmount *

V:0.4, I:1.4

112

automatically mount and unmount USB storage devices

When sharing data with other system via removable storage device, you should format it with common filesystem supported by both systems. Here is a list of filesystem choices. Table 10.5. List of filesystem choices for removable storage devices with typical usage scenarios filesystem description of typical usage scenario FAT12 FAT16 FAT32 NTFS ISO9660 UDF MINIX filesystem ext2 filesystem ext3 filesystem cross platform sharing of data on the floppy disk (<32MiB) cross platform sharing of data on the small hard disk like device (<2GiB) cross platform sharing of data on the large hard disk like device (<8TiB, supported by newer than MS Windows95 OSR2) cross platform sharing of data on the large hard disk like device (supported natively on MS Windows NT and later version, and supported by NTFS-3G via FUSE on Linux) cross platform sharing of static data on CD-R and DVD+/-R incremental data writing on CD-R and DVD+/-R (new) space efficient unix file data storage on the floppy disk sharing of data on the hard disk like device with older Linux systems sharing of data on the hard disk like device with current Linux systems (journaling filesystem)

Tip
See Section 9.4.1, Removable disk encryption with dm-crypt/LUKS for cross platform sharing of data using device level encryption. The FAT filesystem is supported by almost all modern operating systems and is quite useful for the data exchange purpose via removable hard disk like media. When formatting removable hard disk like devices for cross platform sharing of data with the FAT filesystem, the following should be safe choices. Partitioning them with fdisk(8), cfdisk(8) or parted(8) (see Section 9.3.1, Disk partition configuration) into a single primary partition and to mark it as the following. Type "6" for FAT16 for media smaller than 2GB. Type "c" for FAT32 (LBA) for larger media. Formatting the primary partition with mkfs.vfat(8) with the following. Just its device name, e.g. "/dev/sda1" for FAT16 The explicit option and its device name, e.g. "-F 32 /dev/sda1" for FAT32 When using the FAT or ISO9660 filesystems for sharing data, the following should be the safe considerations. Archiving files into an archive file first using tar(1), cpio(1), or afio(1) to retain the long filename, the symbolic link, the original Unix file permission and the owner information. Splitting the archive file into less than 2 GiB chunks with the split(1) command to protect it from the file size limitation. Encrypting the archive file to secure its contents from the unauthorized access.

Note
For FAT filesystems by its design, the maximum file size is (2^32 - 1) bytes = (4GiB 1 byte). For some applications on the older 32 bit OS, the maximum file size was even smaller (2^31 - 1) bytes = (2GiB - 1 byte). Debian does not suffer the latter problem.

Note
Microsoft itself does not recommend to use FAT for drives or partitions of over 200 MB. Microsoft highlights its short comings such as inefficient disk space usage in their "Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS File Systems". Of course, we should normally use the ext3 filesystem for Linux.

Tip
For more on filesystems and accessing filesystems, please read "Filesystems HOWTO".

10.1.11. Sharing data via network

When sharing data with other system via network, you should use common service. Here are some hints. Table 10.6. List of the network service to chose with the typical usage scenario network service description of typical usage scenario

SMB/CIFS network mounted filesystem with Samba NFS network mounted filesystem with the Linux kernel HTTP service HTTPS service FTP service

sharing files via "Microsoft Windows Network", see smb.conf(5) and The Official Samba 3.2.x HOWTO and Reference Guide or the samba-doc package

sharing files via "Unix/Linux Network", see exports(5) and Linux NFS-HOWTO sharing file between the web server/client sharing file between the web server/client with encrypted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) sharing file between the FTP server/client

Although these filesystems mounted over network and file transfer methods over network are quite convenient for sharing data, these may be insecure. Their network connection must be secured by the following. Encrypt it with SSL/TLS Tunnel it via SSH Tunnel it via VPN Limit it behind the secure firewall See also Section 6.10, Other network application servers and Section 6.11, Other network application clients.

10.1.12. Archive media

When choosing computer data storage media for important data archive, you should be careful about their limitations. For small personal data backup, I use CD-R and DVD-R by the brand name company and store in a cool, shaded, dry, clean environment. (Tape archive media seem to be popular for professional use.)

Note
A fire-resistant safe are meant for paper documents. Most of the computer data storage media have less temperature tolerance than paper. I usually rely on multiple secure encrypted copies stored in multiple secure locations. Optimistic storage life of archive media seen on the net (mostly from vendor info). 100+ years : Acid free paper with ink 100 years : Optical storage (CD/DVD, CD/DVD-R) 30 years : Magnetic storage (tape, floppy) 20 years : Phase change optical storage (CD-RW) These do not count on the mechanical failures due to handling etc. Optimistic write cycle of archive media seen on the net (mostly from vendor info). 250,000+ cycles : Harddisk drive 10,000+ cycles : Flash memory 1,000 cycles : CD/DVD-RW 1 cycles : CD/DVD-R, paper

Caution
Figures of storage life and write cycle here should not be used for decisions on any critical data storage. Please consult the specific product information provided by the manufacture.

Tip
Since CD/DVD-R and paper have only 1 write cycle, they inherently prevent accidental data loss by overwriting. This is advantage!

Tip
If you need fast and frequent backup of large amount of data, a hard disk on a remote host linked by a fast network connection, may be the only realistic option.

10.2. The disk image

Here, we discuss manipulations of the disk image. See Section 9.3, Data storage tips, too.

10.2.1. Making the disk image file

The disk image file, "disk.img", of an unmounted device, e.g., the second SCSI drive "/dev/sdb", can be made using cp(1) or dd(1) by the following. # cp /dev/sdb disk.img # dd if=/dev/sdb of=disk.img The disk image of the traditional PC's master boot record (MBR) (see Section 9.3.1, Disk partition configuration) which reside on the first sector on the primary IDE disk can be made by using dd(1) by the following. # dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr.img bs=512 count=1 # dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr-nopart.img bs=446 count=1 # dd if=/dev/hda of=mbr-part.img skip=446 bs=1 count=66

"mbr.img": The MBR with the partition table "mbr-nopart.img": The MBR without the partition table "part.img": The partition table of the MBR only If you have a SCSI device (including the new serial ATA drive) as the boot disk, substitute "/dev/hda" with "/dev/sda". If you are making an image of a disk partition of the original disk, substitute "/dev/hda" with "/dev/hda1" etc.

10.2.2. Writing directly to the disk

The disk image file, "disk.img" can be written to an unmounted device, e.g., the second SCSI drive "/dev/sdb" with matching size, by the following. # dd if=disk.img of=/dev/sdb Similarly, the disk partition image file, "partition.img" can be written to an unmounted partition, e.g., the first partition of the second SCSI drive "/dev/sdb1" with matching size, by the following. # dd if=partition.img of=/dev/sdb1

10.2.3. Mounting the disk image file

The disk image "partition.img" containing a single partition image can be mounted and unmounted by using the loop device as follows. # losetup -v -f partition.img Loop device is /dev/loop0 # mkdir -p /mnt/loop0 # mount -t auto /dev/loop0 /mnt/loop0 ...hack...hack...hack # umount /dev/loop0 # losetup -d /dev/loop0 This can be simplified as follows. # mkdir -p /mnt/loop0 # mount -t auto -o loop partition.img /mnt/loop0 ...hack...hack...hack # umount partition.img Each partition of the disk image "disk.img" containing multiple partitions can be mounted by using the loop device. Since the loop device does not manage partitions by default, we need to reset it as follows. # modinfo -p loop # verify kernel capability max_part:Maximum number of partitions per loop device max_loop:Maximum number of loop devices # losetup -a # verify nothing using the loop device # rmmod loop # modprobe loop max_part=16 Now, the loop device can manage up to 16 partitions. # losetup -v -f disk.img Loop device is /dev/loop0 # fdisk -l /dev/loop0 Disk /dev/loop0: 5368 MB, 5368709120 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 652 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Disk identifier: 0x452b6464 Device Boot Start End /dev/loop0p1 1 600 /dev/loop0p2 601 652 # mkdir -p /mnt/loop0p1 # mount -t ext3 /dev/loop0p1 /mnt/loop0p1 # mkdir -p /mnt/loop0p2 # mount -t ext3 /dev/loop0p2 /mnt/loop0p2 ...hack...hack...hack # umount /dev/loop0p1 # umount /dev/loop0p2 # losetup -d /dev/loop0 Blocks 4819468+ 417690 Id 83 83 System Linux Linux

Alternatively, similar effects can be done by using the device mapper devices created by kpartx(8) from the kpartx package as follows. # kpartx -a -v disk.img ... # mkdir -p /mnt/loop0p2 # mount -t ext3 /dev/mapper/loop0p2 /mnt/loop0p2 ... ...hack...hack...hack # umount /dev/mapper/loop0p2 ... # kpartx -d /mnt/loop0

Note
You can mount a single partition of such disk image with loop device using offset to skip MBR etc., too. But this is more error prone.

10.2.4. Cleaning a disk image file

A disk image file, "disk.img" can be cleaned of all removed files into clean sparse image "new.img" by the following. # # # # # # # # # mkdir old; mkdir new mount -t auto -o loop disk.img old dd bs=1 count=0 if=/dev/zero of=new.img seek=5G mount -t auto -o loop new.img new cd old cp -a --sparse=always ./ ../new/ cd .. umount new.img umount disk.img

If "disk.img" is in ext2 or ext3, you can also use zerofree(8) from the zerofree package as follows. # losetup -f -v disk.img Loop device is /dev/loop3 # zerofree /dev/loop3 # cp --sparse=always disk.img new.img

10.2.5. Making the empty disk image file

The empty disk image "disk.img" which can grow up to 5GiB can be made using dd(1) as follows. $ dd bs=1 count=0 if=/dev/zero of=disk.img seek=5G You can create an ext3 filesystem on this disk image "disk.img" using the loop device as follows. # losetup -f -v disk.img Loop device is /dev/loop1 # mkfs.ext3 /dev/loop1 ...hack...hack...hack # losetup -d /dev/loop1 $ du --apparent-size -h disk.img 5.0G disk.img $ du -h disk.img 83M disk.img For "disk.img", its file size is 5.0 GiB and its actual disk usage is mere 83MiB. This discrepancy is possible since ext2fs can hold sparse file.

Tip
The actual disk usage of sparse file grows with data which are written to it. Using similar operation on devices created by the loop device or the device mapper devices as Section 10.2.3, Mounting the disk image file, you can partition this disk image "disk.img" using parted(8) or fdisk(8), and can create filesystem on it using mkfs.ext3(8), mkswap(8), etc.

10.2.6. Making the ISO9660 image file

The ISO9660 image file, "cd.iso", from the source directory tree at "source_directory" can be made using genisoimage(1) provided by cdrkit by the following. # genisoimage -r -J -T -V volume_id -o cd.iso source_directory

Similarly, the bootable ISO9660 image file, "cdboot.iso", can be made from debian-installer like directory tree at "source_directory" by the following. # genisoimage -r -o cdboot.iso -V volume_id \ -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat \ -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table source_directory

Here Isolinux boot loader (see Section 3.3, Stage 2: the boot loader) is used for booting. You can calculate the md5sum value and make the ISO9660 image directly from the CD-ROM device as follows. $ isoinfo -d -i /dev/cdrom CD-ROM is in ISO 9660 format ... Logical block size is: 2048 Volume size is: 23150592 ... # dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=2048 count=23150592 conv=notrunc,noerror | md5sum # dd if=/dev/cdrom bs=2048 count=23150592 conv=notrunc,noerror > cd.iso

Warning
You must carefully avoid ISO9660 filesystem read ahead bug of Linux as above to get the right result.

10.2.7. Writing directly to the CD/DVD-R/RW Tip

DVD is only a large CD to wodim(1) provided by cdrkit. You can find a usable device by the following. # wodim --devices Then the blank CD-R is inserted to the CD drive, and the ISO9660 image file, "cd.iso" is written to this device, e.g., "/dev/hda", using wodim(1) by the following. # wodim -v -eject dev=/dev/hda cd.iso If CD-RW is used instead of CD-R, do this instead by the following. # wodim -v -eject blank=fast dev=/dev/hda cd.iso

Tip
If your desktop system mounts CD automatically, unmount it by "sudo unmount /dev/hda" before using wodim(1).

10.2.8. Mounting the ISO9660 image file

If "cd.iso" contains an ISO9660 image, then the following manually mounts it to "/cdrom". # mount -t iso9660 -o ro,loop cd.iso /cdrom

Tip
Modern desktop system mounts removable media automatically (see Section 10.1.10, Removable storage device).

10.3. The binary data

Here, we discuss direct manipulations of the binary data on storage media. See Section 9.3, Data storage tips, too.

10.3.1. Viewing and editing binary data

The most basic viewing method of binary data is to use "od -t x1" command. Table 10.7. List of packages which view and edit binary data package coreutils * bsdmainutils * hexedit * bless * okteta * popcon V:92, I:99 V:81, I:99 V:0.3, I:1.9 V:0.4, I:3 size 13828 768 108 2528 description basic package which has od(1) to dump files (HEX, ASCII, OCTAL, ) utility package which has hd(1) to dump files (HEX, ASCII, OCTAL, ) binary editor and viewer (HEX, ASCII) full featured hexadecimal editor (GNOME) full featured hexadecimal editor (KDE4) binary editor and viewer (HEX, ASCII, EBCDIC) Linux Disk Editor binary editor and viewer (HEX, ASCII, EBCDIC, OCTAL, ) hexadecimal dumping tool (support Japanese 2 byte codes)

V:0.08, I:0.3 1232

ncurses-hexedit V:0.07, I:0.5 192 * lde * beav * hex * V:0.04, I:0.3 992 V:0.03, I:0.3 164 V:0.01, I:0.09 84

Tip
HEX is used as an acronym for hexadecimal format with radix 16. OCTAL is for octal format with radix 8. ASCII is for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, i.e., normal English text code. EBCDIC is for Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code used on IBM mainframe operating systems.

10.3.2. Manipulating files without mounting disk

There are tools to read and write files without mounting disk. Table 10.8. List of packages to manipulate files without mounting disk package mtools * popcon V:4, I:42 size description 408 utilities for MSDOS files without mounting them

hfsutils * V:0.19, I:1.6 236 utilities for HFS and HFS+ files without mounting them

10.3.3. Data redundancy

Software RAID systems offered by the Linux kernel provide data redundancy in the kernel filesystem level to achieve high levels of storage reliability. There are tools to add data redundancy to files in application program level to achieve high levels of storage reliability, too. Table 10.9. List of tools to add data redundancy to files package par2 * dvbackup * vdmfec * popcon V:0.5, I:1.7 size description 272 Parity Archive Volume Set, for checking and repair of files backup tool using MiniDV camcorders (providing rsbep(1)) recover lost blocks using Forward Error Correction

dvdisaster * V:0.14, I:0.7

1388 data loss/scratch/aging protection for CD/DVD media

V:0.01, I:0.09 544 V:0.00, I:0.02 88

10.3.4. Data file recovery and forensic analysis

There are tools for data file recovery and forensic analysis. Table 10.10. List of packages for data file recovery and forensic analysis package testdisk * magicrescue * scalpel * myrescue * recover * e2undel * ext3grep * gzrt * sleuthkit * autopsy * foremost * guymager * tct * dcfldd * rdd * popcon V:0.3, I:3 V:0.07, I:0.5 V:0.03, I:0.2 V:0.07, I:0.6 V:0.07, I:0.5 V:0.08, I:0.6 size description 4620 utilities for partition scan and disk recovery 344 124 104 244 300 80 540 140 604 124 utility to recover files by looking for magic bytes frugal, high performance file carver rescue data from damaged harddisks utility to undelete files on the ext2 filesystem utility to undelete files on the ext2 filesystem tool to help recover deleted files on the ext3 filesystem data recovery program for NTFS filesystems gzip recovery toolkit tools for forensics analysis. (Sleuthkit) forensics application to recover data forensic imaging tool based on Qt forensics related utilities enhanced version of dd for forensics and security forensic copy program

V:0.02, I:0.18 84

scrounge-ntfs * V:0.03, I:0.4 V:0.13, I:0.7 V:0.07, I:0.4 V:0.11, I:0.8 V:0.03, I:0.2 V:0.03, I:0.2

V:0.01, I:0.12 68

1372 graphical interface to SleuthKit

V:0.00, I:0.02 688

V:0.01, I:0.11 200

10.3.5. Splitting a large file into small files

When a data is too big to backup as a single file, you can backup its content after splitting it into, e.g. 2000MiB chunks and merge those chunks back into the original file later. $ split -b 2000m large_file $ cat x* >large_file

Caution
Please make sure you do not have any files starting with "x" to avoid name crashes.

10.3.6. Clearing file contents

In order to clear the contents of a file such as a log file, do not use rm(1) to delete the file and then create a new empty file, because the file may still be accessed in the interval between commands. The following is the safe way to clear the contents of the file. $ :>file_to_be_cleared

10.3.7. Dummy files

The following commands create dummy or empty files. $ $ $ $ dd if=/dev/zero of=5kb.file bs=1k count=5 dd if=/dev/urandom of=7mb.file bs=1M count=7 touch zero.file : > alwayszero.file

You should find following files. "5kb.file" is 5KB of zeros. "7mb.file" is 7MB of random data. "zero.file" may be a 0 byte file. If it existed, its mtime is updated while its content and its length are kept. "alwayszero.file" is always a 0 byte file. If it existed, its mtime is updated and its content is reset.

10.3.8. Erasing an entire hard disk

There are several ways to completely erase data from an entire hard disk like device, e.g., USB memory stick at "/dev/sda".

Caution
Check your USB memory stick location with mount(8) first before executing commands here. The device pointed by "/dev/sda" may be SCSI hard disk or serial-ATA hard disk where your entire system resides. Erase all the disk content by resetting data to 0 with the following. # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda Erase all by overwriting random data with the following. # dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda Erase all by overwriting random data very efficiently with the following. # shred -v -n 1 /dev/sda Since dd(1) is available from the shell of many bootable Linux CDs such as Debian installer CD, you can erase your installed system completely by running an erase command from such media on the system hard disk, e.g., "/dev/hda", "/dev/sda", etc.

10.3.9. Erasing unused area of an hard disk

Unused area on an hard disk (or USB memory stick), e.g. "/dev/sdb1" may still contain erased data themselves since they are only unlinked from the filesystem. These can be cleaned by overwriting them. # mount -t auto /dev/sdb1 /mnt/foo # cd /mnt/foo # dd if=/dev/zero of=junk dd: writing to `junk': No space left on device ... # sync # umount /dev/sdb1

Warning
This is usually a good enough for your USB memory stick. But this is not perfect. Most parts of erased filenames and their attributes may be hidden and remain in the filesystem.

10.3.10. Undeleting deleted but still open files

Even if you have accidentally deleted a file, as long as that file is still being used by some application (read or write mode), it is possible to recover such a file. For example, try the following $ echo foo > bar $ less bar $ ps aux | grep ' less[ ]' bozo 4775 0.0 0.0 92200 884 pts/8 S+ 00:18 0:00 less bar $ rm bar $ ls -l /proc/4775/fd | grep bar lr-x------ 1 bozo bozo 64 2008-05-09 00:19 4 -> /home/bozo/bar (deleted) $ cat /proc/4775/fd/4 >bar $ ls -l -rw-r--r-- 1 bozo bozo 4 2008-05-09 00:25 bar $ cat bar foo Execute on another terminal (when you have the lsof package installed) as follows. $ ls -li bar 2228329 -rw-r--r-- 1 bozo bozo 4 2008-05-11 11:02 bar $ lsof |grep bar|grep less less 4775 bozo 4r REG 8,3 4 2228329 /home/bozo/bar $ rm bar $ lsof |grep bar|grep less less 4775 bozo 4r REG 8,3 4 2228329 /home/bozo/bar (deleted) $ cat /proc/4775/fd/4 >bar $ ls -li bar 2228302 -rw-r--r-- 1 bozo bozo 4 2008-05-11 11:05 bar $ cat bar foo

10.3.11. Searching all hardlinks

Files with hardlinks can be identified by "ls -li". $ ls -li total 0 2738405 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2008-09-15 20:21 bar 2738404 -rw-r--r-- 2 root root 0 2008-09-15 20:21 baz 2738404 -rw-r--r-- 2 root root 0 2008-09-15 20:21 foo

Both "baz" and "foo" have link counts of "2" (>1) showing them to have hardlinks. Their inode numbers are common "2738404". This means they are the same hardlinked file. If you do not happen to find all hardlinked files by chance, you can search it by the inode, e.g., "2738404" as the following. # find /path/to/mount/point -xdev -inum 2738404

10.3.12. Invisible disk space consumption

All deleted but open files consumes disk space although they are not visible from normal du(1). They can be listed with their size by the following. # lsof -s -X / |grep deleted

10.4. Data security infrastructure

The data security infrastructure is provided by the combination of data encryption tool, message digest tool, and signature tool. Table 10.11. List of data security infrastructure tools command gpg(1) N/A gpgv(1) paperkey(1) package gnupg * gnupg-doc * gpgv * paperkey * popcon V:43, I:99 I:1.1 V:59, I:99 V:0.01, I:0.10 V:3, I:5 size 5288 4124 436 88 1172 description GNU Privacy Guard - OpenPGP encryption and signing tool GNU Privacy Guard documentation GNU Privacy Guard - signature verification tool extract just the secret information out of OpenPGP secret keys utilities for dm-crypto block device encryption supporting LUKS utilities for ecryptfs stacked filesystem encryption

cryptsetup(8), cryptsetup * ecryptfs(7), md5sum(1) sha1sum(1) openssl(1ssl) ecryptfsutils * coreutils * coreutils * openssl *

V:0.2, I:0.3 416 V:92, I:99 V:92, I:99 V:56, I:91

13828 compute and check MD5 message digest 13828 compute and checks SHA1 message digest 2380 compute message digest with "openssl dgst" (OpenSSL)

See Section 9.4, Data encryption tips on dm-crypto and ecryptfs which implement automatic data encryption infrastructure via Linux kernel modules.

10.4.1. Key management for GnuPG

Here are GNU Privacy Guard commands for the basic key management. Table 10.12. List of GNU Privacy Guard commands for the key management command gpg --gen-key gpg --edit-key user_ID gpg -o file --exports gpg --imports file gpg --send-keys user_ID gpg --recv-keys user_ID gpg --list-keys user_ID gpg --list-sigs user_ID gpg --check-sigs user_ID gpg --fingerprint user_ID gpg --refresh-keys description generate a new key edit key interactively, "help" for help export all keys to file import all keys from file send key of user_ID to keyserver recv. key of user_ID from keyserver list keys of user_ID list sig. of user_ID check sig. of user_ID check fingerprint of user_ID update local keyring

gpg --gen-revoke my_user_ID generate revoke key for my_user_ID

Here is the meaning of the trust code. Table 10.13. List of the meaning of the trust code code description of trust e q n m f u no owner trust assigned / not yet calculated trust calculation failed not enough information for calculation never trust this key marginally trusted fully trusted ultimately trusted

The following uploads my key "1DD8D791" to the popular keyserver "hkp://keys.gnupg.net". $ gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --send-keys 1DD8D791 A good default keyserver set up in "~/.gnupg/gpg.conf" (or old location "~/.gnupg/options") contains the following. keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net The following obtains unknown keys from the keyserver. $ gpg --list-sigs --with-colons | grep '^sig.*\[User ID not found\]' |\ cut -d ':' -f 5| sort | uniq | xargs gpg --recv-keys There was a bug in OpenPGP Public Key Server (pre version 0.9.6) which corrupted key with more than 2 sub-keys. The newer gnupg (>1.2.1-2) package can handle these corrupted subkeys. See gpg(1) under "-repair-pks-subkey-bug" option.

10.4.2. Using GnuPG on files

Here are examples for using GNU Privacy Guard commands on files. Table 10.14. List of GNU Privacy Guard commands on files command gpg -a -s file gpg --armor --sign file gpg --clearsign file gpg --clearsign file|mail [email protected] gpg --clearsign --not-dash-escaped patchfile gpg --verify file gpg -o file.sig -b file gpg -o file.sig --detach-sig file gpg --verify file.sig file gpg -o crypt_file.gpg -r name -e file gpg -o crypt_file.gpg --recipient name --encrypt file gpg -o crypt_file.asc -a -r name -e file gpg -o crypt_file.gpg -c file gpg -o crypt_file.gpg --symmetric file gpg -o crypt_file.asc -a -c file description sign file into ASCII armored file.asc ,, clear-sign message mail a clear-signed message to [email protected] clear-sign patchfile verify clear-signed file create detached signature ,, verify file with file.sig public-key encryption intended for name from file to binary crypt_file.gpg ,, public-key encryption intended for name from file to ASCII armored crypt_file.asc symmetric encryption from file to crypt_file.gpg ,, symmetric encryption intended for name from file to ASCII armored crypt_file.asc ,,

gpg -o file -d crypt_file.gpg -r name decryption gpg -o file --decrypt crypt_file.gpg

10.4.3. Using GnuPG with Mutt

Add the following to "~/.muttrc" to keep a slow GnuPG from automatically starting, while allowing it to be used by typing "S" at the index menu. macro index S ":toggle pgp_verify_sig\n" set pgp_verify_sig=no

10.4.4. Using GnuPG with Vim

The gnupg plugin let you run GnuPG transparently for files with extension ".gpg", ".asc", and ".ppg". # aptitude install vim-scripts vim-addon-manager $ vim-addons install gnupg

10.4.5. The MD5 sum

md5sum(1) provides utility to make a digest file using the method in rfc1321 and verifying each file with it. $ md5sum foo bar >baz.md5 $ cat baz.md5 d3b07384d113edec49eaa6238ad5ff00 c157a79031e1c40f85931829bc5fc552 $ md5sum -c baz.md5 foo: OK bar: OK

foo bar

Note
The computation for the MD5 sum is less CPU intensive than the one for the cryptographic

signature by GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG). Usually, only the top level digest file is cryptographically signed to ensure data integrity.

10.5. Source code merge tools

There are many merge tools for the source code. Following commands caught my eyes. Table 10.15. List of source code merge tools command diff(1) diff3(1) vimdiff(1) patch(1) dpatch(1) diffstat(1) package diff * diff * vim * patch * dpatch * popcon V:68, I:85 V:68, I:85 V:15, I:33 V:10, I:92 V:1.4, I:11 size description 36 36 244 344 92 292 292 292 292 292 292 292 292 292 292 292 292 232 872 compare files line by line compare and merges three files line by line apply a diff file to an original manage series of patches for Debian package produce a histogram of changes by the diff create a cumulative patch from two incremental patches extract a diff from an HTML page extract or excludes diffs from a diff file fix diff files created by CVS that patch(1) mis-interprets exchange the order of two patches show which files are modified by a patch matching a regex show differences between two unified diff files show which files are modified by a patch recompute counts and offsets in unified context diffs fix offsets and counts of a hand-edited diff separate out incremental patches demangle patches that have been word-wrapped apply rejected patches manage series of patches

1792 compare 2 files side by side in vim

diffstat * V:2, I:15

patchutils combinediff(1) V:1.8, I:14 * dehtmldiff(1) filterdiff(1) fixcvsdiff(1) flipdiff(1) grepdiff(1) interdiff(1) lsdiff(1) recountdiff(1) rediff(1) splitdiff(1) unwrapdiff(1) wiggle(1) quilt(1) meld(1) xxdiff(1) dirdiff(1) docdiff(1) imediff2(1) makepatch(1) applypatch(1) wdiff(1) patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * patchutils V:1.8, I:14 * wiggle * quilt * meld * xxdiff * dirdiff * docdiff * imediff2 * makepatch * makepatch * wdiff * V:0.01, I:0.11 V:1.5, I:9 V:0.7, I:2 V:0.08, I:0.6 V:0.01, I:0.14 V:0.02, I:0.10 V:0.01, I:0.17 V:0.01, I:0.17 V:1.6, I:14

2576 compare and merge files (GTK) display differences and merge changes between directory trees compare two files word by word / char by char interactive full screen 2-way merge tool generate extended patch files apply extended patch files

V:0.2, I:1.3 1352 compare and merge files (plain X) 224 688 76 148 148

1024 display word differences between text files

10.5.1. Extracting differences for source files

One of following procedures extract differences between two source files and create unified diff files "file.patch0" or "file.patch1" depending on the file location. $ diff -u file.old file.new > file.patch0 $ diff -u old/file new/file > file.patch1

10.5.2. Merging updates for source files

The diff file (alternatively called patch file) is used to send a program update. The receiving party applies this update to another file by the following. $ patch -p0 file < file.patch0 $ patch -p1 file < file.patch1

10.5.3. Updating via 3-way-merge

If you have three versions of a source code, you can perform 3-way-merge effectively using diff3(1) by the following. $ diff3 -m file.mine file.old file.yours > file

10.6. Version control systems

Here is a summary of the version control systems (VCS) on the Debian system.

Note
If you are new to VCS systems, you should start learning with Git, which is growing fast in popularity. Table 10.16. List of version control system tools package cssc * rcs * cvs * popcon V:0.00, I:0.04 V:1.3, I:7 V:3, I:21 size 2240 772 3660 4288 tool CSSC RCS CVS VCS type comment local local remote clone of the Unix SCCS (deprecated) "Unix SCCS done right" previous standard remote VCS "CVS done right", the new de facto standard remote VCS fast DVCS in C (used by the Linux kernel and others)

subversion V:10, I:31 * git * mercurial * bzr * darcs * tla * monotone * tkcvs * gitk * V:5, I:17 V:1.8, I:6 V:1.1, I:3 V:0.19, I:1.4 V:0.17, I:1.4 V:0.04, I:0.3 V:0.08, I:0.4 V:0.8, I:4

Subversion remote distributed

10632 Git 368 Mercurial

distributed DVCS in Python and some C distributed DVCS influenced by tla written in Python (used by Ubuntu)

16220 Bazaar 9504 932 5272 2476 900 Darcs GNU arch Monotone CVS, Git

distributed DVCS with smart algebra of patches (slow) distributed DVCS mainly by Tom Lord (Historic) distributed DVCS in C++ remote GUI display of VCS (CVS, Subversion, RCS) repository tree

distributed GUI display of VCS (Git) repository tree

VCS is sometimes known as revision control system (RCS), or software configuration management (SCM). Distributed VCS such as Git is the tool of choice these days. CVS and Subversion may still be useful to join some existing open source program activities. Debian provides free VCS services via Debian Alioth service. It supports practically all VCSs. Its documentation can be found at http://wiki.debian.org/Alioth .

Caution
The git package was "GNU Interactive Tools" and the git-core package was DVCS in lenny. There are few basics for creating a shared access VCS archive. Use "umask 002" (see Section 1.2.4, Control of permissions for newly created files: umask) Make all VCS archive files belonging to a pertinent group Enable set group ID on all VCS archive directories (BSD-like file creation scheme, see Section 1.2.3, Filesystem permissions) Make user sharing the VCS archive belonging to the group

10.6.1. Comparison of VCS commands

Here is an oversimplified comparison of native VCS commands to provide the big picture. The typical command sequence may require options and arguments. Table 10.17. Comparison of native VCS commands CVS Subversion Git function create the (local) repository login to the remote repository check out the remote repository as the working tree update the working tree by merging the remote repository add file(s) in the working tree to the VCS

cvs init svn create git init cvs login cvs co cvs up cvs add svn co svn up svn add git clone git pull git add .

cvs rm cvs ci cvs status

svn rm svn ci -

git rm git commit -a git push

remove file(s) in working tree from the VCS commit changes to the remote repository commit changes to the local repository update the remote repository by the local repository display the working tree status from the VCS diff <reference_repository> <working_tree> repack the local repository into single pack GUI display of VCS repository tree

svn status git status git diff git repack -a -d; git prune gitk

cvs diff svn diff tkcvs tkcvs

Caution
Invoking a git subcommand directly as "git-xyz" from the command line has been deprecated since early 2006.

Tip
GUI tools such as tkcvs(1) and gitk(1) really help you with tracking revision history of files. The web interface provided by many public archives for browsing their repositories is also quite useful, too.

Tip
Git can work directly with different VCS repositories such as ones provided by CVS and Subversion, and provides the local repository for local changes with git-cvs and git-svn packages. See git for CVS users, and Section 10.9.4, Git for the Subversion repository.

Tip
Git has commands which have no equivalents in CVS and Subversion: "fetch", "rebase", "cherry-pick",

10.7. CVS
See the following. cvs(1) "/usr/share/doc/cvs/html-cvsclient" "/usr/share/doc/cvs/html-info" "/usr/share/doc/cvsbook" "info cvs"

10.7.1. Configuration of CVS repository

The following configuration allows commits to the CVS repository only by a member of the "src" group, and administration of CVS only by a member of the "staff" group, thus reducing the chance of shooting oneself. # # # # # # # # # # # # cd /var/lib; umask 002; mkdir cvs export CVSROOT=/srv/cvs/project cd $CVSROOT chown root:src . chmod 2775 . cvs -d $CVSROOT init cd CVSROOT chown -R root:staff . chmod 2775 . touch val-tags chmod 664 history val-tags chown root:src history val-tags

Tip
You may restrict creation of new project by changing the owner of "$CVSROOT" directory to "root:staff" and its permission to "3775".

10.7.2. Local access to CVS

The default CVS repository is pointed by "$CVSROOT". The following sets up "$CVSROOT" for the local access. $ export CVSROOT=/srv/cvs/project

10.7.3. Remote access to CVS with pserver

Many public CVS servers provide read-only remote access to them with account name "anonymous" via pserver service. For example, Debian web site contents are maintained by webwml project via CVS at Debian alioth service. The following sets up "$CVSROOT" for the remote access to this CVS repository. $ export CVSROOT=:pserver:[email protected]:/cvsroot/webwml $ cvs login

Note
Since pserver is prone to eavesdropping attack and insecure, write access is usually disable by server administrators.

10.7.4. Remote access to CVS with ssh

The following sets up "$CVS_RSH" and "$CVSROOT" for the remote access to the CVS repository by webwml project with SSH. $ export CVS_RSH=ssh $ export CVSROOT=:ext:[email protected]:/cvs/webwml You can also use public key authentication for SSH which eliminates the remote password prompt.

10.7.5. Importing a new source to CVS

Create a new local source tree location at "~/path/to/module1" by the following. $ mkdir -p ~/path/to/module1; cd ~/path/to/module1 Populate a new local source tree under "~/path/to/module1" with files. Import it to CVS with the following parameters. Module name: "module1" Vendor tag: "Main-branch" (tag for the entire branch) Release tag: "Release-initial" (tag for a specific release) $ cd ~/path/to/module1 $ cvs import -m "Start module1" module1 Main-branch Release-initial $ rm -Rf . # optional

10.7.6. File permissions in CVS repository

CVS does not overwrite the current repository file but replaces it with another one. Thus, write permission to the repository directory is critical. For every new module for "module1" in repository at "/srv/cvs/project", run the following to ensure this condition if needed. # # # # cd /srv/cvs/project chown -R root:src module1 chmod -R ug+rwX module1 chmod 2775 module1

10.7.7. Work flow of CVS

Here is an example of typical work flow using CVS. Check all available modules from CVS project pointed by "$CVSROOT" by the following. $ cvs rls CVSROOT module1 module2 ... Checkout "module1" to its default directory "./module1" by the following. $ cd ~/path/to $ cvs co module1 $ cd module1 Make changes to the content as needed. Check changes by making "diff -u [repository] [local]" equivalent by the following. $ cvs diff -u You find that you broke some file "file_to_undo" severely but other files are fine. Overwrite "file_to_undo" file with the clean copy from CVS by the following. $ cvs up -C file_to_undo Save the updated local source tree to CVS by the following. $ cvs ci -m "Describe change" Create and add "file_to_add" file to CVS by the following. $ vi file_to_add $ cvs add file_to_add $ cvs ci -m "Added file_to_add" Merge the latest version from CVS by the following. $ cvs up -d Watch out for lines starting with "C filename" which indicates conflicting changes. Look for unmodified code in ".#filename.version".

Search for "<<<<<<<" and ">>>>>>>" in files for conflicting changes. Edit files to fix conflicts as needed. Add a release tag "Release-1" by the following. $ cvs ci -m "last commit for Release-1" $ cvs tag Release-1 Edit further. Remove the release tag "Release-1" by the following. $ cvs tag -d Release-1 Check in changes to CVS by the following. $ cvs ci -m "real last commit for Release-1" Re-add the release tag "Release-1" to updated CVS HEAD of main by the following. $ cvs tag Release-1 Create a branch with a sticky branch tag "Release-initial-bugfixes" from the original version pointed by the tag "Release-initial" and check it out to "~/path/to/old" directory by the following. $ $ $ $ cvs rtag -b -r Release-initial Release-initial-bugfixes module1 cd ~/path/to cvs co -r Release-initial-bugfixes -d old module1 cd old

Tip
Use "-D 2005-12-20" (ISO 8601 date format) instead of "-r Release-initial" to specify particular date as the branch point. Work on this local source tree having the sticky tag "Release-initial-bugfixes" which is based on the original version. Work on this branch by yourself until someone else joins to this "Release-initial-bugfixes" branch. Sync with files modified by others on this branch while creating new directories as needed by the following. $ cvs up -d Edit files to fix conflicts as needed. Check in changes to CVS by the following. $ cvs ci -m "checked into this branch" Update the local tree by HEAD of main while removing sticky tag ("-A") and without keyword expansion ("kk") by the following. $ cvs up -d -kk -A Update the local tree (content = HEAD of main) by merging from the "Release-initial-bugfixes" branch and without keyword expansion by the following. $ cvs up -d -kk -j Release-initial-bugfixes Fix conflicts with editor. Check in changes to CVS by the following. $ cvs ci -m "merged Release-initial-bugfixes" Make archive by the following. $ $ $ $ cd .. mv old old-module1-bugfixes tar -cvzf old-module1-bugfixes.tar.gz old-module1-bugfixes rm -rf old-module1-bugfixes

Tip
"cvs up" command can take "-d" option to create new directories and "-P" option to prune empty directories.

Tip
You can checkout only a sub directory of "module1" by providing its name as "cvs co module1/subdir". Table 10.18. Notable options for CVS commands (use as first argument(s) to cvs(1)) option meaning -n -t dry run, no effect display messages showing steps of cvs activity

10.7.8. Latest files from CVS

To get the latest files from CVS, use "tomorrow" by the following. $ cvs ex -D tomorrow module_name

10.7.9. Administration of CVS

Add module alias "mx" to a CVS project (local server) by the following. $ $ $ $ $ $ export CVSROOT=/srv/cvs/project cvs co CVSROOT/modules cd CVSROOT echo "mx -a module1" >>modules cvs ci -m "Now mx is an alias for module1" cvs release -d .

Now, you can check out "module1" (alias: "mx") from CVS to "new" directory by the following. $ cvs co -d new mx $ cd new

Note
In order to perform above procedure, you should have appropriate file permissions.

10.7.10. Execution bit for CVS checkout

When you checkout files from CVS, their execution permission bit is retained. Whenever you see execution permission problems in a checked out file, e.g. "filename", change its permission in the corresponding CVS repository by the following to fix it. # chmod ugo-x filename

10.8. Subversion
Subversion is a recent-generation version control system replacing older CVS. It has most of CVS's features except tags and branches. You need to install subversion, libapache2-svn and subversion-tools packages to set up a Subversion server.

10.8.1. Configuration of Subversion repository

Currently, the subversion package does not set up a repository, so one must set it up manually. One possible location for a repository is in "/srv/svn/project". Create a directory by the following. # mkdir -p /srv/svn/project

Create the repository database by the following. # svnadmin create /srv/svn/project

10.8.2. Access to Subversion via Apache2 server

If you only access Subversion repository via Apache2 server, you just need to make the repository only writable by the WWW server by the following. # chown -R www-data:www-data /srv/svn/project Add (or uncomment) the following in "/etc/apache2/mods-available/dav_svn.conf" to allow access to the repository via user authentication. <Location /project> DAV svn SVNPath /srv/svn/project AuthType Basic AuthName "Subversion repository" AuthUserFile /etc/subversion/passwd <LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT> Require valid-user </LimitExcept> </Location> Create a user authentication file with the command by the following. # htpasswd2 -c /etc/subversion/passwd some-username Restart Apache2. Your new Subversion repository is accessible at URL "http://localhost/project" and "http://example.com/project" from svn(1) (assuming your URL of web server is "http://example.com/").

10.8.3. Local access to Subversion by group

The following sets up Subversion repository for the local access by a group, e.g. project. # chmod 2775 /srv/svn/project # chown -R root:src /srv/svn/project # chmod -R ug+rwX /srv/svn/project Your new Subversion repository is group accessible at URL "file:///localhost/srv/svn/project" or "file:///srv/svn/project" from svn(1) for local users belonging to project group. You must run commands, such as svn, svnserve, svnlook, and svnadmin under "umask 002" to ensure group access.

10.8.4. Remote access to Subversion via SSH

A group accessible Subversion repository is at URL "example.com:/srv/svn/project" for SSH, you can access it from svn(1) at URL "svn+ssh://example.com:/srv/svn/project".

10.8.5. Subversion directory structure

Many projects uses directory tree similar to the following for Subversion to compensate its lack of branches and tags. ----| | | | | | | | | | `-module1 |-- branches |-- tags | |-- release-1.0 | `-- release-2.0 | `-- trunk |-- file1 |-- file2 `-- file3 module2

Tip
You must use "svn copy " command to mark branches and tags. This ensures Subversion to record modification history of files properly and saves storage spaces.

10.8.6. Importing a new source to Subversion

Create a new local source tree location at "~/path/to/module1" by the following. $ mkdir -p ~/path/to/module1; cd ~/path/to/module1 Populate a new local source tree under "~/path/to/module1" with files. Import it to Subversion with the following parameters. Module name: "module1" Subversion site URL: "file:///srv/svn/project" Subversion directory: "module1/trunk" Subversion tag: "module1/tags/Release-initial" $ cd ~/path/to/module1 $ svn import file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk -m "Start module1" $ svn cp file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk file:///srv/svn/project/module1/tags/Release-initial Alternatively, by the following. $ svn import ~/path/to/module1 file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk -m "Start module1" $ svn cp file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk file:///srv/svn/project/module1/tags/Release-initial

Tip
You can replace URLs such as "file:///" by any other URL formats such as "http://" and "svn+ssh://".

10.8.7. Work flow of Subversion

Here is an example of typical work flow using Subversion with its native client.

Tip
Client commands offered by the git-svn package may offer alternative work flow of Subversion using the git command. See Section 10.9.4, Git for the Subversion repository. Check all available modules from Subversion project pointed by URL "file:///srv/svn/project" by the following. $ svn list file:///srv/svn/project module1 module2 ... Checkout "module1/trunk" to a directory "module1" by the following.

$ cd ~/path/to $ svn co file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk module1 $ cd module1 Make changes to the content as needed. Check changes by making "diff -u [repository] [local]" equivalent by the following. $ svn diff You find that you broke some file "file_to_undo" severely but other files are fine. Overwrite "file_to_undo" file with the clean copy from Subversion by the following. $ svn revert file_to_undo Save the updated local source tree to Subversion by the following. $ svn ci -m "Describe change" Create and add "file_to_add" file to Subversion by the following. $ vi file_to_add $ svn add file_to_add $ svn ci -m "Added file_to_add" Merge the latest version from Subversion by the following. $ svn up Watch out for lines starting with "C filename" which indicates conflicting changes. Look for unmodified code in, e.g., "filename.r6", "filename.r9", and "filename.mine". Search for "<<<<<<<" and ">>>>>>>" in files for conflicting changes. Edit files to fix conflicts as needed. Add a release tag "Release-1" by the following. $ svn ci -m "last commit for Release-1" $ svn cp file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk file:///srv/svn/project/module1/tags/Release-1 Edit further. Remove the release tag "Release-1" by the following. $ svn rm file:///srv/svn/project/module1/tags/Release-1 Check in changes to Subversion by the following. $ svn ci -m "real last commit for Release-1" Re-add the release tag "Release-1" from updated Subversion HEAD of trunk by the following. $ svn cp file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk file:///srv/svn/project/module1/tags/Release-1 Create a branch with a path "module1/branches/Release-initial-bugfixes" from the original version pointed by the path "module1/tags/Release-initial" and check it out to "~/path/to/old" directory by the following. $ $ $ $ svn cp file:///srv/svn/project/module1/tags/Release-initial file:///srv/svn/project/module1/branches/Release-initial-bugfixes cd ~/path/to svn co file:///srv/svn/project/module1/branches/Release-initial-bugfixes old cd old

Tip
Use "module1/trunk@{2005-12-20}" (ISO 8601 date format) instead of "module1/tags/Release-initial" to specify particular date as the branch point. Work on this local source tree pointing to branch "Release-initial-bugfixes" which is based on the original version. Work on this branch by yourself until someone else joins to this "Release-initial-bugfixes" branch. Sync with files modified by others on this branch by the following. $ svn up Edit files to fix conflicts as needed. Check in changes to Subversion by the following. $ svn ci -m "checked into this branch" Update the local tree with HEAD of trunk by the following. $ svn switch file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk Update the local tree (content = HEAD of trunk) by merging from the "Release-initial-bugfixes" branch by the following.

$ svn merge file:///srv/svn/project/module1/branches/Release-initial-bugfixes Fix conflicts with editor. Check in changes to Subversion by the following. $ svn ci -m "merged Release-initial-bugfixes" Make archive by the following. $ $ $ $ cd .. mv old old-module1-bugfixes tar -cvzf old-module1-bugfixes.tar.gz old-module1-bugfixes rm -rf old-module1-bugfixes

Tip
You can replace URLs such as "file:///" by any other URL formats such as "http://" and "svn+ssh://".

Tip
You can checkout only a sub directory of "module1" by providing its name as "svn co file:///srv/svn/project/module1/trunk/subdir module1/subdir", etc. Table 10.19. Notable options for Subversion commands (use as first argument(s) to svn(1)) option meaning

--dry-run dry run, no effect -v display detail messages of svn activity

10.9. Git
Git can do everything for both local and remote source code management. This means that you can record the source code changes without needing network connectivity to the remote repository.

10.9.1. Configuration of Git client

You may wish to set several global configuration in "~/.gitconfig" such as your name and email address used by Git by the following. $ git config --global user.name "Name Surname" $ git config --global user.email [email protected] If you are too used to CVS or Subversion commands, you may wish to set several command aliases by the following. $ git config --global alias.ci "commit -a" $ git config --global alias.co checkout You can check your global configuration by the following. $ git config --global --list

10.9.2. Git references

See the following. manpage: git(1) (/usr/share/doc/git-doc/git.html) Git User's Manual (/usr/share/doc/git-doc/user-manual.html) A tutorial introduction to git (/usr/share/doc/git-doc/gittutorial.html) A tutorial introduction to git: part two (/usr/share/doc/git-doc/gittutorial-2.html) Everyday GIT With 20 Commands Or So (/usr/share/doc/git-doc/everyday.html) git for CVS users (/usr/share/doc/git-doc/gitcvs-migration.html) This also describes how to set up server like CVS and extract old data from CVS into Git. Other git resources available on the web Git - SVN Crash Course Git Magic (/usr/share/doc/gitmagic/html/index.html) git-gui(1) and gitk(1) commands make using Git very easy.

Warning
Do not use the tag string with spaces in it even if some tools such as gitk(1) allow you to use it. It may choke some other git commands.

10.9.3. Git commands

Even if your upstream uses different VCS, it may be good idea to use git(1) for local activity since you can manage your local copy of source tree without the network connection to the upstream. Here are some packages and commands used with git(1). Table 10.20. List of git related packages and commands

command N/A N/A git(7) gitk(1) git-gui(1) git-svnimport(1) git-svn(1) git-cvsimport(1)

package git-doc * gitmagic * git * gitk * git-gui * git-svn * git-svn * git-cvs *

popcon I:3 I:0.3 V:5, I:17 V:0.8, I:4 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.5, I:3 V:0.5, I:3 V:0.17, I:1.6 V:0.17, I:1.6 V:0.17, I:1.6 V:0.12, I:1.7 V:0.07, I:0.7

size 7436 920 10632 900 1612 552 552 676 676 676 404 1864 596 336

description official documentation for Git "Git Magic", easier to understand guide for Git Git, the fast, scalable, distributed revision control system GUI Git repository browser with history GUI for Git (No history) import the data out of Subversion into Git provide bidirectional operation between the Subversion and Git import the data out of CVS into Git export a commit to a CVS checkout from Git CVS server emulator for Git send a collection of patches as email from the Git quilt on top of git (Python) automate the Debian packaging with the Git quilt on top of git (SH/AWK/SED/)

gitgit-cvs * cvsexportcommit(1) git-cvsserver(1) git-send-email(1) stg(1) gitbuildpackage(1) guilt(7) git-cvs * git-email * stgit *

gitV:0.2, buildpackage * I:1.1 guilt * V:0.01, I:0.11

Tip
With git(1), you work on a local branch with many commits and use something like "git rebase -i master" to reorganize change history later. This enables you to make clean change history. See git-rebase(1) and git-cherry-pick(1).

Tip
When you want to go back to a clean working directory without loosing the current state of the working directory, you can use "git stash". See git-stash(1).

10.9.4. Git for the Subversion repository

You can check out a Subversion repository at "svn+ssh://svn.example.org/project/module/trunk" to a local Git repository at "./dest" and commit back to the Subversion repository. E.g.: $ git svn clone -s -rHEAD svn+ssh://svn.example.org/project dest $ cd dest ... make changes $ git commit -a ... keep working locally with git $ git svn dcommit

Tip
The use of "-rHEAD" enables us to avoid cloning entire historical contents from the Subversion repository.

10.9.5. Git for recording configuration history

You can manually record chronological history of configuration using Git tools. Here is a simple example for your practice to record "/etc/apt/" contents. $ $ $ $ $ cd /etc/apt/ sudo git init sudo chmod 700 .git sudo git add . sudo git commit -a

Commit configuration with description. Make modification to the configuration files. $ cd /etc/apt/ $ sudo git commit -a Commit configuration with description and continue your life. $ cd /etc/apt/ $ sudo gitk --all You have full configuration history with you.

Note

sudo(8) is needed to work with any file permissions of configuration data. For user configuration data, you may skip sudo.

Note
The "chmod 700 .git" command in the above example is needed to protect archive data from unauthorized read access.

Tip
For more complete setup for recording configuration history, please look for the etckeeper package: Section 9.2.10, Recording changes in configuration files.

Chapter 11. Data conversion

Tools and tips for converting data formats on the Debian system are described. Standard based tools are in very good shape but support for proprietary data formats are limited.

11.1. Text data conversion tools

Following packages for the text data conversion caught my eyes. Table 11.1. List of text data conversion tools package popcon libc6 * V:97, I:99 size keyword description text encoding converter between locales by iconv(1) (fundamental) text encoding converter between locales (versatile, more aliases and features) text encoding converter between locales (fancy) character set translator for Japanese character set translator replace accented letters by their unaccented equivalent text format converter between DOS and Unix: fromdos(1) and todos(1) text format converter between Macintosh and Unix: frommac(1) and tomac(1)

10012 charset 772 192 300 544 76 48 320 charset+eol charset charset charset charset eol eol

recode * V:1.5, I:7 konwert * nkf * tcs * V:0.4, I:4 V:0.2, I:2 V:0.02, I:0.14

unaccent V:0.01, * I:0.09 tofrodos V:1.1, I:7 * macutils V:0.05, * I:0.5

11.1.1. Converting a text file with iconv Tip

iconv(1) is provided as a part of the libc6 package and it is always available on practically all systems to convert the encoding of characters. You can convert encodings of a text file with iconv(1) by the following. $ iconv -f encoding1 -t encoding2 input.txt >output.txt Encoding values are case insensitive and ignore "-" and "_" for matching. Supported encodings can be checked by the "iconv -l" command. Table 11.2. List of encoding values and their usage encoding value ASCII. UTF-8 ISO-8859-1 ISO-8859-2 ISO-8859-15 CP850 CP932 CP936 CP949 CP950 CP1251 CP1252 KOI8-R usage American Standard Code for Information Interchange, 7 bit code w/o accented characters current multilingual standard for all modern OSs old standard for western European languages, ASCII + accented characters old standard for eastern European languages, ASCII + accented characters old standard for western European languages, ISO-8859-1 with euro sign code page 850, Microsoft DOS characters with graphics for western European languages, ISO-8859-1 variant code page 932, Microsoft Windows style Shift-JIS variant for Japanese code page 936, Microsoft Windows style GB2312, GBK or GB18030 variant for Simplified Chinese code page 949, Microsoft Windows style EUC-KR or Unified Hangul Code variant for Korean code page 950, Microsoft Windows style Big5 variant for Traditional Chinese code page 1251, Microsoft Windows style encoding for the Cyrillic alphabet code page 1252, Microsoft Windows style ISO-8859-15 variant for western European languages old Russian UNIX standard for the Cyrillic alphabet

ISO-2022-JP eucJP Shift-JIS

standard encoding for Japanese email which uses only 7 bit codes old Japanese UNIX standard 8 bit code and completely different from Shift-JIS JIS X 0208 Appendix 1 standard for Japanese (see CP932)

Note
Some encodings are only supported for the data conversion and are not used as locale values (Section 8.3.1, Basics of encoding). For character sets which fit in single byte such as ASCII and ISO-8859 character sets, the character encoding means almost the same thing as the character set. For character sets with many characters such as JIS X 0213 for Japanese or Universal Character Set (UCS, Unicode, ISO-10646-1) for practically all languages, there are many encoding schemes to fit them into the sequence of the byte data. EUC and ISO/IEC 2022 (also known as JIS X 0202) for Japanese UTF-8, UTF-16/UCS-2 and UTF-32/UCS-4 for Unicode For these, there are clear differentiations between the character set and the character encoding. The code page is used as the synonym to the character encoding tables for some vendor specific ones.

Note
Please note most encoding systems share the same code with ASCII for the 7 bit characters. But there are some exceptions. If you are converting old Japanese C programs and URLs data from the casually-called shift-JIS encoding format to UTF-8 format, use "CP932" as the encoding name instead of "shift-JIS" to get the expected results: 0x5C "\" and 0x7E "~" . Otherwise, these are converted to wrong characters.

Tip
recode(1) may be used too and offers more than the combined functionality of iconv(1), fromdos(1), todos(1), frommac(1), and tomac(1). For more, see "info recode".

11.1.2. Checking file to be UTF-8 with iconv

You can check if a text file is encoded in UTF-8 with iconv(1) by the following. $ iconv -f utf8 -t utf8 input.txt >/dev/null || echo "non-UTF-8 found"

Tip
Use "--verbose" option in the above example to find the first non-UTF-8 character.

11.1.3. Converting file names with iconv

Here is an example script to convert encoding of file names from ones created under older OS to modern UTF-8 ones in a single directory. #!/bin/sh ENCDN=iso-8859-1 for x in *; do mv "$x" $(echo "$x" | iconv -f $ENCDN -t utf-8) done The "$ENCDN" variable should be set by the encoding value in Table 11.2, List of encoding values and their usage. For more complicated case, please mount a filesystem (e.g. a partition on a disk drive) containing such file names with proper encoding as the mount(8) option (see Section 8.3.6, Filename encoding) and copy its entire contents to another filesystem mounted as UTF-8 with "cp -a" command.

11.1.4. EOL conversion

The text file format, specifically the end-of-line (EOL) code, is dependent on the platform. Table 11.3. List of EOL styles for different platforms platform Debian (unix) Apple's Macintosh EOL code control decimal hexadecimal LF CR ^J ^M^J ^M 10 13 10 13 0A 0D 0A 0D

MSDOS and Windows CR-LF

The EOL format conversion programs, fromdos(1), todos(1), frommac(1), and tomac(1), are quite handy. recode(1) is also useful.

Note
Some data on the Debian system, such as the wiki page data for the python-moinmoin package, use MSDOS style CR-LF as the EOL code. So the above rule is just a general rule.

Note
Most editors (eg. vim, emacs, gedit, ) can handle files in MSDOS style EOL transparently.

Tip
The use of "sed -e '/\r$/!s/$/\r/'" instead of todos(1) is better when you want to unify the EOL style to the MSDOS style from the mixed MSDOS and Unix style. (e.g., after merging 2 MSDOS style files with diff3(1).) This is because todos adds CR to all lines.

11.1.5. TAB conversion

There are few popular specialized programs to convert the tab codes. Table 11.4. List of TAB conversion commands from bsdmainutils and coreutils packages function expand tab to spaces bsdmainutils coreutils "col -x" expand unexpand

unexpand tab from spaces "col -h"

indent(1) from the indent package completely reformats whitespaces in the C program. Editor programs such as vim and emacs can be used for TAB conversion, too. For example with vim, you can expand TAB with ":set expandtab" and ":%retab" command sequence. You can revert this with ":set noexpandtab" and ":%retab!" command sequence.

11.1.6. Editors with auto-conversion

Intelligent modern editors such as the vim program are quite smart and copes well with any encoding systems and any file formats. You should use these editors under the UTF-8 locale in the UTF-8 capable console for the best compatibility. An old western European Unix text file, "u-file.txt", stored in the latin1 (iso-8859-1) encoding can be edited simply with vim by the following. $ vim u-file.txt This is possible since the auto detection mechanism of the file encoding in vim assumes the UTF-8 encoding first and, if it fails, assumes it to be latin1. An old Polish Unix text file, "pu-file.txt", stored in the latin2 (iso-8859-2) encoding can be edited with vim by the following. $ vim '+e ++enc=latin2 pu-file.txt' An old Japanese unix text file, "ju-file.txt", stored in the eucJP encoding can be edited with vim by the following. $ vim '+e ++enc=eucJP ju-file.txt' An old Japanese MS-Windows text file, "jw-file.txt", stored in the so called shift-JIS encoding (more precisely: CP932) can be edited with vim by the following. $ vim '+e ++enc=CP932 ++ff=dos jw-file.txt' When a file is opened with "++enc" and "++ff" options, ":w" in the Vim command line stores it in the original format and overwrite the original file. You can also specify the saving format and the file name in the Vim command line, e.g., ":w ++enc=utf8 new.txt". Please refer to the mbyte.txt "multi-byte text support" in vim on-line help and Table 11.2, List of encoding values and their usage for locale values used with "++enc". The emacs family of programs can perform the equivalent functions.

11.1.7. Plain text extraction

The following reads a web page into a text file. This is very useful when copying configurations off the Web or applying basic Unix text tools such as grep(1) on the web page. $ w3m -dump http://www.remote-site.com/help-info.html >textfile Similarly, you can extract plain text data from other formats using the following. Table 11.5. List of tools to extract plain text data package w3m * popcon V:24, I:84 size keyword 1992 htmltext 248 252 htmltext htmltext function HTML to text converter with the "w3m -dump" command advanced HTML to text converter (ISO 8859-1) HTML to text converter with the "lynx -dump" command HTML to text converter with the "elinks -dump" command HTML to text converter with the "links -dump" command

html2text V:15, I:37 * lynx * elinks * links * I:22 V:2, I:5 V:3, I:9

1448 htmltext 1380 htmltext

links2 * antiword * catdoc * pstotext * unhtml *

V:0.7, I:3 V:1.3, I:2 V:1.0, I:2

3288 htmltext 796 MSWordtext,ps

HTML to text converter with the "links2 -dump" command convert MSWord files to plain text or ps

2580 MSWordtext,TeX convert MSWord files to plain text or TeX ps/pdftext htmltext odttext WordPerfectsxw extract text from PostScript and PDF files remove the markup tags from an HTML file converter from OpenDocument Text to text WordPerfect to OpenOffice.org/StarOffice writer document converter

V:0.8, I:1.4 148 V:0.02, I:0.14 76

odt2txt * V:0.8, I:1.4 100 V:0.02, wpd2sxw * I:0.13 156

11.1.8. Highlighting and formatting plain text data

You can highlight and format plain text data by the following. Table 11.6. List of tools to highlight plain text data package vimruntime * cxref * src2tex * popcon size keyword description Vim MACRO to convert source code to HTML with ":source $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/html.vim" converter for the C program to latex and HTML (C language) convert many source codes to TeX (C language) convert many source codes to HTML, XHTML, LaTeX, Texinfo, ANSI color escape sequences and DocBook files with highlight (C++) convert many source codes to HTML, XHTML, RTF, LaTeX, TeX or XSL-FO files with highlight (C++)

V:3, I:38 25864 highlight V:0.05, I:0.4 V:0.03, I:0.2 1252 1968 chtml highlight

sourceV:0.14, highlight I:1.1 * highlight V:0.2, * I:1.3 grc * txt2html * markdown * asciidoc * V:0.05, I:0.12 V:0.08, I:0.5 V:0.07, I:0.4 V:0.15, I:1.1

2164

highlight

756 164 296 96 3028 5740 1028 556 484 576 340 564 1940

highlight

textcolor generic colouriser for everything (Python) texthtml text to HTML converter (Perl) texthtml markdown text document formatter to (X)HTML (Perl) textany textany textany textany textany AsciiDoc text document formatter to XML/HTML (Python) ReStructured Text document formatter to XML (Python) document conversion from text to HTML, SGML, LaTeX, man page, MoinMoin, Magic Point and PageMaker (Python) universal document - text processing utility (C language) document converter from structured plain text to other formats (m4)

pythonV:0.4, docutils * I:3 txt2tags * udo * stx2any * rest2web * aft * yodl * sdf * sisu * V:0.06, I:0.3 V:0.01, I:0.07 V:0.00, I:0.04 V:0.01, I:0.08 V:0.01, I:0.06 V:0.01, I:0.06 V:0.01, I:0.08 V:0.01, I:0.07

texthtml document converter from ReStructured Text to html (Python) textany textany textany "free form" document preparation system (Perl) pre-document language and tools to process it (C language) simple document parser (Perl) document structuring, publishing and search framework (Ruby)

14384 textany

11.2. XML data

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language for documents containing structured information. See introductory information at XML.COM. "What "What "What "What is Is Is Is XML?" XSLT?" XSL-FO?" XLink?"

11.2.1. Basic hints for XML

XML text looks somewhat like HTML. It enables us to manage multiple formats of output for a document.

One easy XML system is the docbook-xsl package, which is used here. Each XML file starts with standard XML declaration as the following. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> The basic syntax for one XML element is marked up as the following. <name attribute="value">content</name> XML element with empty content is marked up in the following short form. <name attribute="value"/> The "attribute="value"" in the above examples are optional. The comment section in XML is marked up as the following. <!-- comment --> Other than adding markups, XML requires minor conversion to the content using predefined entities for following characters. Table 11.7. List of predefined entities for XML predefined entity character to be converted from &quot; &apos; &lt; &gt; &amp; " : quote ' : apostrophe < : less-than > : greater-than & : ampersand

Caution
"<" or "&" can not be used in attributes or elements.

Note
When SGML style user defined entities, e.g. "&some-tag:", are used, the first definition wins over others. The entity definition is expressed in "<!ENTITY some-tag "entity value">".

Note
As long as the XML markup are done consistently with certain set of the tag name (either some data as content or attribute value), conversion to another XML is trivial task using Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT).

11.2.2. XML processing

There are many tools available to process XML files such as the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL). Basically, once you create well formed XML file, you can convert it to any format using Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT). The Extensible Stylesheet Language for Formatting Object (XSL-FO) is supposed to be solution for formatting. The fop package is in the Debian contrib (not main) archive still. So the LaTeX code is usually generated from XML using XSLT and the LaTeX system is used to create printable file such as DVI, PostScript, and PDF. Table 11.8. List of XML tools package docbookxml * xsltproc * docbookxsl * xmlto * dblatex * fop * popcon size I:47 2488 keyword description xml xslt XML document type definition (DTD) for DocBook XSLT command line processor (XML XML, HTML, plain text, etc.) XSL stylesheets for processing DocBook XML to various output formats with XSLT XML-to-any converter with XSLT convert Docbook files to DVI, PostScript, PDF documents with XSLT

V:4, I:46 152 V:0.5, I:7 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.2, I:2 V:0.3, I:2

12792 xml/xslt 268 7340 2280 xml/xslt xml/xslt

xml/xsl-fo convert Docbook XML files to PDF

Since XML is subset of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), it can be processed by the extensive tools available for SGML, such as Document Style Semantics and Specification Language (DSSSL). Table 11.9. List of DSSL tools package popcon size keyword description

package openjade *

popcon size keyword V:0.4, I:3 1212 dsssl 2336 dsssl 1056 dsssl 3100 xml/dsssl

description ISO/IEC 10179:1996 standard DSSSL processor (latest) ISO/IEC 10179:1996 standard DSSSL processor (1.3.x series) James Clark's original DSSSL processor (1.2.x series) DSSSL stylesheets for processing DocBook XML to various output formats with DSSSL utilities for DocBook files including conversion to other formats (HTML, RTF, PS, man, PDF) with docbook2* commands with DSSSL

openjade1.3 V:0.02, * I:0.14 jade * docbookdsssl * docbookutils * sgml2x * V:0.3, I:2 V:0.5, I:4 V:0.2, I:2 V:0.00, I:0.06

440

xml/dsssl

216

SGML/dsssl converter from SGML and XML using DSSSL stylesheets

Tip
GNOME's yelp is sometimes handy to read DocBook XML files directly since it renders decently on X.

11.2.3. The XML data extraction

You can extract HTML or XML data from other formats using followings. Table 11.10. List of XML data extraction tools package wv * popcon V:1.3, I:2 size keyword 2116 MSWordany 2076 texihtml manpagehtml texhtml MSExcelhtml rtfhtml infohtml sxwxml WordPerfectany troffxml description document converter from Microsoft Word to HTML, LaTeX, etc. converter from Texinfo to HTML converter from manpage to HTML (CGI support) converter between (La)TeX and HTML converter from MSExcel .xls to HTML document converter from RTF to HTML, etc converter from GNU info to HTML (CGI support) converter from OpenOffice.org SXW documents to DocBook XML WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1 files to TeX, LaTeX, troff, GML and HTML converter from troff to DocBook XML

texi2html V:0.3, I:2 * man2html * tex4ht * xlhtml * unrtf * info2www * ooo2dbk * wp2x *

V:0.2, I:1.2 372 V:0.3, I:2 924

V:0.5, I:1.1 184 V:0.4, I:0.9 224 V:0.6, I:1.2 156 V:0.03, I:0.16 V:0.01, I:0.07 941 240 424

ppthtml * V:0.5, I:1.1 120

MSPowerPointhtml converter from MSPowerPoint to HTML

doclifter V:0.00, * I:0.03

For non-XML HTML files, you can convert them to XHTML which is an instance of well formed XML. XHTML can be processed by XML tools. Table 11.11. List of XML pretty print tools package libxml2utils * tidy * popcon size keyword V:3, I:49 160 xmlhtmlxhtml V:1.0, I:9 description command line XML tool with xmllint(1) (syntax check, reformat, lint, )

108 xmlhtmlxhtml HTML syntax checker and reformatter

Once proper XML is generated, you can use XSLT technology to extract data based on the mark-up context etc.

11.3. Printable data

Printable data is expressed in the PostScript format on the Debian system. Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) uses Ghostscript as its rasterizer backend program for non-PostScript printers.

11.3.1. Ghostscript
The core of printable data manipulation is the Ghostscript PostScript (PS) interpreter which generates raster image. The latest upstream Ghostscript from Artifex was re-licensed from AFPL to GPL and merged all the latest ESP version changes such as CUPS related ones at 8.60 release as unified release. Table 11.12. List of Ghostscript PostScript interpreters

package ghostscript * ghostscript-x * gs-cjk-resource * cmap-adobe-cns1 * cmap-adobe-gb1 * cmap-adobe-japan1 * cmap-adobe-japan2 * cmap-adobe-korea1 * libpoppler5 * poppler-data *

popcon V:18, I:56 V:13, I:28

size 6716 220

description The GPL Ghostscript PostScript/PDF interpreter GPL Ghostscript PostScript/PDF interpreter - X display support resource files for gs-cjk, Ghostscript CJK-TrueType extension CMaps for Adobe-CNS1 (for traditional Chinese support) CMaps for Adobe-GB1 (for simplified Chinese support) CMaps for Adobe-Japan1 (for Japanese standard support) CMaps for Adobe-Japan2 (for Japanese extra support) CMaps for Adobe-Korea1 (for Korean support) PDF rendering library based on xpdf PDF viewer PDF rendering library (GLib-based shared library)

V:0.04, I:0.4 4528 V:0.03, I:0.3 1572 V:0.03, I:0.3 1552 V:0.08, I:0.7 2428 I:0.4 V:0.01, I:0.19 V:4, I:21 I:3 416 872 2368 504

libpoppler-glib4 * V:7, I:19

12232 CMaps for PDF rendering library (for CJK support: Adobe-*)

Tip
"gs -h" can display the configuration of Ghostscript.

11.3.2. Merge two PS or PDF files

You can merge two PostScript (PS) or Portable Document Format (PDF) files using gs(1) of Ghostscript. $ gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pswrite -sOutputFile=bla.ps -f foo1.ps foo2.ps $ gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=bla.pdf -f foo1.pdf foo2.pdf

Note
The PDF, which is widely used cross-platform printable data format, is essentially the compressed PS format with few additional features and extensions.

Tip
For command line, psmerge(1) and other commands from the psutils package are useful for manipulating PostScript documents. Commands in the pdfjam package work similarly for manipulating PDF documents. pdftk(1) from the pdftk package is useful for manipulating PDF documents, too.

11.3.3. Printable data utilities

The following packages for the printable data utilities caught my eyes. Table 11.13. List of printable data utilities package popcon size keyword description

poppler-utils V:8, I:49 536 * psutils * poster * xpdf-utils * enscript * a2ps * pdftk * mpage * html2ps * pdfjam * V:3, I:21 380 V:1.2, I:9 V:0.9, I:4 V:1.6, I:14 V:1.7, I:8 V:1.0, I:5 V:0.18, I:1.5 V:0.2, I:1.7 V:0.2, I:1.8 80 76 2464

pdfps,text, PDF utilities: pdftops, pdfinfo, pdfimages, pdftotext, pdffonts psps psps PostScript document conversion tools create large posters out of PostScript pages

pdfps,text, PDF utilities: pdftops, pdfinfo, pdfimages, pdftotext, pdffonts textps, html, rtf convert ASCII text to PostScript, HTML, RTF or Pretty-Print 'Anything to PostScript' converter and pretty-printer PDF document conversion tool: pdftk print multiple pages per sheet converter from HTML to PostScript PDF document conversion tools: pdf90, pdfjoin, and pdfnup converter from html to latex convert documents from LaTeX to RTF which can be read by MS Word converter from PostScript to EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) Text to PostScript converter with Japanese encoding support

4292 textps 200 224 260 228 60 508 116 188 pdfpdf text,psps htmlps pdfpdf htmllatex latexrtf pseps textps

gnuhtml2latex V:0.07, * I:0.6 latex2rtf * ps2eps * e2ps * V:0.14, I:1.0 V:1.3, I:12 V:0.01, I:0.10 V:0.03,

impose+ * trueprint * pdf2svg * pdftoipe *

V:0.03, I:0.2 V:0.02, I:0.13 V:0.10, I:0.5 V:0.02, I:0.16

180 188 60 88

psps textps pssvg psipe

PostScript utilities pretty print many source codes (C, C++, Java, Pascal, Perl, Pike, Sh, and Verilog) to PostScript. (C language) converter from PDF to Scalable vector graphics format converter from PDF to IPE's XML format

11.3.4. Printing with CUPS

Both lp(1) and lpr(1) commands offered by Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) provides options for customized printing the printable data. You can print 3 copies of a file collated using one of the following commands. $ lp -n 3 -o Collate=True filename $ lpr -#3 -o Collate=True filename You can further customize printer operation by using printer option such as "-o number-up=2", "-o pageset=even", "-o page-set=odd", "-o scaling=200", "-o natural-scaling=200", etc., documented at Command-Line Printing and Options.

11.4. Type setting

The Unix troff program originally developed by AT&T can be used for simple typesetting. It is usually used to create manpages. TeX created by Donald Knuth is very powerful type setting tool and is the de facto standard. LaTeX originally written by Leslie Lamport enables a high-level access to the power of TeX. Table 11.14. List of type setting tools package popcon size keyword description texlive * V:0.5, I:9 124 groff * (La)TeX TeX system for typesetting, previewing and printing GNU troff text-formatting system

V:0.9, I:7 9116 troff

11.4.1. roff typesetting

Traditionally, roff is the main Unix text processing system. See roff(7), groff(7), groff(1), grotty(1), troff(1), groff_mdoc(7), groff_man(7), groff_ms(7), groff_me(7), groff_mm(7), and "info groff". You can read or print a good tutorial and reference on "-me" macro in "/usr/share/doc/groff/" by installing the groff package.

Tip
"groff -Tascii -me -" produces plain text output with ANSI escape code. If you wish to get manpage like output with many "^H" and "_", use "GROFF_NO_SGR=1 groff -Tascii -me -" instead.

Tip
To remove "^H" and "_" from a text file generated by groff, filter it by "col -b -x".

11.4.2. TeX/LaTeX
The TeX Live software distribution offers a complete TeX system. The texlive metapackage provides a decent selection of the TeX Live packages which should suffice for the most common tasks. There are many references available for TeX and LaTeX. The teTeX HOWTO: The Linux-teTeX Local Guide tex(1) latex(1) "The TeXbook", by Donald E. Knuth, (Addison-Wesley) "LaTeX - A Document Preparation System", by Leslie Lamport, (Addison-Wesley) "The LaTeX Companion", by Goossens, Mittelbach, Samarin, (Addison-Wesley) This is the most powerful typesetting environment. Many SGML processors use this as their back end text processor. Lyx provided by the lyx package and GNU TeXmacs provided by the texmacs package offer nice WYSIWYG editing environment for LaTeX while many use Emacs and Vim as the choice for the source editor. There are many online resources available. The TEX Live Guide - TEX Live 2007 ("/usr/share/doc/texlive-doc-base/english/texliveen/live.html") (texlive-doc-base package) A Simple Guide to Latex/Lyx Word Processing Using LaTeX Local User Guide to teTeX/LaTeX When documents become bigger, sometimes TeX may cause errors. You must increase pool size in

When documents become bigger, sometimes TeX may cause errors. You must increase pool size in "/etc/texmf/texmf.cnf" (or more appropriately edit "/etc/texmf/texmf.d/95NonPath" and run update-texmf(8)) to fix this.

Note
The TeX source of "The TeXbook" is available at http://tug.ctan.org/texarchive/systems/knuth/dist/tex/texbook.tex. This file contains most of the required macros. I heard that you can process this document with tex(1) after commenting lines 7 to 10 and adding "\input manmac \proofmodefalse". It's strongly recommended to buy this book (and all other books from Donald E. Knuth) instead of using the online version but the source is a great example of TeX input!

11.4.3. Pretty print a manual page

You can print a manual page in PostScript nicely by one of the following commands. $ man -Tps some_manpage | lpr $ man -Tps some_manpage | mpage -2 | lpr The second example prints 2 pages on one sheet.

11.4.4. Creating a manual page

Although writing a manual page (manpage) in the plain troff format is possible, there are few helper packages to create it. Table 11.15. List of packages to help creating the manpage package popcon size keyword 240 SGMLmanpage description converter from DocBook SGML into roff man macros automatic manpage generator from --help converter from GNU info to POD or man pages convert flat ASCII text to man page format

docbook-to-man V:0.3, I:2 * help2man * info2man * txt2man * V:0.02, I:0.15

V:0.13, I:1.1 376 textmanpage 204 infomanpage textmanpage

V:0.02, I:0.2 88

11.5. The mail data conversion

The following packages for the mail data conversion caught my eyes. Table 11.16. List of packages to help mail data conversion package popcon size keyword description shar(1), unshar(1), uuencode(1), uudecode(1) encoder and decoder MIME messages: mpack(1) and munpack(1) unpacking MIME attachments of type "application/ms-tnef" which is a Microsoft only format encoder and decoder for the following formats: uuencode, xxencode, BASE64, quoted printable, and BinHex convert Microsoft Outlook PST files to mbox format

sharutils V:2, I:32 904 mail * mpack * tnef * uudeview * readpst * V:1.5, I:23 V:0.8, I:1.5 V:0.17, I:1.6 V:0.04, I:0.3 84 MIME

164 ms-tnef 132 mail 228 PST

Tip
The Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4) server (see Section 6.7, POP3/IMAP4 server) may be used to move mails out from proprietary mail systems if the mail client software can be configured to use IMAP4 server too.

11.5.1. Mail data basics

Mail (SMTP) data should be limited to 7 bit. So binary data and 8 bit text data are encoded into 7 bit format with the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) and the selection of the charset (see Section 8.3.1, Basics of encoding). The standard mail storage format is mbox formatted according to RFC2822 (updated RFC822). See mbox(5) (provided by the mutt package). For European languages, "Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable" with the ISO-8859-1 charset is usually used for mail since there are not much 8 bit characters. If European text is encoded in UTF-8, "Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable" is likely to be used since it is mostly 7 bit data. For Japanese, traditionally "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-2022-JP" is usually used for mail to keep text in 7 bits. But older Microsoft systems may send mail data in Shift-JIS without proper declaration. If Japanese text is encoded in UTF-8, Base64 is likely to be used since it contains many 8 bit data. The situation of other Asian languages is similar.

Note
If your non-Unix mail data is accessible by a non-Debian client software which can talk to the IMAP4 server, you may be able to move them out by running your own IMAP4 server (see Section 6.7, POP3/IMAP4 server).

Note
If you use other mail storage formats, moving them to mbox format is the good first step. The versatile client program such as mutt(1) may be handy for this. You can split mailbox contents to each message using procmail(1) and formail(1). Each mail message can be unpacked using munpack(1) from the mpack package (or other specialized tools) to obtain the MIME encoded contents.

11.6. Graphic data tools

The following packages for the graphic data conversion, editing, and organization tools caught my eyes. Table 11.17. List of graphic data tools package gimp * imagemagick * graphicsmagick * xsane * netpbm * icoutils * scribus * openoffice.orgdraw * inkscape * dia-gnome * dia * xfig * pstoedit * libwmf-bin * fig2sxd * unpaper * tesseract-ocr * tesseract-ocreng * gocr * ocrad * gtkam * gphoto2 * kamera * jhead * exif * exiftags * exiftran * popcon size V:12, I:44 V:13, I:35 V:1.6, I:3 keyword description GNU Image Manipulation Program image manipulation programs image manipulation programs (folk of imagemagick) GTK+-based X11 frontend for SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) graphics conversion tools convert MS Windows icons and cursors to and from PNG formats (favicon.ico) Scribus DTP editor OpenOffice.org office suite - drawing SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) editor diagram editor (GNOME) diagram editor (Gtk) facility for Interactive Generation of figures under X11 PostScript and PDF files to editable vector graphics converter (SVG) Windows metafile (vector graphic data) conversion tools convert XFig files to OpenOffice.org Draw format post-processing tool for scanned pages for OCR free OCR software based on the HP's commercial OCR engine OCR engine data: tesseract-ocr language files for English text free OCR software free OCR software manipulate digital camera photo files (GNOME) - GUI manipulate digital camera photo files (GNOME) - command line manipulate digital camera photo files (KDE) manipulate the non-image part of Exif compliant JPEG (digital camera photo) files command-line utility to show EXIF information in JPEG files utility to read Exif tags from a digital camera JPEG file transform digital camera jpeg images

13560 image(bitmap) 268 4532 image(bitmap) image(bitmap) image(bitmap) image(bitmap) pngico(bitmap)

V:5, I:36 748 V:4, I:29 4612 V:0.3, I:1.3 V:0.5, I:3 V:18, I:40 V:15, I:32 V:1.4, I:2 V:3, I:5 V:2, I:4 V:1.9, I:16 V:1.4, I:13 V:0.03, I:0.2 V:0.2, I:1.7 V:0.7, I:3 V:0.2, I:2 V:0.8, I:5 V:0.4, I:4 V:0.3, I:1.7 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.7, I:13 V:0.5, I:3 V:0.2, I:1.7 V:0.14, I:0.9 V:0.4, I:3 200

26888 ps/pdf/SVG/ 10720 image(vector) 87436 image(vector) 576 572 1676 708 68 200 736 3196 1752 492 364 1100 1008 312 132 184 248 56 image(vector) image(vector) image(vector) ps/pdfimage(vector) Windows/image(vector) figsxd(vector) imageimage imagetext imagetext imagetext imagetext image(Exif) image(Exif) image(Exif) image(Exif) image(Exif) image(Exif) image(Exif)

exifprobe * dcraw * findimagedupes * ale * imageindex * f-spot * bins * gallery2 * outguess * qcad * blender * mm3d * open-fontdesign-toolkit * fontforge * xgridfit * gbdfed *

V:0.08, I:0.5 V:0.9, I:5 V:0.06, I:0.4 V:0.02, I:0.17 V:0.03, I:0.2 V:0.5, I:1.8 V:0.02, I:0.15 V:0.2, I:0.4 V:0.02, I:0.14 V:1.5, I:2 V:0.5, I:3 V:0.04, I:0.3 I:0.03 V:0.2, I:1.7 V:0.01, I:0.07 V:0.01, I:0.11

484 444 140 768 192 9488 2008

image(Exif) image(Raw)ppm imagefingerprint imageimage image(Exif)html image(Exif) image(Exif)html

read metadata from digital pictures decode raw digital camera images find visually similar or duplicate images merge images to increase fidelity or create mosaics generate static HTML galleries from images personal photo management application (GNOME) generate static HTML photo albums using XML and EXIF tags generate browsable HTML photo albums with thumbnails universal Steganographic tool CAD data editor (KDE) 3D content editor for animation etc OpenGL based 3D model editor metapackage for open font design font editor for PS, TrueType and OpenType fonts program for gridfitting and hinting TrueType fonts editor for BDF fonts

62548 image(Exif)html 252 3944 jpeg,png DXF

28336 blend, TIFF, VRML, 4536 36 6612 1060 496 ms3d, obj, dxf, ttf, ps, ttf, ps, ttf bdf

Tip
Search more image tools using regex "~Gworks-with::image" in aptitude(8) (see Section 2.2.6, Search method options with aptitude). Although GUI programs such as gimp(1) are very powerful, command line tools such as imagemagick(1) are quite useful for automating image manipulation with the script. The de facto image file format of the digital camera is the Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) which is the JPEG image file format with additional metadata tags. It can hold information such as date, time, and camera settings. The Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) lossless data compression patent has been expired. Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) utilities which use the LZW compression method are now freely available on the Debian system.

Tip
Any digital camera or scanner with removable recording media works with Linux through USB storage readers since it follows the Design rule for Camera Filesystem and uses FAT filesystem. See Section 10.1.10, Removable storage device.

11.7. Miscellaneous data conversion

There are many other programs for converting data. Following packages caught my eyes using regex "~Guse::converting" in aptitude(8) (see Section 2.2.6, Search method options with aptitude). Table 11.18. List of miscellaneous data conversion tools package alien * popcon size keyword V:1.2, I:11 description

244 rpm/tgzdeb converter for the foreign package into the Debian package 568 EBEPWING converter from "Electric Book" (popular in Japan) to a single JIS X 4081 format (a subset of the EPWING V1)

freepwing V:0.00, * I:0.03

You can also extract data from RPM format with the following. $ rpm2cpio file.src.rpm | cpio --extract

Chapter 12. Programming

I provide some pointers for people to learn programming on the Debian system enough to trace the packaged source code. Here are notable packages and corresponding documentation packages for

programing. Table 12.1. List of packages to help programing package autoconf * automake * bash * bison * cpp * ddd * popcon V:4, I:25 V:3, I:21 V:91, I:99 V:2, I:15 V:38, I:82 V:0.3, I:2 size 2256 1812 3536 1504 32 3852 284 1352 2172 28 4812 7272 8 8 40 1652 508 10012 1220 1728 244 18528 736 3332 2712 120 1792 48 48 documentation "info autoconf" provided by autoconf-doc "info automake" provided by automake1.10-doc "info bash" provided by bash-doc "info bison" provided by bison-doc "info cpp" provided by cpp-doc "info ddd" provided by ddd-doc exuberant-ctags(1) "info flex" provided by flex-doc "info gawk" provided by gawk-doc "info gcc" provided by gcc-doc "info gdb" provided by gdb-doc "info gettext" provided by gettext-doc "info gfortran" provided by gfortran-doc (Fortran 95) "info gpc" provided by gpc-doc (Pascal) fpc(1) and html by fp-docs (Pascal) help provided via menu (UI Builder) help provided via menu (UI Builder) "info libc" provided by glibc-doc and glibc-docreference "info make" provided by make-doc imake(1), xmkmf(1), etc. mawk(1) perl(1) and html pages provided by perl-doc and perl-dochtml python(1) and html pages provided by python-doc tcl(3) and detail manual pages provided by tcl8.4-doc tk(3) and detail manual pages provided by tk8.4-doc ruby(1) and interactive reference provided by ri help(F1) menu provided by vim-doc fetch "The Single Unix Specifications v2" fetch "The Single Unix Specifications v3"

exuberant-ctags V:1.2, I:5 * flex * gawk * gcc * gdb * gettext * gfortran * gpc * fpc * glade * glade-gnome * libc6 * make * xutils-dev * mawk * perl * python * tcl8.4 * tk8.4 * ruby * vim * susv2 * susv3 * V:2, I:15 V:28, I:32 V:17, I:67 V:4, I:22 V:8, I:46 V:0.9, I:6 V:0.07, I:0.5 I:0.4 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.09, I:1.2 V:97, I:99 V:21, I:72 V:1.7, I:15 V:66, I:99 V:88, I:99 V:62, I:97 V:8, I:46 V:5, I:34 V:9, I:24 V:15, I:33 I:0.03 I:0.07

Online references are available by typing "man name" after installing manpages and manpages-dev packages. Online references for the GNU tools are available by typing "info program_name" after installing the pertinent documentation packages. You may need to include the contrib and non-free archives in addition to the main archive since some GFDL documentations are not considered to be DSFG compliant.

Warning
Do not use "test" as the name of an executable test file. "test" is a shell builtin.

Caution
You should install software programs directly compiled from source into "/usr/local" or "/opt" to avoid collision with system programs.

Tip
Code examples of creating "Song 99 Bottles of Beer" should give you good idea of practically all the programming languages.

12.1. The shell script

The shell script is a text file with the execution bit set and contains the commands in the following format. #!/bin/sh ... command lines The first line specifies the shell interpreter which read and execute this file contents. Reading shell scripts is the best way to understand how a Unix-like system works. Here, I give some pointers and reminders for shell programming. See "Shell Mistakes" (http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2001/04/shell.html) to learn from mistakes. Unlike shell interactive mode (see Section 1.5, The simple shell command and Section 1.6, Unix-like

text processing), shell scripts frequently use parameters, conditionals, and loops.

12.1.1. POSIX shell compatibility

Many system scripts may be interpreted by any one of POSIX shells (see Table 1.13, List of shell programs). The default shell for the system is "/bin/sh" which is a symlink pointing to the actual program. bash(1) for lenny or older dash(1) for squeeze or newer Avoid writing a shell script with bashisms or zshisms to make it portable among all POSIX shells. You can check it using checkbashisms(1). Table 12.2. List of typical bashisms Good: POSIX Avoid: bashism

if [ "$foo" = "$bar" ] ; then if [ "$foo" == "$bar" ] ; then diff -u file.c.orig file.c mkdir /foobar /foobaz funcname() { } octal format: "\377" diff -u file.c{.orig,} mkdir /foo{bar,baz} function funcname() { } hexadecimal format: "\xff"

The "echo" command must be used with following cares since its implementation differs among shell builtin and external commands. Avoid using command option "-e" and "-E". Avoid using any command options except "-n". Avoid using escape sequences in the string since their handling varies.

Note
Although "-n" option is not really POSIX syntax, it is generally accepted.

Tip
Use the "printf" command instead of the "echo" command if you need to embed escape sequences in the output string.

12.1.2. Shell parameters

Special shell parameters are frequently used in the shell script. Table 12.3. List of shell parameters shell parameter value $0 $1 $9 $# "$*" "$@" $? $$ $! name of the shell or shell script first(1) shell argument ninth(9) shell argument number of positional parameters "$1 $2 $3 $4 " "$1" "$2" "$3" "$4" exit status of the most recent command PID of this shell script PID of most recently started background job

Basic parameter expansions to remember are followings. Table 12.4. List of shell parameter expansions parameter expression form value if var is set value if var is not set ${var:-string} ${var:+string} ${var:=string} ${var:?string} "$var" "string" "$var" "$var" "string" "null" "string" (and run "var=string") echo "string" to stderr (and exit with error)

Here, the colon ":" in all of these operators is actually optional. with ":" = operator test for exist and not null without ":" = operator test for exist only Table 12.5. List of key shell parameter substitutions parameter substitution form result ${var%suffix} ${var%%suffix} remove smallest suffix pattern remove largest suffix pattern

${var#prefix} ${var##prefix}

remove smallest prefix pattern remove largest prefix pattern

12.1.3. Shell conditionals

Each command returns an exit status which can be used for conditional expressions. Success: 0 ("True") Error: non 0 ("False")

Note
"0" in the shell conditional context means "True", while "0" in the C conditional context means "False".

Note
"[" is the equivalent of the test command, which evaluates its arguments up to "]" as a conditional expression. Basic conditional idioms to remember are followings. "<command> && <if_success_run_this_command_too> || true" "<command> || <if_not_success_run_this_command_too> || true" A multi-line script snippet as the following if [ <conditional_expression> ]; then <if_success_run_this_command> else <if_not_success_run_this_command> fi Here trailing "|| true" was needed to ensure this shell script does not exit at this line accidentally when shell is invoked with "-e" flag. Table 12.6. List of file comparison operators in the conditional expression equation -e <file> -d <file> -f <file> -w <file> -x <file> condition to return logical true <file> exists <file> exists and is a directory <file> exists and is a regular file <file> exists and is writable <file> exists and is executable

<file1> -nt <file2> <file1> is newer than <file2> (modification) <file1> -ot <file2> <file1> is older than <file2> (modification) <file1> -ef <file2> <file1> and <file2> are on the same device and the same inode number

Table 12.7. List of string comparison operators in the conditional expression equation -z <str> -n <str> <str1> = <str2> <str1> < <str2> <str1> > <str2> condition to return logical true the length of <str> is zero the length of <str> is non-zero <str1> and <str2> are equal <str1> sorts before <str2> (locale dependent) <str1> sorts after <str2> (locale dependent)

<str1> != <str2> <str1> and <str2> are not equal

Arithmetic integer comparison operators in the conditional expression are "-eq", "-ne", "-lt", "-le", "gt", and "-ge".

12.1.4. Shell loops

There are several loop idioms to use in POSIX shell. "for x in foo1 foo2 ; do command ; done" loops by assigning items from the list "foo1 foo2 " to variable "x" and executing "command". "while condition ; do command ; done" repeats "command" while "condition" is true. "until condition ; do command ; done" repeats "command" while "condition" is not true. "break" enables to exit from the loop. "continue" enables to resume the next iteration of the loop.

Tip
The C-language like numeric iteration can be realized by using seq(1) as the "foo1 foo2 " generator.

Tip

See Section 9.5.9, Repeating a command looping over files.

12.1.5. The shell command-line processing sequence

The shell processes a script roughly as the following sequence. The shell reads a line. The shell groups a part of the line as one token if it is within "" or ''. The shell splits other part of a line into tokens by the following. Whitespaces: <space> <tab> <newline> Metacharacters: < > | ; & ( ) The shell checks the reserved word for each token to adjust its behavior if not within "" or ''. reserved word: if then elif else fi for in while unless do done case esac The shell expands alias if not within "" or ''. The shell expands tilde if not within "" or ''. "~" current user's home directory "~<user>" <user>'s home directory The shell expands parameter to its value if not within ''. parameter: "$PARAMETER" or "${PARAMETER}" The shell expands command substitution if not within ''. "$( command )" the output of "command" "` command `" the output of "command" The shell expands pathname glob to matching file names if not within "" or ''. * any characters ? one character [] any one of the characters in "" The shell looks up command from the following and execute it. function definition builtin command executable file in "$PATH" The shell goes to the next line and repeats this process again from the top of this sequence. Single quotes within double quotes have no effect. Executing "set -x" in the shell or invoking the shell with "-x" option make the shell to print all of commands executed. This is quite handy for debugging.

12.1.6. Utility programs for shell script

In order to make your shell program as portable as possible across Debian system, it is good idea to limit utility programs to ones provided by essential packages. "aptitude search ~E" lists essential packages. "dpkg -L <package_name> |grep '/man/man.*/'" lists manpages for commands offered by <package_name> package. Table 12.8. List of packages containing small utility programs for shell scripts package coreutils * debianutils * bsdutils * moreutils * popcon V:92, I:99 V:93, I:99 V:77, I:99 size description

13828 GNU core utilities 260 768 196 miscellaneous utilities specific to Debian collection of more utilities from FreeBSD basic utilities from 4.4BSD-Lite additional Unix utilities

bsdmainutils * V:81, I:99

V:0.3, I:1.5 220

Tip
Although moreutils may not exist ouside of Debian, it offers interesting small programs. Most notable one is sponge(8). See Section 1.6.4, Global substitution with regular expressions.

12.1.7. Shell script dialog

The user interface of a simple shell program can be improved from dull interaction by echo and read commands to more interactive one by using one of the so-called dialog program etc. Table 12.9. List of user interface programs package popcon size description 652 xmessage(1): display a message or query in a window (X)

x11-utils V:26, I:53 *

whiptail * V:42, I:99 dialog * zenity * ssft * gettext * V:4, I:25 V:8, I:41 V:0.01, I:0.11 V:8, I:46

104

displays user-friendly dialog boxes from shell scripts (newt)

1592 displays user-friendly dialog boxes from shell scripts (ncurses) 4992 display graphical dialog boxes from shell scripts (gtk2.0) 152 Shell Scripts Frontend Tool (wrapper for zenity, kdialog, and dialog with gettext)

7272 "/usr/bin/gettext.sh": translate message

12.1.8. Shell script example with zenity

Here is a simple script which creates ISO image with RS02 data supplemented by dvdisaster(1). #!/bin/sh -e # gmkrs02 : Copyright (C) 2007 Osamu Aoki <[email protected]>, Public Domain #set -x error_exit() { echo "$1" >&2 exit 1 } # Initialize variables DATA_ISO="$HOME/Desktop/iso-$$.img" LABEL=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S-%Z) if [ $# != 0 ] && [ -d "$1" ]; then DATA_SRC="$1" else # Select directory for creating ISO image from folder on desktop DATA_SRC=$(zenity --file-selection --directory \ --title="Select the directory tree root to create ISO image") \ || error_exit "Exit on directory selection" fi # Check size of archive xterm -T "Check size $DATA_SRC" -e du -s $DATA_SRC/* SIZE=$(($(du -s $DATA_SRC | awk '{print $1}')/1024)) if [ $SIZE -le 520 ] ; then zenity --info --title="Dvdisaster RS02" --width 640 --height 400 \ --text="The data size is good for CD backup:\\n $SIZE MB" elif [ $SIZE -le 3500 ]; then zenity --info --title="Dvdisaster RS02" --width 640 --height 400 \ --text="The data size is good for DVD backup :\\n $SIZE MB" else zenity --info --title="Dvdisaster RS02" --width 640 --height 400 \ --text="The data size is too big to backup : $SIZE MB" error_exit "The data size is too big to backup :\\n $SIZE MB" fi # only xterm is sure to have working -e option # Create raw ISO image rm -f "$DATA_ISO" || true xterm -T "genisoimage $DATA_ISO" \ -e genisoimage -r -J -V "$LABEL" -o "$DATA_ISO" "$DATA_SRC" # Create RS02 supplemental redundancy xterm -T "dvdisaster $DATA_ISO" -e dvdisaster -i "$DATA_ISO" -mRS02 -c zenity --info --title="Dvdisaster RS02" --width 640 --height 400 \ --text="ISO/RS02 data ($SIZE MB) \\n created at: $DATA_ISO" # EOF You may wish to create launcher on the desktop with command set something like "/usr/local/bin/gmkrs02 %d".

12.2. Make
Make is a utility to maintain groups of programs. Upon execution of make(1), make read the rule file, "Makefile", and updates a target if it depends on prerequisite files that have been modified since the target was last modified, or if the target does not exist. The execution of these updates may occur concurrently. The rule file syntax is the following. target: [TAB] [TAB] [TAB] [ prerequisites ... ] command1 -command2 # ignore errors @command3 # suppress echoing

Here " [TAB] " is a TAB code. Each line is interpreted by the shell after make variable substitution. Use "\" at the end of a line to continue the script. Use "$$" to enter "$" for environment values for a shell script. Implicit rules for the target and prerequisites can be written, for example, by the following. %.o: %.c header.h Here, the target contains the character "%" (exactly one of them). The "%" can match any nonempty substring in the actual target filenames. The prerequisites likewise use "%" to show how their names relate to the actual target name.

Table 12.10. List of make automatic variables automatic variable value $@ $< $? $^ $* target first prerequisite all newer prerequisites all prerequisites "%" matched stem in the target pattern

Table 12.11. List of make variable expansions variable expansion description foo1 := bar foo2 = bar foo3 += bar one-time expansion recursive expansion append

Run "make -p -f/dev/null" to see automatic internal rules.

12.3. C
You can set up proper environment to compile programs written in the C programming language by the following. # apt-get install glibc-doc manpages-dev libc6-dev gcc build-essential The libc6-dev package, i.e., GNU C Library, provides C standard library which is collection of header files and library routines used by the C programming language. See references for C as the following. "info libc" (C library function reference) gcc(1) and "info gcc" each_C_library_function_name(3) Kernighan & Ritchie, "The C Programming Language", 2nd edition (Prentice Hall)

12.3.1. Simple C program (gcc)

A simple example "example.c" can compiled with a library "libm" into an executable "run_example" by the following. $ cat > example.c << EOF #include <stdio.h> #include <math.h> #include <string.h> int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp){ double x; char y[11]; x=sqrt(argc+7.5); strncpy(y, argv[0], 10); /* prevent buffer overflow */ y[10] = '\0'; /* fill to make sure string ends with '\0' */ printf("%5i, %5.3f, %10s, %10s\n", argc, x, y, argv[1]); return 0; } EOF $ gcc -Wall -g -o run_example example.c -lm $ ./run_example 1, 2.915, ./run_exam, (null) $ ./run_example 1234567890qwerty 2, 3.082, ./run_exam, 1234567890qwerty Here, "-lm" is needed to link library "/usr/lib/libm.so" from the libc6 package for sqrt(3). The actual library is in "/lib/" with filename "libm.so.6", which is a symlink to "libm-2.7.so". Look at the last parameter in the output text. There are more than 10 characters even though "%10s" is specified. The use of pointer memory operation functions without boundary checks, such as sprintf(3) and strcpy(3), is deprecated to prevent buffer overflow exploits that leverage the above overrun effects. Instead, use snprintf(3) and strncpy(3).

12.4. Debug
Debug is important part of programing activities. Knowing how to debug programs makes you a good Debian user who can produce meaningful bug reports.

12.4.1. Basic gdb execution

Primary debugger on Debian is gdb(1) which enables you to inspect a program while it executes. Let's install gdb and related programs by the following.

Let's install gdb and related programs by the following. # apt-get install gdb gdb-doc build-essential devscripts Good tutorial of gdb is provided by "info gdb" or found elsewhere on the web. Here is a simple example of using gdb(1) on a "program" compiled with the "-g" option to produce debugging information. $ gdb (gdb) (gdb) (gdb) ... (gdb) ... (gdb) ... (gdb) ... (gdb) program b 1 run args next step p parm p parm=12 quit # set break point at line 1 # run program with args # next line # step forward # print parm # set value to 12

Tip
Many gdb(1) commands can be abbreviated. Tab expansion works as in the shell.

12.4.2. Debugging the Debian package

Since all installed binaries should be stripped on the Debian system by default, most debugging symbols are removed in the normal package. In order to debug Debian packages with gdb(1), corresponding *-dbg packages need to be installed (e.g. libc6-dbg in the case of libc6). If a package to be debugged does not provide its *-dbg package, you need to install it after rebuilding it by the following. $ $ $ $ $ $ $ mkdir /path/new ; cd /path/new sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade sudo apt-get install fakeroot devscripts build-essential sudo apt-get build-dep source_package_name apt-get source package_name cd package_name*

Fix bugs if needed. Bump package version to one which does not collide with official Debian versions, e.g. one appended with "+debug1" when recompiling existing package version, or one appended with "~pre1" when compiling unreleased package version by the following. $ dch -i Compile and install packages with debug symbols by the following. $ $ $ $ export DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS=nostrip,noopt debuild cd .. sudo debi package_name*.changes

You need to check build scripts of the package and ensure to use "CFLAGS=-g -Wall" for compiling binaries.

12.4.3. Obtaining backtrace

When you encounter program crash, reporting bug report with cut-and-pasted backtrace information is a good idea. The backtrace can be obtained by the following steps. Run the program under gdb(1). Reproduce crash. It causes you to be dropped back to the gdb prompt. Type "bt" at the gdb prompt. In case of program freeze, you can crash the program by pressing Ctrl-C in the terminal running gdb to obtain gdb prompt.

Tip
Often, you see a backtrace where one or more of the top lines are in "malloc()" or "g_malloc()". When this happens, chances are your backtrace isn't very useful. The easiest way to find some useful information is to set the environment variable "$MALLOC_CHECK_" to a value of 2 (malloc(3)). You can do this while running gdb by doing the following. $ MALLOC_CHECK_=2 gdb hello

12.4.4. Advanced gdb commands

Table 12.12. List of advanced gdb commands command description for command objectives

(gdb) thread apply all bt (gdb) bt full (gdb) thread apply all bt full (gdb) thread apply all bt full 10 (gdb) set logging on

get a backtrace for all threads for multi-threaded program get parameters came on the stack of function calls get a backtrace and parameters as the combination of the preceding options get a backtrace and parameters for top 10 calls to cut off irrelevant output write log of gdb output to a file (the default is "gdb.txt")

12.4.5. Debugging X Errors

If a GNOME program preview1 has received an X error, you should see a message as follows. The program 'preview1' received an X Window System error. If this is the case, you can try running the program with "--sync", and break on the "gdk_x_error" function in order to obtain a backtrace.

12.4.6. Check dependency on libraries

Use ldd(1) to find out a program's dependency on libraries by the followings. $ ldd /bin/ls librt.so.1 => /lib/librt.so.1 (0x4001e000) libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x40030000) libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x40153000) /lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000) For ls(1) to work in a `chroot`ed environment, the above libraries must be available in your `chroot`ed environment. See Section 9.5.6, Tracing program activities.

12.4.7. Memory leak detection tools

There are several memory leak detection tools available in Debian. Table 12.13. List of memory leak detection tools package libc6-dev * valgrind * kmtrace * alleyoop * leaktracer * libdmalloc5 * mpatrolc2 * popcon V:46, I:68 V:1.3, I:6 V:0.3, I:2 V:0.05, I:0.3 size 11292 324 596 120 356 description mtrace(1): malloc debugging functionality in glibc KDE memory leak tracer using glibc's mtrace(1) GNOME front-end to the Valgrind memory checker malloc(3) debugger memory-leak tracer for C++ programs debug memory allocation library library for debugging memory allocations

136416 memory debugger and profiler

electric-fence * V:0.05, I:0.8 V:0.01, I:0.2

V:0.01, I:0.11 116 V:0.00, I:0.01 3592

12.4.8. Static code analysis tools

There are lint like tools for static code analysis. Table 12.14. List of tools for static code analysis package splint * rats * flawfinder * perl * pylint * jlint * popcon size description tool for statically checking C programs for bugs rough Auditing Tool for Security (C, C++, PHP, Perl, and Python code) tool to examine C/C++ source code and looks for security weaknesses Python code static checker Java program checker syntax and minimal style checker for HTML fast link checker and web site maintenance tool utilities with xmllint(1) to validate XML files

V:0.06, I:0.5 1836 V:0.06, I:0.2 876 V:0.01, I:0.15 V:88, I:99 V:0.2, I:0.7 V:0.01, I:0.09 192

18528 interpreter with internal static code checker: B::Lint(3perl) 576 156

weblint-perl * V:0.10, I:0.7 28 linklint * V:0.05, I:0.3 432 160 libxml2-utils V:3, I:49 *

12.4.9. Disassemble binary

You can disassemble binary code with objdump(1) by the following. $ objdump -m i386 -b binary -D /usr/lib/grub/x86_64-pc/stage1

Note
gdb(1) may be used to disassemble code interactively.

12.5. Flex a better Lex

Flex is a Lex-compatible fast lexical analyzer generator. Tutorial for flex(1) can be found in "info flex". You need to provide your own "main()" and "yywrap()". Otherwise, your flex program should look like this to compile without a library. This is because that "yywrap" is a macro and "%option main" turns on "%option noyywrap" implicitly. %option main %% .|\n ECHO ; %% Alternatively, you may compile with the "-lfl" linker option at the end of your cc(1) command line (like AT&T-Lex with "-ll"). No "%option" is needed in this case.

12.6. Bison a better Yacc

Several packages provide a Yacc-compatible lookahead LR parser or LALR parser generator in Debian. Table 12.15. List of Yacc-compatible LALR parser generators package popcon bison * byacc * V:2, I:15 V:0.09, I:1.2 size description 1504 GNU LALR parser generator 168 Berkeley LALR parser generator backtracking parser generator based on byacc

btyacc * V:0.00, I:0.07 248

Tutorial for bison(1) can be found in "info bison". You need to provide your own "main()" and "yyerror()". "main()" calls "yyparse()" which calls "yylex()", usually created with Flex. %% %%

12.7. Autoconf
Autoconf is a tool for producing shell scripts that automatically configure software source code packages to adapt to many kinds of Unix-like systems using the entire GNU build system. autoconf(1) produces the configuration script "configure". "configure" automatically creates a customized "Makefile" using the "Makefile.in" template.

12.7.1. Compile and install a program Warning

Do not overwrite system files with your compiled programs when installing them. Debian does not touch files in "/usr/local/" or "/opt". So if you compile a program from source, install it into "/usr/local/" so it does not interfere with Debian. $ $ $ $ cd src ./configure --prefix=/usr/local make make install # this puts the files in the system

12.7.2. Uninstall program

If you have the original source and if it uses autoconf(1)/automake(1) and if you can remember how you configured it, execute as follows to uninstall the program. $ ./configure "all-of-the-options-you-gave-it" # make uninstall Alternatively, if you are absolutely sure that the install process puts files only under "/usr/local/" and there is nothing important there, you can erase all its contents by the following. # find /usr/local -type f -print0 | xargs -0 rm -f If you are not sure where files are installed, you should consider using checkinstall(8) from the checkinstall package, which provides a clean path for the uninstall. It now supports to create a Debian package with "-D" option.

12.8. Perl short script madness

Although any AWK scripts can be automatically rewritten in Perl using a2p(1), one-liner AWK scripts are

best converted to one-liner Perl scripts manually. Let's think following AWK script snippet. awk '($2=="1957") { print $3 }' | This is equivalent to any one of the following lines. perl -ne '@f=split; if ($f[1] eq "1957") { print "$f[2]\n"}' | perl -ne 'if ((@f=split)[1] eq "1957") { print "$f[2]\n"}' | perl -ne '@f=split; print $f[2] if ( $f[1]==1957 )' | perl -lane 'print $F[2] if $F[1] eq "1957"' | perl -lane 'print$F[2]if$F[1]eq+1957' | The last one is a riddle. It took advantage of following Perl features. The whitespace is optional. The automatic conversion exists from number to the string. See perlrun(1) for the command-line options. For more crazy Perl scripts, Perl Golf may be interesting.

12.9. Web
Basic interactive dynamic web pages can be made as follows. Queries are presented to the browser user using HTML forms. Filling and clicking on the form entries sends one of the following URL string with encoded parameters from the browser to the web server. "http://www.foo.dom/cgi-bin/program.pl?VAR1=VAL1&VAR2=VAL2&VAR3=VAL3" "http://www.foo.dom/cgi-bin/program.py?VAR1=VAL1&VAR2=VAL2&VAR3=VAL3" "http://www.foo.dom/program.php?VAR1=VAL1&VAR2=VAL2&VAR3=VAL3" "%nn" in URL is replaced with a character with hexadecimal nn value. The environment variable is set as: "QUERY_STRING="VAR1=VAL1 VAR2=VAL2 VAR3=VAL3"". CGI program (any one of "program.*") on the web server executes itself with the environment variable "$QUERY_STRING". stdout of CGI program is sent to the web browser and is presented as an interactive dynamic web page. For security reasons it is better not to hand craft new hacks for parsing CGI parameters. There are established modules for them in Perl and Python. PHP comes with these functionalities. When client data storage is needed, HTTP cookies are used. When client side data processing is needed, Javascript is frequently used. For more, see the Common Gateway Interface, The Apache Software Foundation, and JavaScript. Searching "CGI tutorial" on Google by typing encoded URL http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=CGI+tutorial directly to the browser address is a good way to see the CGI script in action on the Google server.

12.10. The source code translation

There are programs to convert source codes. Table 12.16. List of source code translation tools package perl * f2c * popcon V:88, I:99 size keyword description convert source codes from AWK to PERL: a2p(1)

18528 AWKPERL

V:0.12, I:1.2 448 100 344

FORTRANC convert source codes from FORTRAN 77 to C/C++: f2c(1) ANSI C intelgas create/remove ANSI prototypes from C code converter from NASM (Intel format) to the GNU Assembler (GAS)

V:0.00, protoize * I:0.09 intel2gas V:0.01, * I:0.07

12.11. Making Debian package

If you want to make a Debian package, read followings. Chapter 2, Debian package management to understand the basic package system Section 2.7.10, Porting a package to the stable system to understand basic porting process Section 9.8.4, Chroot system to understand basic chroot techniques debuild(1), pbuilder(1) and pdebuild(1) Section 12.4.2, Debugging the Debian package for recompiling for debugging Debian New Maintainers' Guide as tutorial (the maint-guide package) Debian Developer's Reference (the developers-reference package) Debian Policy Manual (the debian-policy package) There are packages such as dh-make, dh-make-perl, etc., which help packaging.

Appendix A. Appendix

Appendix A. Appendix
Here are backgrounds of this document.

A.1. The Debian maze

The Linux system is a very powerful computing platform for a networked computer. However, learning how to use all its capabilities is not easy. Setting up the LPR printer with non-PostScript printer was a good example of stumble points. (There are no issues anymore since newer installations use new CUPS system.) There is a complete, detailed map called the "SOURCE CODE". This is very accurate but very hard to understand. There are also references called HOWTO and mini-HOWTO. They are easier to understand but tend to give too much detail and lose the big picture. I sometimes have a problem finding the right section in a long HOWTO when I need a few commands to invoke. I hope this "Debian Reference (version 2)" provides a good starting direction for people in the Debian maze.

A.2. Copyright history

Debian Reference was initiated by Osamu Aoki <osamu at debian dot org> as a personal system administration memo. Many contents came from the knowledge I gained from the debian-user mailing list and other Debian resources. Following a suggestion from Josip Rodin, who was very active with the Debian Documentation Project (DDP), "Debian Reference (version 1, 2001-2007)" was created as a part of DDP documents. After 6 years, Osamu realized that the original "Debian Reference (version 1)" was outdated and started to rewrite many contents. New "Debian Reference (version 2)" is released in 2008. The tutorial contents can trace its origin and its inspiration in followings. "Linux User's Guide" by Larry Greenfield (December 1996) obsoleted by "Debian Tutorial" "Debian Tutorial" by Havoc Pennington. (11 December, 1998) partially written by Oliver Elphick, Ole Tetlie, James Treacy, Craig Sawyer, and Ivan E. Moore II obsoleted by "Debian GNU/Linux: Guide to Installation and Usage" "Debian GNU/Linux: Guide to Installation and Usage" by John Goerzen and Ossama Othman (1999) obsoleted by "Debian Reference (version 1)" The package and archive description can trace some of their origin and their inspiration in following. "Debian FAQ" (March 2002 version, when this was maintained by Josip Rodin) The other contents can trace some of their origin and their inspiration in following. "Debian Reference (version 1)" by Osamu Aoki (20012007) obsoleted by this new "Debian Reference (version 2)" The previous "Debian Reference (version 1)" was created with many contributors. the major contents contribution on network configuration topics by Thomas Hood significant contents contribution on X and VCS related topics by Brian Nelson the help on the build scripts and many content corrections by Jens Seidel extensive proofreading by David Sewell many contributions by the translators, contributors, and bug reporters Many manual pages and info pages on the Debian system were used as the primary references to write this document. To the extent Osamu Aoki considered within the fair use, many parts of them, especially command definitions, were used as phrase pieces after careful editorial efforts to fit them into the style and the objective of this document. The gdb debugger description was expanded using Debian wiki contents on backtrace with consent by Ari Pollak, Loc Minier, and Dafydd Harries. Contents of "Debian Reference (version 2)" are mostly my own work except as mentioned above. These has been updated by the contributors too. The author, Osamu Aoki, thanks all those who helped make this document possible.

A.3. Document format

The source of the English original document is currently written in AsciiDoc text files. AsciiDoc is used as convenience only since it is less typing than straight XML and supports table in the very intuitive format. You should think XML and PO files as real source files. Via build script, it is converted to DocBook XML format and automatically generated data are inserted to form a final Docbook XML source. This final Docbook XML source can be converted to HTML, plain text, PostScript, and PDF. Currently, only HTML and plain text conversions are enabled.