Introduction to Linux

“Linux at the Command Line”

Don Johnson of BU IS&T
About the class…
 We’ll start with a sign in sheet that include questions
about your Linux experience and goals.
 We’ll end with a class evaluation.
 We’ll cover as much as we can in the time allowed,
starting with the easiest and most important material.
Don’t feel rushed; if we don’t cover everything, you’ll
pick it up as you continue working with Linux.
 This is a hands-on, lab class; ask questions at any
time.
 Commands for you to type are in BOLD
 We’ll take a break at the half-way point.
What is
Linux?

It’s an
Operating
System
 What is
Linux?

The Most Common

O/S Used By BU
Researchers When
Working on a
Server or Computer
Cluster
What is Linux?
 Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by
Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-
knit team of hackers across the Net.
 Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer
operating system originally developed in 1969
by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs.
 Linux and Unix strive to be POSIX compliant.
 64% of the world’s servers run some variant of
Unix or Linux. The Android phone and the
Kindle run Linux.
The Linux Philosophy
The *Nix Philosophy of Doug McIlroy
(i) Make each program do one thing well. To do a new
job, build afresh rather than complicate old programs
by adding new features.
(ii) Expect the output of every program to become the
input to another, as yet unknown, program. Don't
clutter output with extraneous information. Avoid
stringently columnar or binary input formats. Don't
insist on interactive input.
(iii) Use tools in preference to unskilled help to lighten
a programming task, even if you have to detour to
build the tools and expect to throw some of them out
after you've finished using them.
Linux Has Many Distributions
Linux Has Many Distributions
BU uses CentOS in its Linux
cluster which is a free version
of RedHat Enterprise Linux with
the trademarks removed
What is Linux?
Linux + GNU Utilities = Free Unix

a set of small programs

 Linux is an O/S core written by Richard
written by Linus Stallman and others. They
Torvalds and others are the GNU utilities.
AND http://www.gnu.org/
What is Linux?
“Small programs that do one thing well”
(see unix-reference.pdf)

 Network: ssh, scp, ping, telnet, nslookup, wget

 Shells: BASH, TCSH, alias, watch, clear, history, chsh, echo, set,
setenv, xargs
 System Information: w, whoami, man, info, which, free, echo,
date, cal, df, free, man, info
 Command Information: man, info
 Symbols: |, >, >>, <, &, >&, 2>&1, ;, ~, ., .., $!, !:<n>, !<n>
 Filters: grep, egrep, more, less, head, tail
 Hotkeys: <ctrl><c>, <ctrl><d>
 File System: ls, mkdir, cd, pwd, mv, ln, touch, cat, file, find, diff,
cmp, /net/<hostname>/<path>, mount, du, df, chmod, find
 Line Editors: awk, sed
 File Editors: vim, gvim, emacs –nw, emacs
What is Linux?
“Small programs that do one thing well”

We will not cover the commands below in this class,

but you need to know them. See the man pages for
the process commands and the “sge” folder inside of
the “cheat sheets and tutorials” folder for the SGE
(Sun Grid Engine) command tutorials: qsh-
interactive.pdf, qsh-interactive-matlab.pdf, qsub-
batch.pdf, qsub-batch-matlab.pdf, and qstat-
qhost.pdf.

 Process Management: ps, top, kill, killall, fg, bg

 SGE Cluster: qsh, qstat, qsub, qhost
Connecting to a Linux Host
 You need a “xterm” emulator: software that
emulates an “X” terminal and connects using the
“SSH” secure shell protocol.
 You are sitting at the “client,” either a Windows,

Macintosh or even possibly a Linux machine.

 You are connecting to a “server,” typically the “head”

or “gateway” node of a cluster of computers. You

will be working on the head node or submitting jobs
to execution nodes, all of them, Linux machines.
 You can also connect to a Linux machine by using

VNC to get a whole desktop if it’s supported by the

server.
Connecting to a Linux Host – Windows Client
Software

 You need a “xterm” emulation –

software that emulates an “X”
terminal and that connects using the
“SSH” Secure Shell protocol.
◦ Windows
 If you don’t need windowing, “putty” is
good: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~
sgtatham/putty/download.html
 If you need windowing, use StarNet “X-
Win32:”
http://www.bu.edu/tech/desktop/site-licen
sed-software/xwindows/xwin32/
Connecting to a Linux Host – Mac OS
X Client Software

◦ Mac OS X
 “Terminal” is already installed
 Why? Darwin, the system on which Apple's Mac OS X
is built, is a derivative of 4.4BSD-Lite2 and FreeBSD.
In other words, the Mac is a Unix system!
Let the Linux Lab Begin!

Your Instructor Today

The Ideal Lab Facility

Connecting to a Linux Host -
Windows Client
 X-Win32/X-Config
◦ Wizard
 Name: katana
 Type: ssh
 Host: katana.bu.edu (Off-campus, must include
domain “bu.edu” )
 Login: <userID>
 Password: <password>
 Command: Linux
◦ Click “katana” then “Launch”
 Accept the host server public key (first time only)
Connecting to a Linux Host -
Mac OS X Client
 Terminal
◦ Type ssh –X katana.bu.edu or ssh –Y katana.bu.edu (less secure)
Connection Problems
When there are problems connecting to a login host, try:
 ping katana.bu.edu
 telnet katana.bu.edu 22
Obtaining the Course Material

 Windows
◦ Using File Explorer, copy the directory “\\scv-
files.bu.edu\SCV\Training\Introduction to Linux”
to “My Documents” on your lab machine

 Linux
◦ Connect to katana.bu.edu using X-Win32 and run
this command:
 cp -Rv /project/ssrcsupp/linux_class ~/
Connecting to a Linux Host: Emulate
a Browser
 Note: <CR> is short for “carriage return” and
equals the ASCII press the “Enter” or “Return”
key. It tells the shell that you finished
sending one line (see ascii-table.pdf).
 Try

◦ telnet www.bu.edu
 GET / HTTP/1.1
 Host:www.bu.edu<CR>
 <CR>
 What happened?
Connecting to a Linux Host
Emulate a Browser
Connecting to a Linux Host: Send and
Email
 Try
◦ telnet locahost 25
 ehlo me
 mail from:<your email address>
 rcpt to:<destination email address>
 data
 Subject:<subject of email>
 <Body of email>
 .
 <CR>
 What Happened?
Connecting to an Linux Host
Send and Email
The Shell
 A shell is a computer program that interprets the commands you
type and sends them to the operating system. Secondly, it
provide a programming environment consisting of environment
variables.
 Most BU systems, including the BU Linux Cluster, support at least

two shells: TCSH and BASH. The default shell for your account is
TCSH. The most popular and powerful Linux shell today is BASH.
 To determine your shell type:

◦ echo $SHELL (shell prints contents of env

◦ echo “$SHELL” (shell still processes env. variable)
◦ echo ‘$SHELL’ (shell treats env. variable as simple literal)
 The complete environment can be printed with set, setenv (TCSH)
and set (BASH).
 To determine the path to the shell program, type:

◦ which bash
◦ which tcsh
 Change the shell with “chsh /bin/bash” (provide path to new
shell as a “parameter,” meaning to be explained soon)
 The Shell
Output of the echo, which and chsh commands
System Information
 After you connect, type
◦ shazam
◦ whoami
◦ hostname
◦ date
◦ cal
◦ free
 Commands have three parts; command, options and parameters.
Example: cal –j 3 1999. “cal” is the command, “-j” is an option (or
switch), “3” and “1999” are parameters.
 Options have long and short forms. Example:
◦ date –u
◦ data --universal

What is the nature of the prompt?

What was the system’s response to the command?
 System Information
Output of the whoami, hostname, date, cal and free
Command History and Simple
Command Line Editing
 Try the history command
 Try <Ctrl><r> (only works in BASH shell)
 Choose from the command history by using

the up ↑ and down ↓ arrows

 What do the left ← and right → arrow do on

the command line?

 Try the <Del> and <Backspace> keys
Help with Commands
 Type
◦ hostname –-help
◦ man hostname
◦ info hostname (gives the same or most information,
but must be paged)
 And “Yes,” you can always Google it
Connect Commands Together with
the Pipe Symbol “|” and Using Filters
 The pipe “|” feeds the OUTPUT of one command
into the INPUT of another command. Our first
example will use the pipe symbol to filter the
output of a command. Try:
◦w
◦ w | grep ‘root’
◦ ps -e -o ruser,comm | grep 'tut‘
 The ps command is using both “options (dash)”
and parameters
 Try both “man grep” and “info grep”. See the

difference?
Editing the Command Line with Emacs
Keys (see emacs-editing-mode.pdf)
 <Ctrl-a> go to beginning
 <Ctrl-e> go to end
 <Alt-f> forward one word
 <Alt-b> back one word
 <Ctrl-f> forward one character
 <Ctrl-b> back one character
 <Ctrl-d> delete character
 <Alt-d> delete word
 <Ctrl-u> delete from cursor to beginning of line
 <Ctrl-k> delete from cursor to end of line

See emacs-editing-mode.pdf and emacs-editing-mode-short.pdf

Go to through command history in shell and practice editing.

The Linux File System
 The *Nix (Unix or Linux) file system is a hierarchical
directory structure
 The structure resembles an upside down tree
 Directories are collections of files and other

directories. The structure is recursive with many levels.

 Every directory has a parent except for the root

directory.
 Many directories have children directories.
 Unlike Windows, with multiple drives and multiple file

systems, a *Nix system only has ONE file system.

 The Linux Standard Base (LSB) specifies the structure

of a Linux file system.

The Linux File System
A Typical Linux File System
Examining the File System
 Try
◦ nautilus –-browser –-no-desktop
◦ tree –L 3 –d / | less
◦ tree –L 3 / | less
◦ file /bin/alsac then press <tab>
◦ cd ~; pwd (This is your home directory where application
settings are kept and where you have write privileges)
◦ ls
◦ mkdir myPics;mkdir myPics/work;mkdir
myPics/friends;mkdir myPics/friends/BU; mkdir
myPics/friends/MIT
◦ tree myPics
Examining the File System
Output from the tree, file, pwd and ls commands
Demonstration of using the mkdir command
Navigating the File System
 There are two types of pathnames
◦ Absolute (Abs) – the full path to a directory or file; begins with the
root symbol /
◦ Relative (Rel) – a partial path that is relative to the current working
directory
 Examples
◦ Abs cd /usr/local/lib
◦ echo $HOME (one of may environment variables maintained by the
shell)
◦ Abs cd `echo $HOME`
◦ pwd
◦ Rel cd ..
◦ Rel cd ..
◦ Abs cd /lib (location OS shared libraries)
◦ ls –d */ (a listing of only the directories in /lib)
Navigating the File System
Moving around the file system using the cd command
Modifying the Linux File System
 More useful commands
◦ cd (also takes you to your home directory like cd ~)
◦ mkdir test
◦ echo ‘Hello everyone’ > test/myfile.txt
◦ echo ‘Goodbye all’ >> test/myfile.txt
◦ less test/myfile.txt
◦ mkdir test/subdir1/subdir2 (FAILS)
◦ mkdir -p test/subdir1/subdir2 (Succeeds)
◦ mv test/myfile.txt test/subdir1/subdir2
◦ rmdir test (FAILS)
◦ rm –Rv test (Succeeds)
Modifying the Linux File System
Demonstration of the mkdir, less, mv, rmdir and rm commands
The List Command
 Useful options for the “ls” command:
◦ ls -a List all file including hidden file beginning
with a period “.”
◦ ls -ld * List details about a directory and not its
contents
◦ ls -F Put an indicator character at the end of each
name
◦ ls –l Simple long listing
◦ ls –lh Give human readable file sizes
◦ ls –lS Sort files by file size
◦ ls –lt Sort files by modification time
File System Ownership and
Permissions
 All files and directories have a individual and
a group ownership.
 All files and directories have read (r), write

(w), and execute (x) permissions assigned as

octets to the individual owner (u), the group
(g) owner and all others (o) that are logged
into the system.
 You can change permissions if you are the

individual owner or a member of the group.

 Only root can change ownership.
 root
The root user is the master
File and Directory Ownership and
Permissions
 Try
◦ cd
◦ touch myfile (create file)
◦ mkdir mydir (create directory)
◦ ls –l myfile (examine file)
◦ ls –ld mydir (examine directory)
◦ chmod g+w myfile (add group write permission)
◦ ls –l myfile
◦ chmod ugo+x myfile (add user, group and other execute
permission)
◦ ls –l myfile
◦ chmod ugo+w mydir (add user, group and other write permission)
◦ ls –ld mydir
◦ chmod a-w (a=ALL, remove user, group and other write permission)
File and Directory Ownership and Permissions
Examining and changing file and directory permissions
Editing Output Lines With awk (see awk-tutorial.pdf)

Syntax:

BEGIN { Actions}
{ACTION} # Action for every line in a file
END { Actions }
Try

◦ls –l /usr
◦ls –l /usr | awk ‘{print $9 “\t” $5}’
◦ls –l /usr > usr.txt
◦awk ‘print $9 “\t” $5}’ usr.txt (gives same results as 2nd command
line, but awk is acting on a file instead of saved output)
◦ls –lh /lib | awk ‘{printf “%20s\t%s\n”,$9,$5}’
◦ls –l /lib | awk ‘BEGIN {sum=0} {printf “%20s\t%s\n”,$9,$5;
sum+=$5} END{sum/=1000000; printf “\nTotal: %d GB\n”,sum}’
Editing Output Lines With awk
Output from awk commands
Editing Output Lines With sed
 sed replaces one substring with another
 sed operates on every line in a file or processes every

line piped into it

 sed matches patterns using regular expressions (See

regular-expressions.pdf cheat sheet)

 Common regular expression metacharacters:

◦ . – any character
◦ ? – quantified zero or one
◦ * - quantifier none or more
◦ + - quantifier one or more
◦ ^ - beginning of line
◦ $ - end of line
◦ [XxYy] – character class matching upper or lower case “X” or
“”Y”
Editing Output Lines With sed –
continued (see sed-tutorial.pdf)
 Try
◦ echo “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.” >
easy_sed.txt; cat easy_sed.txt
◦ sed –i.bak
‘s/rain/snow/;s/Spain/Sweden/;s/plain/mountains/’
easy_sed.txt; cat easy_sed.txt
◦ ls -l /lib | awk 'BEGIN {sum=0} {printf "%s\t%s\n",$9,$5;
sum+=$5} END{printf "\nTotal: %d\n",sum}' | sed -e
's/\.so\(\.[0-9]*\)*//' | less (challenge: get rid of
soname extension)
◦ ls -l /lib | awk 'BEGIN {sum=0} {printf "%s\t%s\n",$9,$5;
sum+=$5} END{printf "\nTotal: %d GB\n",sum}' | sed
-e 's/\.so\(\.[0-9]*\)*//' | awk '{printf "%20s\t%s\n",
$1,$2}‘ | less (pretty print)
Editing Output Lines With sed
Output from sed commands
Editing Files with Emacs and Vim
You don’t have to take sides and there is always “nedit”
 Editing Files with Emacs and Vim
 Cheat sheet: emacs.pdf  Cheat sheet: vim.pdf
 Movement: <C-b>,<C-n>, <C-  Movement: <h>,<j>,
p>,<C-f>,<M-b>,<M-e>,<C- <k>,<l>,<b>,<e>,<0>,<$>
a>,<C-e>,<M-’<‘ >,<M-’>’ >,
,<gg>,<G>
 Change/Delete/Replace: <C-  Change/Delete/Replace:
d>,<M-d-esc>,<M-d>,<C-
kk>,<C-d’char’>,<Insert> <x>,<cw>,<dw>,<dd>,<r>,
 Copy/Paste: <C-space>,<C- <R>
y>,<C-_>,<M-w>,<C-aky>  Copy/Paste:
 Search/Replace: <C-s <v>,<P>,<u>,<y>,<yy>
enter>,<C-s>,<C-r>,<M-x,  Search/Replace:
‘replace- </>,<n>,<N>,<:
string’<CR>’srchstr’<CR>’replace
%s/’regex’/’replacement’/g>
ment’<CR>
 Save/Quit: <:q>,<:w>,<:q!
 Save/Quit: <C-xs>,<C-
xw>,<C-xc,’n’,’yes’<CR>> >

Emacs – Control Keys Vim – Modal

C=Ctrl and M=Meta (Alt) Cmd, Insert, and Visual
Mission Possible: Editing Files with Emacs and Vim
• Someone has corrupted Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “The Raven.” Your
mission, should you decide to accept it, is to repair the damage with
emacs or vim and then confirm with the “diff” command. Hint: Also use
diff to find corruption.

• emacs –nw bad-the-raven.txt

or
• vim bad-the-raven.txt

• After editing and saving your file, confirm you work with:
• diff bad-the-raven.txt good-the-raven.txt
Finis