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Entering a safe mirror when logging in with unionfs and chroot
1 year ago
"This environment is a exact copy (mirror) of the system you're working on. Because you're in safe copy of the real system, you can do whatever you like, it will never change the system, everything stays inside the cache (the readwrite branch) ... " -
Linux tip: Bash parameters and parameter expansions
1 year ago
Do you sometimes wonder how to use parameters with your scripts, and how to pass them to internal functions or other scripts? Do you need to do simple validity tests on parameters or options, or perform simple extraction and replacement operations on the parameter strings? This tip helps you with parameter use and the various parameter expansions available in the bash shell.
Linux.com : Shell & CLI
Bringing the trashcan to the command line
The trash project allows you to interact with your desktop trashcan from the command line. It lets users "undo" deletions made with the trash command in a similar manner to restoring files from the trashcan in a desktop environment. For experienced Linux users, the trash command comes in handy when you want to put a file into the trashcan from the command line.
A utility for sending complex email messages from the command line
When the need arises to send email from the command line, many folks first think of the mail(1) command. A better choice might be the email program, which gives you the ability to send email to an SMTP server over SSL, offers MIME support including ability to attach one or more files to your emails, uses an address book to store your recipients, and lets you digitally sign and encrypt your messages.
Transform images into videos with images2mpg
images2mpg, a simple utility that's part of the KDE Image Plugin Interface (KIPI), lets you create an MPEG file from image files. Relying on a handful of command-line tools including the ImageMagick suite and mjpegtools, images2mpg creates wonderful videos from your images and even lets you insert your favorite song as the background. It supports SVCD, DVD, VCD, and XVCD video formats.
Terminator runs multiple GNOME terminals in the same window
In a sense, the desktop is the best thing that ever happened to the command line. Because a virtual terminal runs in a graphical environment, it boasts all sorts of enhancements that the unadorned shell lacks -- everything from multiple tabs to easy selection of display fonts and background and foreground colors. Perhaps the resulting power and convenience explains why, even at a time when the emphasis is on giving every application a graphical interface -- no matter how inappropriately -- people still write useful utilities for virtual terminals. A good example is Terminator, a program designed to perform one simple function: displaying multiple instances of the GNOME terminal within the same window.
Korn -- an extended shell
Everyone knows what a Linux shell is -- you open up a Linux terminal window (such as Konsole or xterm), type in some commands, and there you are, using your Linux shell. Write your commands to a file, make it executable, run it, and you're a shell programmer. But did you know that there are different shells that you can use, and that each shell operates in a slightly different way? My personal favorite is the Korn shell; by the end of this article, it may be your favorite as well.
CLI Magic: A little script to customize directory listings
Sometimes when I run ls to get a directory listing, I am looking for a specific file, but I want to see the whole context where the file resides. While you can pipe the output of ls to grep, that doesn't show you the whole directory with the matched files highlighted in a different color. I create a small script to do just what I want.
GNU Emacs 22 finally released
Emacs fans, limber up your fingers -- there's a new GNU in town. Almost six years after the release of the previous version, the Free Software Foundation has announced the release of GNU Emacs 22. (Actually, 22.1, but who's counting?) This release includes support for GTK+, drag and drop support for X, a number of new modes, and a graphical interface to the GNU Debugger (GDB).
