Beginning Unix

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Who Is This Book For?

What Does This Book Cover?

How This Book Is Structured

What Do You Need to Use This Book?

Conventions

Source Code

Errata

Chapter 1: Unix Fundamentals

Brief History

Unix Versions

Operating System Components

Unix Kernel

Shells

The Other Components

Summary

Chapter 2: First Steps

System Startup

Logging In and Out of Unix

Logging In via GUI

Logging In at the Command Line

Remotely Logging In

The Shell

Logging Out

System Shutdown

Getting Help with Man Pages

Summary

Chapter 3: Understanding Users and Groups

Account Basics

Root Account

System Accounts

User Accounts

Group Accounts

Managing Users and Groups

/etc/passwd

/etc/shadow

/etc/group

Mac OS X Differences

Managing Accounts and Groups

Account Management

Group Management

User Management with Graphical User Interface Tools

Becoming Another User

User- and Group-Related Commands

Summary

Exercises

Chapter 4: File System Concepts

File System Basics

Directory Structure

Root's Basic Directories

Paths and Case

Navigating the File System

pwd

cd

which and whereis

find

file

ls

File Types

Links

File and Directory Permissions

Changing Permissions

Using chmod in Symbolic Mode

Using chmod with Absolute Permissions

Viewing Files

Creating, Modifying, and Removing Files

Deleting Files

Making and Removing Directories

Basic File System Management

Making File Systems Accessible

Summary

Exercise

Chapter 5: Customize Your Working Environment

Environment Variables

The PS1 Variable

Other Environment ...