book

Fedora Linux

by Chris Tyler

October 2006

Beginner

658 pages

17h 17m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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How Do I Do That?What compatibility do you need?What level of stability do you need?What kind of support do you need?Does your equipment meet Fedora’s system requirements?How Does It Work?What About......trying Fedora but also keeping Windows?...other Linux distributions?...seeing a list of the software packages included in Fedora Core?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Determining your architectureChoosing boot and installation mediaCreating Fedora Core CDs or DVDsBuying Fedora Core CDs or DVDsPreparing files for a hard disk installationPreparing a USB flash disk, network installation server, or PXE boot serverHow Does It Work?What About......installing from a floppy disk?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Preparing for dual-bootStarting the installationTesting the installation mediaSelecting the installation methodInstallation stage 2Upgrading a Fedora installationPerforming a new Fedora installationPartitioning layoutGeneral questionsSoftware selectionFirst bootHow Does It Work?What About......rerunning the firstboot process to reset the system configuration?...getting help if I encounter problems during (or after) installation?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?KDE or GNOME?Using the desktopManaging windowsFast pastingLogging outHow Does It Work?What About......other desktops/GUIs?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Customizing the desktop appearance using themesCustomizing the panelsCustomizing the desktop backgroundCustomizing the window manager’s behaviorCustomizing NautilusCustomizing keyboard shortcutsHow Does It Work?What About......making a theme available to all users?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Customizing the desktop appearance using themesCustomizing the panelsCustomizing the desktop backgroundCustomizing the window manager’s behaviorCustomizing KonquerorCustomizing keyboard shortcutsHow Does It Work?What About......setting the defaults for new users?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......per-user display resolution settings?...creating the xorg.conf file without using system-config-display?...using multiple mice and keyboards with one display?...a nonstandard monitor, such as a widescreen laptop display?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Add a new print queueEdit an existing print queueSet the default print queuePrintingHow Does It Work?What About......creating a group of similar printers that are accessed on a first-available-printer basis?...setting up more than one queue for a printer?...making a PDF instead of printing?...using an HP multifunction printer?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......allowing multiple users to use a sound device at the same time?...controlling the volume levels from the command line or a script?...playing or recording an audio file from the command line?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Adding and removing fonts using GNOME NautilusAdding and removing fonts using KDE KonquerorAdding and removing fonts from the command lineInstalling the Microsoft fontsUsing newly installed fontsConfiguring font rendering optionsHow Does It Work?What About......getting a list of available fonts?...specifying a font name?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Safely removing a USB driveConfiguring default actions in GNOMEConfiguring default actions in KDEHow Does It Work?What About......partitioning a flash drive?...using a Linux filesystem such as ext2 on a USB storage device?...accessing USB storage from a nongraphical application?...manually mounting a USB storage device?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Using gnome-power-manager to conserve powerViewing power informationChanging the CPU speedManaging power from the command lineOther ways to extend battery lifeHow Does It Work?What About......stopping the hard drive motors when the drives are not in use?...turning the computer on and off (or hibernating and resuming) at certain times automatically?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Configuring networking graphicallyChanging a device configurationConfiguring DNS and the Hosts tableSaving and using the network configurationUsing network profilesConfiguring other network connection typesUsing GNOME NetworkManagerConfiguring networking from the command lineConfiguring wireless networks from the command lineNetmasks and routingDNS and hostnamesConfiguring networking from the command line using DHCPUsing wireless adapters that require firmwareUsing private networksHow Does It Work?What About......using a Fedora system as a router?...renaming a network interface, or configuring a “wlan” interface using the GUI configuration tool?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......using a touchpad and a mouse at the same time?...disabling the touchpad automatically when I’m typing?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Configuring dual video on an NVIDIA cardConfiguring dual video on an ATI graphics card using the open source driverConfiguring dual video on an ATI video card using the ATI closed source driverHow Does It Work?What About......using dual video output with another video driver?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Understanding the shell promptEntering commandsAccessing previous commandsObtaining a root prompt to enter commands as the superuserLinux error messagesLogging out of a shell promptHow Does It Work?What About......accessing a character-mode display when the graphical user interface is running?...finding out where a program is located?...starting graphical programs?...quickly entering a single command?...the difference between commands, utilities, applications, and programs?...using a different shell?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Using manpagesFinding a manpageReading info documentsViewing GNOME guides and KDE manualsAccessing HOWTOs and guidesViewing text files distributed with applicationsWhat About......printing a manpage?...making a PDF or HTML version of a manpage?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Understanding Linux directory namesKey directoriesAmbiguous filenamesChoosing easy-to-use filenamesListing the contents of directoriesDisplaying and changing the current working directoryCreating and removing directories from the command lineCopying filesRenaming and moving filesRemoving filesCreating multiple names by linking filesDetermining the contents of filesViewing the contents of text filesManaging files graphically using GNOMEManaging files graphically with KDEHow Does It Work?Matching filenamesThe merged file hierarchyWhat About......finding out which files are going to match an ambiguous filename before executing a command?...entering a filename quickly at the shell prompt?...using a filename in one command, and then reusing that filename in the next command?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?vi modesMoving aroundInserting textDeleting, yanking, and putting: vi’s version of cutting, copying, and pastingSearchingUndoing, redoing, and repeatingSaving and exitingHow Does It Work?What About......using vi with a GUI?...using other text editors?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Choosing the runlevel at boot timeChanging the runlevel after bootingChanging the default runlevelCreating entries for different runlevels on the boot menuHow Does It Work?What About......booting without an /etc/inittab file?...using the GUI in runlevel 3?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Configuring services using a character user interfaceConfiguring services from the command lineManaging services from the command lineHow Does It Work?What About......creating my own runlevel?...creating my own service?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Managing users graphicallyManaging groups graphicallyAdding and managing users from the command lineManaging user passwords from the command lineManaging groups and delegating group maintenance from the command lineHow Does It Work?What About......the kuser program on the menu?...editing the password and group files directly?...checking that the password and group files are properly written?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Viewing the current user, group, and mode from the command lineViewing the current user, group, and mode graphicallyChanging permissions graphicallyChanging permissions from the command lineUsing group permissionsDefault permissionsChanging file ownershipHow Does It Work?What About......viewing file permissions and ownership in the icon view of Nautilus?...changing the group of a file graphically?...deleting someone else’s file in /tmp?...changing a file’s owner and group at the same time?Where Can I Find More Information?
How Do I Do That?Monitoring process information graphically in GNOMEMonitoring process information graphically in KDEMonitoring process information on a character displayDisplaying process information from the shell promptTerminating processes from the shell promptHow Does It Work?What About......monitoring CPU load continuously?...starting a process with a lower (or higher) priority than normal?...changing the priority of an existing process?...starting and managing background processes?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Reducing the use of passwordsUsing graphical applications remotelyHow Does It Work?What About......compressing data?...connecting to a Fedora system from a Windows system using SSH?...connecting to a Fedora system from a Mac OS X system?...connecting to my home system from another location?...using public/private keys without a passphrase?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?RedirectionPipingHow Does It Work?What About......redirecting standard output and standard error to the same destination?...redirecting to a device?...splitting a pipe to send data to two destinations?...piping and redirecting data that is not text?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Shell and environment variablesSpecial variablesControl structuresInteger arithmeticMaking your scripts available to users of other shellsAn exampleLogin and initialization scriptsHow Does It Work?What About......interacting with the user through the graphical user interface?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......converting an RPM to a plain archive?...a damaged RPM database?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......installing multiple versions of a package?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Using yum from the command lineUsing yum with a GUIAdding repositoriesHow Does It Work?What About......installing proprietary video drivers?...installing software to handle proprietary multimedia formats?...excluding packages from management by yum?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......rolling back a package installation?...rolling back a rollback?...seeing what will happen during a rollback, before I decide to do it?...the disk space used by the rollback files?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......downloading but not installing updates?...updating a machine when it’s booted?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......packages that are not written in a compiled language?...packages that don’t have a configure script?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Preparing to build RPMsCreating a spec fileHow Does It Work?What About......creating a desktop menu entry for a packaged program?...running a script when a package is installed or removed?...including an icon to identify the package?...viewing the source code and the spec file for an existing package?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......editing the spec file before rebuilding?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Managing LVM graphicallyGrowing a logical volumeShrinking a logical volumeCreating a new logical volumeCreating a snapshotRemoving a logical volume or a snapshotAdding a partitionRemoving a partitionManaging LVMs from the command lineLVM device namesGetting information about LVM elementsGrowing a logical volumeShrinking a logical volumeCreating a new logical volumeCreating a snapshot logical volumeRemoving a logical volumeAdding a partitionRemoving a partitionManaging LVM in single-user modeManaging LVM in rescue modeHow Does It Work?What About......taking multiple snapshots of a filesystem?...improving performance?...LVM mirroring?...using LVM with RAID?...using a raw, unpartitioned disk as a PV?...a failing disk drive?...creating a flexible disk layout?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Displaying Information About the Current RAID ConfigurationCreating a RAID arrayHandling a drive failureStopping and restarting a RAID arrayMonitoring RAID arraysSetting up a hot spareMonitoring drive healthHow Does It Work?What About......booting from a RAID array?...mixing and matching USB flash drives, USB hard disks, SATA, SCSI, and IDE/ATA drives?...mirroring to a remote drive as part of a disaster-recovery plan?...using more than one RAID array, but configuring one hot spare to be shared between them?...configuring the rebuild rate for arrays?...simultaneous drive failure?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Determining what data to back upDetermining how often to back up your dataDetermine how quickly you will need to restore your dataDetermine how far back in time you need to restoreDecision 1: Incremental versus full backups, and backup rotationDecision 2: Decide on the backup mediaDecision 3: Decide on media rotation and storageSimple backup labelingBacking up to DVDBacking up to tapeRestoring files from backupsViewing the table of contents and verifying a backupHow Does It Work?What About......using LVM snapshots in a backup script?...putting more than one backup on a tape?...backing up multiple systems onto a central tape archive?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......daylight savings time?...using an editor other than vi to edit the crontab?...loading the crontab from a file?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Adding additional Samba sharesAccessing Fedora printers from a Windows systemConfiguring Samba from the command lineHow Does It Work?What About......disabling access to printers through Samba?...accessing a Samba share on another Linux machine?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......older clients that use the bootp protocol?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Configuring named graphicallyConfiguring named through configuration files and datafilesTesting DNS entriesConfiguring a slave nameserverUsing your nameservers locallyServing domain information to the InternetReverse mappingHow Does It Work?What About......changing from one nameserver to another?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Accessing a CUPS printer from Windows XPHow Does It Work?What About......a client that uses the older LPD protocol?...configuring sharing from the command line?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Starting ApacheTesting ApacheInstalling your own web contentChanging the default configurationConfiguring Apache graphicallyDirectly editing Apache’s configuration fileConfiguring the server root and document rootConfiguring the server administrator, IP address and port, and server nameConfiguring accessEnabling personal web pagesUsing virtual hostsEnabling CGI scripts in every directoryPassword-protecting contentHow Does It Work?What About......interpreting the Apache logfiles?...using a more secure authentication scheme than Basic?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Preparing to configure sendmail and activating changesConfiguring sendmail to use a mail relayConfiguring sendmail to accept inbound emailUsing aliasesConfiguring virtual usersConfiguring MasqueradingHow Does It Work?What About......using an alternate MTA?...fetching mail from a remote mailbox?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Creating your own certificateDisabling EncryptionStarting DovecotHow Does It Work?What About......IMAP folders other than the INBOX?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......changing the SquirrelMail configuration?...browsers that don’t support JavaScript or ECMAScript?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......creating my own scripts and programs that access MySQL data?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......changing the appearance of the Wiki?...using a logo that isn’t rectangular?...moving or deleting a page, or protecting a page against edits?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......secure FTP?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Analyzing virtual host logfilesAnalyzing the FTP logfileAccessing the usage statistics from another locationHow Does It Work?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Configuring the firewall in text modeTemporarily disabling the firewall from the command lineHow Does It Work?What About......more complex firewall rules?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Configuring SELinux from the command lineDetermining which booleans to modifyUsing file labelsRelabeling the systemViewing and interpreting SELinux messagesHow Does It Work?What About......using the strict or MLS policies?...booting with SELinux disabled?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Setting the default ACL for new filesCopying and moving files with their ACLsCopying an ACL from one file to anotherImproving the appearance of ACL listingsHow Does It Work?What About......adjusting ACLs graphically?...saving and restoring the ACLs of a file subtree?...a version of tar that supports ACLs?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......making an entire subtree immutable?...other file attributes that might be useful?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......changing the password timeout?...voluntarily giving up the password timestamp?...disabling the root password entirely (like a Debian or Ubuntu system)?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Using an authentication serverAdding a PAM module: restricting access by time and userAutomatic blacklisting of sites trying a brute-force password attackPAM and consolehelperHow Does It Work?What About......other PAM modules?...permitting the console user to use su without a password?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Interpreting /var/log/messagesCreating your own logfile entriesKeeping an eye on logsConfiguring remote loggingAutomated log watchingLog rotationHow Does It Work?What About......sending log messages to a program?...outputting to a named pipe?...logging messages from printers, routers, and other network devices?...using patterns within the message text to determine message routing?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......an intruder altering the fingerprint database?...automating AIDE scans?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Posting on the mailing listHow Does It Work?What About......posting to a mailing list when a disposable email address is used to subscribe to the list?...subscribing to a Fedora list in nondigest mode without having the list messages cluttering up my email inbox?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......saving an IRC discussion?...other ways of accessing IRC?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Creating a Bugzilla accountReporting a new bugHow Does It Work?What About......receiving less (or more) email from Bugzilla?...a bug that’s not really a bug?...a bug due to problems in the upstream code?...referring to a Bugzilla bug on the mailing lists or in IRC?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Updating Fedora Core to RawhideInstalling Rawhide directlyCreating a local Rawhide mirrorUsing a local Rawhide mirrorRawhide-related mailing listsHow Does It Work?What About......testing upcoming Fedora Core versions without performing a network installation or update?...using other repositories with the Rawhide development repository?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Fedora DocumentationFedora TranslationFedora ExtrasWhat About......Fedora-related projects that have sprung up outside of the official Fedora community?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......one or two small partitions that appear at the end of my disk drive?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Creating a boot filesystemCreating RAID devicesCreating an LVM layoutHow Does It Work?What About......disk partitions on non-PC systems?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Preparing a USB drivePreparing a network installation serverPreparing a PXE Boot ServerHow Does It Work?What About......installing from a public HTTP or FTP server?...booting the installer from a mini-CD?...booting the installer from floppy disk?...configuring a PXE installation from the command line?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Using a Kickstart fileHow Does It Work?What About......creating a Kickstart file using a graphical tool?...creating a Kickstart file that dynamically adjusts according to properties of the installation target?...performing customization after installation?...installing a system with the same configuration as another, previously installed system?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?Customizing the GRUB menuUsing your own splash imageCreating additional boot entriesInstalling GRUB’s boot record from FedoraInstalling GRUB’s boot record from a GRUB DVD or floppy diskEditing boot optionsInstalling or changing a GRUB passwordHow Does It Work?What About......an archive of GRUB splash images?...dual-booting between different Linux distributions?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......copying files to or from another machine while in rescue mode?...using a GUI while in rescue mode?...accessing software from the hard disk without using chroot?Where Can I Learn More?
How Do I Do That?How Does It Work?What About......starting Xen guest domains automatically at boot time?...hardware support for virtualization?...using other network or storage configurations?...booting other operating systems?...monitoring the resource usage and activity of Xen domains?Where Can I Learn More?

Content preview from Fedora Linux

Using Runlevels

Fedora can be booted into different runlevels, each of which starts a specific collection of software for a particular purpose. The most commonly used are runlevel 3, which starts the system with a character-based user interface, and runlevel 5, which starts the system with a graphical user interface. Table 4-11 lists the standard runlevels.

Table 4-11. Standard runlevels

Runlevel	Description	Purpose
`s` (or `S`)	Single-user maintenance mode	Emergency system recovery work
0	Halt	Stops the system
1	Single-user mode	System administration
2	(Multiuser without networking)	(Not normally used)
3	Multiuser, character-mode	Normal system operation without graphical login; useful for servers
4	(Not defined)	(Not normally used)
5	Graphical	Normal system operation with graphical login.
6	Reboot	Restarts the system
7, 8, 9, a, b, c	(Not defined)	Available for custom purposes

The ability to choose the runlevel lets you save system resources (for example, by not running the graphical user interface when it isn’t needed) or start the system in a minimal configuration so that you can fix problems.

How Do I Do That?

You can change the runlevel on the fly, or configure your system to start in a different runlevel.

Choosing the runlevel at boot time

The Fedora boot menu can be used to specify the runlevel:

Press a key (such as the spacebar) when the Fedora Core boot display appears. This will reveal the boot menu.
Select the Fedora Core boot option you wish to use using the arrow keys.
Press the letter a ...