Raspberry Pi For Kids For Dummies

Chapter 11

Manage and Customize Linux

All versions of Linux, including Raspbian, need more time and attention than a Mac or a PC. You’ll find it’s harder to install software, change preferences, and even to create and rename files in Linux.

You can automate some of the extra work by writing little mini-applications called scripts. You can also set up Linux so that it runs a command or script automatically at set times.

Even so, to really master Linux, you have to know a lot more about working with files than maybe you’re used to.

Meet File Permissions

If you’re used to a Mac or a PC, permissions can seem frustrating. They don’t just work. You have to think about them all the time, even if you’re doing something simple like making a file or folder.

There’s no way around file permissions. You have to understand them and know how to use them, or you won’t get much done with Linux.

Understand Read, Write, and Execute

In Linux, you can do three things to a file or folder: You can read it, you can change it, or you can run it as code.

These three permissions are called read, write, and execute. As you can maybe guess, you can set them separately for every file. For example, you can make a file read-only by turning off the write and execute permissions. Now you can’t edit the file, and you can’t run it as an app.

Why would you make a file read-only? For safety. Sometimes you want ...