What Is a Shell?
To understand a shell, you need to understand a few terms; you also need to understand how you interact with the system (both hardware and other software) as a whole. Previously, you learned that Linux sees everything as nothing more than files (see Chapter 10, "Understanding the Linux Filesystem" ). Whether that file is ASCII text, binary instructions, a directory, or a special file that acts as a conduit to pass data to and from a piece of hardware, it is seen by the kernel as a file.
Looking at Figure 14.1, if you imagine that all the files on a disk go in the center circle—regardless of whether or not they represent hardware—it will be a little easier to understand what happens. After the kernel boots, it is in charge of ...
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