Slackware Linux Essentials

Alan Hicks

Chris Lumens

David Cantrell

Logan Johnson

Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Slackware Linux, Inc.

1-57176-338-4

[ Split HTML / Single HTML ]

Table of Contents

1 An Introduction to Slackware Linux

1.1 What is Linux?

1.1.1 A Word on GNU

1.2 What is Slackware?

1.3 Open Source and Free Software

2.1 System Help

2.1.1 man
2.1.2 The /usr/doc Directory
2.1.3 HOWTOs and mini-HOWTOs

2.2 Online Help

2.2.1 The Official Website and Help Forums
2.2.2 E-mail Support
2.2.3 Non-Official Websites and Help Forums

3 Installation

3.1 Getting Slackware

3.1.1 The Official Disc and Box Sets
3.1.2 Via the Internet

3.2 System Requirements

3.2.1 The Software Series
3.2.2 Installation Methods
3.2.3 Boot Disk
3.2.4 Root Disk
3.2.5 Supplemental Disk
3.2.6 Making the Disks

3.3 Partitioning

3.4 The setup Program

3.4.1 HELP
3.4.2 KEYMAP
3.4.3 ADDSWAP
3.4.4 TARGET
3.4.5 SOURCE
3.4.6 SELECT
3.4.7 INSTALL
3.4.8 CONFIGURE

4 System Configuration

4.1 System Overview

4.1.1 File System Layout
4.1.2 Finding Files
4.1.3 The /etc/rc.d Directory

4.2 Selecting a Kernel

4.2.1 The /kernels Directory on the Slackware CD-ROM
4.2.2 Compiling a Kernel from Source
4.2.3 Using Kernel Modules

5 Network Configuration

5.1 Introduction: netconfig is your friend.

5.2 Network Hardware Configuration

5.2.1 Loading Network Modules
5.2.2 LAN (10/100/1000Base-T and Base-2) cards
5.2.3 Modems
5.2.4 PCMCIA

5.3 TCP/IP Configuration

5.3.1 DHCP
5.3.2 Static IP
5.3.3 /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf
5.3.4 /etc/resolv.conf
5.3.5 /etc/hosts

5.4 PPP

5.4.1 pppsetup
5.4.2 /etc/ppp

5.5 Wireless

5.5.1 Hardware Support
5.5.2 Configure the Wireless Settings
5.5.3 Configure the Network

5.6 Network File Systems

5.6.1 SMB/Samba/CIFS
5.6.2 Network File System (NFS)

6 X Configuration

6.1 xorgconfig
6.2 xorgsetup
6.3 xinitrc
6.4 xwmconfig
6.5 xdm

7.1 LILO

7.2 LOADLIN

7.3 Dual Booting

7.3.1 Windows
7.3.2 Linux

8 The Shell

8.1.1 Logging In
8.1.2 Root: The Superuser

8.2 The Command Line

8.2.1 Running Programs
8.2.2 Wildcard Matching
8.2.3 Input/Output Redirection and Piping

8.3 The Bourne Again Shell (bash)

8.3.1 Environment Variables
8.3.2 Tab Completion

8.4 Virtual Terminals

8.4.1 Screen

9 Filesystem Structure

9.1 Ownership

9.2 Permissions

9.4 Mounting Devices

9.4.1 fstab
9.4.2 mount and umount

9.5 NFS Mounts

10 Handling Files and Directories

10.1 Navigation : ls, cd, and pwd

10.1.1 ls
10.1.2 cd
10.1.3 pwd

10.2 Pagers: more, less, and most

10.2.1 more
10.2.2 less
10.2.3 most

10.3 Simple Output: cat and echo

10.3.1 cat
10.3.2 echo

10.4 Creation: touch and mkdir

10.4.1 touch
10.4.2 mkdir

10.5 Copy and Move

10.5.1 cp
10.5.2 mv

10.6 Deletion: rm and rmdir

10.6.1 rm
10.6.2 rmdir

10.7 Aliasing files with ln

11 Process Control

11.1 Backgrounding
11.2 Foregrounding
11.3 ps
11.4 kill
11.5 top

12 Essential System Administration

12.1 Users and Groups

12.1.1 Supplied Scripts
12.1.2 Changing Passwords
12.1.3 Changing User Information

12.2 Users and Groups, the Hard Way

12.3 Shutting Down Properly

13 Basic Network Commands

13.1 ping

13.2 traceroute

13.3 DNS Tools

13.3.1 host
13.3.2 nslookup
13.3.3 dig

13.4 finger

13.5 telnet

13.5.1 The other use of telnet

13.6 The Secure shell

13.7 email

13.7.1 pine
13.7.2 elm
13.7.3 mutt
13.7.4 nail

13.8 Browsers

13.8.1 lynx
13.8.2 links
13.8.3 wget

13.9 FTP Clients

13.9.1 ftp
13.9.2 ncftp

13.10 Talking to Other People

13.10.1 wall
13.10.2 talk
13.10.3 ytalk

14 Security

14.1 Disabling Services

14.1.1 Services started from inetd
14.1.2 Services started from init scripts

14.2 Host Access Control

14.2.1 iptables
14.2.2 tcpwrappers

14.3 Keeping Current

14.3.1 slackware-security mailing list
14.3.2 The /patches directory

15 Archive Files

15.1 gzip
15.2 bzip2
15.3 tar
15.4 zip

16 Vi

16.1 Starting vi

16.2 Modes

16.2.1 Command Mode
16.2.2 Insert Mode

16.3 Opening Files

16.4 Saving Files

16.5 Quitting vi

16.6 vi Configuration

16.7 Vi Keys

17.1 Starting emacs

17.1.1 Command Keys

17.2 Buffers

17.3 Modes

17.3.1 Opening files

17.4 Basic Editing

17.5 Saving Files

17.5.1 Quitting Emacs

18 Slackware Package Management

18.1 Overview of Package Format

18.2 Package Utilities

18.2.1 pkgtool
18.2.2 installpkg
18.2.3 removepkg
18.2.4 upgradepkg
18.2.5 rpm2tgz/rpm2targz

18.3 Making Packages

18.3.1 explodepkg
18.3.2 makepkg
18.3.3 SlackBuild Scripts

18.4 Making Tags and Tagfiles (for setup)

19 ZipSlack

19.1 What is ZipSlack?

19.1.1 Advantages
19.1.2 Disadvantages

19.2 Getting ZipSlack

19.2.1 Installation

19.3 Booting ZipSlack

A. The GNU General Public License

A.1. Preamble
A.2. TERMS AND CONDITIONS
A.3. How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

List of Tables
2-1. Man Page Sections
3-1. Slackware Linux, Inc. Contact Information
3-2. System Requirements
3-3. Software Series
9-1. Octal Permission Values
13-1. ftp commands
16-1. Movement
16-2. Editing
16-3. Searching
16-4. Saving and Quitting
17-1. Basic Emacs Editing Commands
18-1. installpkg Options
18-2. removepkg Options
18-3. Tagfile Status Options

List of Figures
4-1. Kernel Configuration Menu
6-1. xorgconfig Mouse Configuration
6-2. xorgconfig Horizontal Sync
6-3. xorgconfig Vertical Sync
6-4. xorgconfig Video Card
6-5. Desktop Configuration with xorgconfig
7-1. liloconfig
7-2. liloconfig Expert Menu
11-1. Basic ps output
13-1. Telnetting to a webserver
13-2. The Pine main menu
13-3. Elm main screen
13-4. Mutt main screen
13-5. Lynx default start page
13-6. Links, with the file menu open
13-7. Two users in a talk session
13-8. Two users in a ytalk session
16-1. A vi session.
18-1. Pkgtool's main menu.
18-2. Pkgtool view mode

List of Examples
8-1. Listing Environment Variables with set

Preface