This was my first ever presentation at a GNU+Linux user group. First given at CHLUG in August 2002, I gave a condensed version of the presentation at RUSLUG in September 2002.
Process Management
stopafter - Sends SIG(x) after n seconds
Common Usage: stopafter <n time> <signal> [<cmd> [args]]
Example: $stopafter 10s SIGINT ping www.chlug.org
Install: Debian .deb: stopafter | RedHat .rpm: ?
loadwatch - Only allows program to run if load is < n
Common Usage: loadwatch -h <stop_limit> -l <restart_limit> command
Example: $loadwatch -h.25 -l.20 -d3 make-kpkg kernel-2.6.0-test4
Install: Debian .deb: loadwatch | RedHat .rpm: ?
slay - Kill all the process belonging to a user
Common Usage: slay <username>
Example: #slay sco
Install: Debian .deb: slay | RedHat. rpm: ?
killall - Send signals (SIGx) to process by their name
Common Usage: killall [signal] <process_name>
Example: $killall -SIGINT java_vm
Install: Debian .deb: psmisc | RedHat: ?
nohup - Make program immune to hangups
Common Usage: nohup <command>
Example: $nohup play mp3/*
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
pstree - Display a tree of what program spawned what
Common Usage: pstree <-a> <-h>
Example: $pstree
Install: Debian .deb: psmisc | RedHat: ?
pidof - Find the process id of any running program
Common Usage: pidof <-s> <program>
Example: $pidof uptimed
Install: Debian .deb: sysvinit | RedHat: ?
Hardware Interfaces
lspci - List all PCI devices the kernel has access to
Common Usage: lspci [-v] [-vv] [-m]
Example: $lspci -v
Install: Debian .deb: pciutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
linuxinfo - List information about the kernel and the hardware (funner than uname)
Common Usage & Example: $linuxinfo
Install: Debian .deb: linuxinfo | RedHat. rpm: ?
User Management
last - Displays a list of users who logged in sorted by reverse login date
lastb - Displays a list of failed login attempts sorted by reverse attempt date
Common Usage: last [-n num] <username> <tty>
Example: $lastb dave
Install: Debian .deb: sysvinit | RedHat .rpm: ?
who - Show who is logged in
Common Usage: who [-h] [a]
Example: $who -a <username>
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
w - Show who is logged in AND what they are doing
Common Usage: w [-s] <username>
Example: $w
Install: Debian .deb: procps | RedHat. rpm: ?
whoami - Print effective username
Common Usage & Example: $whoami
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat. rpm: ?
members - Show the members of a group
Common Usage: members [-p] [-s] [-t]
Example: $members audio <group_name>
Install: Debian .deb: members | RedHat .rpm: ?
groups - List the groups a use is a member of
Common Usage: groups <username>
Example: $groups dave
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
Network
traceroute - Print the route a packet takes from one computer to another
Common Usage: traceroute [-m max_hops] <remote_host>
Example: $traceroute www.yahoo.com
Install: Debian .deb: traceroute | RedHat .rpm: ?
dhclient - A powerful script based DHCP client
Common Usage: dhclient <interface>
Example: #dhclient eth0
Install: Debian .deb: dhcp-client | RedHat .rpm: ?
ifconfig - Configuration tool of network interfaces
Common Usage: ifconfig <interface> [-a] [ip_address]
Example: #ifconfig -a
Install: Debian .deb: net-tools | RedHat .rpm: ?
netstat - Print information about current network connections
Common Usage: netstat [-s] [-c]
Example: $netstat
Install: Debian .deb: net-tools | RedHat .rpm: ?
jdresolve - Get Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) from address
Common Usage: jdresolve <log_file>
Example: $jdresolve -
Install: Debian .deb: jdresolve | RedHat .rpm: ?
Email Tools
mail - Interface to easily send mail
Common Usage: mail [-s <subject>] addresses <input>
Example: $mail -s "Hi Dave" dave <file.txt
Install: Debian .deb: mailutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
vrfy - Verify Email Addresses
Common Usage: vrfy [-n] [-v[v[v]]] [-p] [-h] <address@domain>
Example: $vrfy -vv -n daveharding25@yahoo.com
Install: Debian .deb: vrfy | RedHat .rpm: ?
from - Print names of those who have sent mail
Common Usage: mail [-c] [-s sender]
Example: $from -s chlug
Install: Debian .deb: bsdmainutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
Script Tools
sleep - Pause for a set amount of time
Common Usage: sleep n[s,m,h,d]
Example: $sleep 10s; linuxinfo
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
Web Access
wget - Powerful non-interactive downloader
Common Usage: wget [-b] [-B] [-c]
Example: $wget http://www.chlug.org/pics/real_penguin.gif
Install: Debian .deb: wget | RedHat .rpm: ?
lynx - Tool for retrieving and formating HTML files
Common Usage: lynx [--dump] [--source]
Example: $lynx --dump http://www.chlug.org/home.php
Install: Debian .deb: lynx | RedHat .rpm: ?
Search Tools
whereis - Locate the binary, source and man page for a command
Common Usage: whereis <program_name>
Example: $whereis linuxinfo
Install: Debian .deb: util-linux | RedHat .rpm: ?
find - Seach for files in a directory heirarchy
Common Usage: find <path> <exp_options> <expression>
Example: $find /var/ -maxdepth 20 -file dave
Install: Debian .deb: findutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
apropos - Search the manual pages and descriptions
Common Usage: apropos <keyword>
Example: $apropos zip
Install: Debian .deb: man-db | RedHat .rpm: ?
chkdupexe - Find Duplicate Executables
Common Usage & Example: $chkdupexe
Install: Debian .deb: util-linux | RedHat .rpm: ?
chase - Chase Symbolic Links
Common Usage: chase --verbose <symlink>
Example: $chase `which vi`
Install: Debian .deb: chase | RedHat .rpm: ?
namei - Follow a pathname until a terminal point is found
Common Usage: namei <filename>
Example: $namei `which vi`
Install: Debian .deb: util-linux | RedHat .rpm: ?
whatis - Display a brief summary of a program
Common Usage & Example: $whatis linuxinfo
Install: Debian .deb: man-db | RedHat .rpm: ?
which - Locate a command
Common Usage & Example: $which linuxinfo
Install: Debian .deb: debutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
basename - Strip directory and suffix from filenames
Common Usage: basename <filename>
Example: $basename `pwd`
Install: Debian .deb: fileutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
dict - DICT protocol client
Common Usage: dict <word>
Example: $dict linux
Install: Debian .deb: dict | RedHat .rpm: ?
Text Tools
head - Print the first part of files
Common Usage: head [-c] <filename>
Example: $head presentation
Install: Debian .deb: textutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
tail - Output the last part of files
Common Usage: tail [-f] [-n n] <filename>
Example: $tail /home/dave/presentation
Install: Debian .deb: textutuils | RedHat .rpm: ?
wc - Print the number of bytes, words and lines in a file
Common Usage: wc [-b] [-w] [-l]
Example: $wc -w /home/dave/presentation
Install: Debian .deb: textutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
nl - Number lines of files
Common Usage: nl [-b <option>] [-s <string>]
Example: $nl testdoc
Install: Debian .deb: textutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
tac - Concatenate and print files in reverse
Common Usage: tac <filename>
Example: nl newdoc |tac
Install: Debian .deb: textutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
ptx - Produces a permutated index of file contents
Common Usage: ptx [-A]
Example: $ptx newdoc
Install: Debian .deb: textutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
sort - Sort lines of text files
Common Usage: sort [-f] [-r]
Example: $sort newdoc
Audio
cdtool - Play and catalog audio CDROMs
Common Usage: cdplay [+|- n], cdstop, cdpause, cdinfo
Example: $cdplay
Install: Debian .deb: cdtool | RedHat .rpm: ?
play - Play any sound to any available output
Common Usage: play [-v n] [-p] <filename>
Example: $play /home/dave/mp3/*
Install: Debian .deb: sox | RedHat .rpm: ?
rec - Record any sound to any format
Common Usage: rec ?
Install: Debian .deb: sox | RedHat .rpm: ?
Terminal Management
reset - Reset the terminal
Common Usage & Example: $reset
Install: Debian .deb: ncurses-bin | RedHat .rpm: ?
^z fg bg - Pause, restore and backround a running proccess
Common Usage: ^z (to stop) fg (to foreground) bg (to backround[like &])
Example: ^z (then) bg
Install: Debian .deb: bash | RedHat .rpm: ?
open - Start a program on a new virtual terminal (VT)
Common Usage: open [-s] [-l] [--] <command>
Example: $open -s -- linuxinfo
Install: Debian .deb: console-tools | RedHat .rpm: ?
vlock - Lock virtual terminal
Common Usage: vlock [-a]
Example: $vlock
Install: Debian .deb: vlock | RedHat .rpm: ?
splitvt - Run two shells in a split window
Common Usage: splitvt [-upper <command>] [-lower <command>]
Example: $splitvt -lower top
Install: Debian .deb: splitvt | RedHat .rpm: ?
Filesystem Tools
df - Report filesystem disk usage
Common Usage: df [-h]
Example: $df -h
Install: Debian .deb: fileutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
ln - Make links between files
Common Usage: ln -s
Example: $ln -s /var/spool/mail/dave /home/dave/mail
Install: Debian .deb: fileutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
pathchk - Check whether path names are valid or portable
Common Usage: pathchk [-p] <file_or_directory_name>
Example: $pathchk -p blah\ blah\ doc
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
shred - Delete a file securely by overwriting it's contents repeatedly
NOTE: This does not work on segments of journaled or RAID protected filesystems!!!
Common Usage: shred [-n] [-u] [-v]
Example: $shred -n100 -uv testdoc
Install: Debian .deb: fileutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
mktemp - Make unique temporary filenames
Common Usage: mktemp [-d] [-p] [-t]
Example: TMPFILE=`mktemp` || exit 1
Install: Debian .deb: debianutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
lslk - List local locks
Common Usage & Example: #lslk
Install: Debian .deb: lslk | RedHat .rpm: ?
lsof - List all open files
Common Usage: lsof [-t] [-u <username>]
Example: #lsof -u dave
Install: Debian .deb: lsof | RedHat .rpm: ?
Entertainment
rolldice - Rolls Virtual Dice
Common Usage: rolldice [options] [{#x}{#}d[#|%]{*#}{+/-#}{s#}]
$rolldice 4x1d9 (4 times[x] 1 Dice with 9 sides)
Install: Debian .deb: rolldice | RedHat .rpm: ?
fortune - Prints a random, hopefull interesting, adage
Common Usage: Prints a random, hopefull interesting, adage
Example: $fortune
Install: Debian .deb: fortune-min | RedHat .rpm: ?
figlet - Prints oversized text for .sigs
Common Usage: figlet [-f font] <message>
Example: $figlet -f lean CHLUG
Install: Debian .deb: figlet | RedHat .rpm: ?
banner - Print large text banner
Common Usage: banner [-w n]
Example: $banner -w80 CHLUG
Install: Debian .deb: bsdmainutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
cmatrix - Shows a scrolling "Matrix" like screen in Linux
Common Usage: cmatrix [-s]
Example: $cmatrix
Install: Debian .deb: cmatrix | RedHat .rpm: ?
boxes - Text mode box and comment drawing filter
Common Usage: boxes [-p <string>] [-d style]
Example: $figlet -f lean CHLUG |boxes -d columns
Install: Debian .deb: boxes | RedHat .rpm: ?
dadadodo - Exterminate all rational thought (make silly sentenaces from data)
Common Usage: dadadodo [-c n] [-o] [-l] <filename(s)>
Example: $dadadodo /var/spool/mail/dave
Password & Login Management
passwd(i) - Change User Password
Common Usage & Example: $passwd
Install: Debian .deb: passwd | RedHat .rpm: ?
gpw - Program to generate pronouncable password
Common Usage: gpw <n_passwords> <n_length>
Example: $gpw 1 8
Install: Debian .deb: gpw | RedHat .rpm: ?
makepasswd - Generate and/or encrypt password
Common Usage: makepasswd [--chars n] [--minchars n] [--maxchars n]
Example: $makepasswd --chars 8
Install: Debian .deb: makepasswd | RedHat .rpm: ?
rig - Random Identity Generator
Common Usage and Example: $rig
Install: Debian .deb: rig | RedHat .rpm: ?
john - AKA John the Ripper - A tool to find weak passwords of your users (and root)
Common Usage: john [-resore] <password-files>
Example: #john /etc/shadow-
Install: Debian .deb: john | RedHat .rpm: ?
Errata
vrms - Virtual Richard M. Stallman - Report of installed non-free software
Common Usage & Example: $vrms
Install: Debian .deb: vrms | RedHat .rpm: N/A
lilo - Install bootloader
Common Usage: lilo [-R <command>]
Example: #lilo -R "Linux"
Install: Debian .deb: lilo | RedHat .rpm: ?
cal - Displays a calender
Common Usage: cal [-j]
Example: $cal
Install: Debian .deb: bsdmainutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
alias - Allows a string to be subsituted for a word
Common Usage: alias <word>='<string>'
Example: $alais exit='clear; exit'
Install: Debian .deb: bash | RedHat .rpm: ?
touch - Create files and modify timestamps
Common Usage: touch <filename>
Example: $touch newdoc
Install: Debian .deb: fileutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
crontab - Manage program scheduling
Common Usage: crontab [-l] [-e]
Example: $crontab -l
Install: Debian .deb: cron | RedHat .rpm: ?
eject - Eject removable media
Common Usage: eject [-t]
Example: $eject
Install: Debian .deb: eject | RedHat .rpm: ?
zcat - Like cat(1) but works on gzip'd files
Common Usage: zcat <filename.gz>
Example: zcat /usr/share/man/man1/zcat.1.gz
Install: Debian .deb: gzip | RedHat .rpm: ?
logger - Provides a shell command interface to the syslog
Common Usage: logger [-s] [-t] <message>
Example: $logger HOLLY SHIT - CPU on FIRE - Shutting down NOW
Install: Debian .deb: bsdutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
uptime - Tell how long the system has been running
Common Usage & Example: $uptime
Install: Debian .deb: procps | RedHat .rpm: ?
su - Change userid or become the superuser
Common Usage: su [-] [-c] [<username>]
Install: Debian .deb: login | RedHat .rpm: ?
factor - Prints prime numbers
Common Usage: factor <number>
Example: $factor 256
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
md5sum - Generates or checks MD5 message digests
Common Usage: md5sum [-c] <filename>
Example: $md5sum newdoc
Install: Debian .deb: dpkg | RedHat .rpm: ?
write - Send a message to another user
Common Usage: write <username> <ttyname>
Example: $write dave
Install: Debian .deb: bsdmainutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
watch - Execute a program periodically, showing the output fullscreen
Common Usage: watch [-d] [-n n] <command>
Example: $watch pstree
Install: Debian .deb: procps | RedHat .rpm: ?
yes - Output a string continuously until killed
Common Usage: yes <string>
Example: $yes CHLUG RULES!
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
leave - Reminds you when to leave
Common Usage: leave [[+]hhmm]
Example: $leave 2100
Install: Debian .deb: leave | RedHat .rpm: ?
ticker - Scroll messages across the screen
Common Usage: ticker <message>
Example: $All hail Linux!
Install: Debian .deb: ticker | RedHat .rpm: ?
units - Powerful unit conversion program
Common Usage: units <n old_unit> <new_unit>
Example: $units '5 km' miles
Install: Debian .deb: units | RedHat .rpm: ?
seq - Prints sequence of numbers
Common Usage: seq [[first_n] step_n] [last_n]
Example: seq 100 10 1000
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
tmpreaper - Remove files which haven't been accessed for a period of time
Common Usage: tmpreaper [-t] [-v] [--protect <pattern>] <time> <dir>
Example: #tmpreaper -tv 1d /tmp/
Install: Debian .deb: tmpreaper | RedHat .rpm: ?
tee - Read from standard input and write to standard output and files
Common Usage: tee [-a]
Example: $cat todo.notes |tee todotoday.notes todotomorrow.notes
Install: Debian .deb: shellutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
apcalc - Arbitrary precision calculator
Common Ussage: calc [-p] <arguments>
Example: $7^12345
Install: Debian .deb: apcalc | RedHat .rpm: ?
script - Make typescript of terminal session
Common Usage: typescript [-a] <filename> [-t n(2)]
Example: $script session20030826.terminal
Install: Debian .deb: bsdutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
replay - Play back typescripts, using timing information
Common Usage: replay <timing_file> <typescript_file> <n_speed>
Example: $replay timing typescript
Install: Debian .deb: bsdutils | RedHat .rpm: ?
run-parts - Run scripts or programs in a directory
Common Usage: run-parts [--test] [--arg=<argument>] [--verbose]
Example: $run-parts --test /etc/rc3.d/
Install: Debian .deb: debianutils | RedHat:
Image Tools
fbi - Linux FrameBuffer Image viewer
Common Usage: fbi [-t sec] <image(s)-names)
Example: #fbi images/*
Install: Debian .deb: fbi | RedHat .rpm: ?
mogrify - Mogrify? an image
Common Usage: mogrify [-format type] [-geometry NxN[!]]
Example: $mogrify -geometry 800x600! *
Install: Debian .deb: imagemagick | RedHat .rpm: ?