small programs used on the command line to do a specific job
1
vote
1answer
21 views
Install vmware-tools using yum in vmware fusion
I added vmware-tools repo [1] to my virtual CentOS box. What is the exact set of packages I have to install?
The rationale is to be able to update vmware-tools using yum.
Environment:
Host OS: Mac ...
0
votes
0answers
23 views
There's a way to get system info via C library [migrated]
I'm trying to implement a system which sends via Bluetooth sockets, information about the current system (in fact, a Linux server). This back-end code is in C. I'd like to know if there's an available ...
-1
votes
1answer
45 views
using tr -t command [comprehension question]
When using tr -t command, string1 should be truncated to the length of string2, right?
tr -t abcdefghijklmn 123 # abc... = string1, 123 = string2
the cellar is the safest place # actual ...
3
votes
1answer
44 views
tac command's option creates strange output [comprehension question]
Say I have this file, containing nothing than
a
b
c
b
a
Using tac --separator=a file in BASH [on a Debian based Linux], I get this:
# empty line
# empty line
b
...
8
votes
3answers
231 views
Universal extractors
With an increasing number of archive/compression file formats, is there a single free/open-source command line tool to rule them all? Perhaps something with a consistent / unified set of flags? (note ...
1
vote
3answers
122 views
How to check which process is using a given file descriptor?
Somewhere in the middle of my application, the framework I'm using (ROOT) gives me the following error:
*** Break *** write on a pipe with no one to read it
SysError in ...
0
votes
3answers
347 views
ASCII art generator
I'm looking for an ASCII art generator (text is preferred, but images will do too) in the sl style, but with text instead of trains. Any suggestion?
4
votes
1answer
28 views
Determine monthly internet transfer to detect right FUP
I live in a country where many ISP (internet service providers) have FUP (fair use policy, limit on amount of data transferred). I need to get a new connection and I would like to measure how much ...
1
vote
3answers
62 views
Decomposition of path specs into longest-common-prefix + suffix
Given any two absolute Unix path specs1, one could decompose each spec as the concatenation of a longest common prefix and a specific suffix. E.g.,
/abc/bcd/cdf -> /abc/bcd + cdf
...
0
votes
0answers
18 views
lshw takes to much time in the when running it the Domain-0 of a Xen server
I have a server running Debian 6 with Xen. I logged in its Domain-0 and I run lshw short but it takes to much time. More than 10 minutes. So I kill the process. The server is OK, but I don't know why ...
1
vote
1answer
77 views
lspci machine-readable format (-vmm) does not show a kernel Module/Driver line
I briefly read the manual of lspci, where I found out that there is a machine-readable format lspci output using "-m" or "-mm" or "-vmm".
I need to print out the device name, the device id and the ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
Is expect tool availabe for ARM platform
I need to get expect (tool for automating interactive applications) for the ARM platform. Is it a readily cross compiled to ARM and is it available? I tried googling but was unable to get the ...
2
votes
0answers
132 views
Are there any tools to test MTD/JFFS2 for Linux 2.4 kernels
I have some issues with a platform I support and I suspect memory problems. I wanted to check the Flash parts using some MTD JFFS2 test tools, I found a link to a bunch on this site.
However they ...
2
votes
1answer
205 views
Where does the “export” command come from?
Why doesn't the whereis command give any information about the export command? How does the export command work even if the shell path variable is set to null?
0
votes
3answers
148 views
touch: cannot touch file: No such file or directory
I am getting the error:
touch: cannot touch `/opt/tsrm/compliance/cme/log/20121207.log`: No such file or directory
on the touch command: touch $LOGFILE
I also checked the link: touch: cannot ...
1
vote
1answer
101 views
How to change the current directory graphically using the keyboard only?
There was a program named NCD (Norton Change Directory) a few years ago that did a good job at helping me change directory back in the DOS days.
This programs displayed a tree, and you could navigate ...
2
votes
2answers
127 views
Is there a good FOSS utility for converting machine code to assembly or even C?
If I buy a piece of x86 32-bit or 64-bit software but I don't receive the source code, and I need to modify the software, I'll need to convert the machine code back into a high level language or at ...
1
vote
2answers
268 views
Does hexdump respect the endianness of its system?
On my machine I get the following output when I run these commands:
$ echo foos > myfile
$ hexdump myfile
6f66 736f 000a
The output from hexdump is big-endian. Does this mean that my machine is ...
2
votes
1answer
131 views
I try to add passwords to the “pass” password manager. But my attempts fail with “no public key” GPG errors. Why?
I am trying to install Pass: the standard Unix password manager, however, when I try to add passwords to the appliation I get these errors
gpg: Kelly's Passwords: skipped: No public key
gpg: [stdin]: ...
3
votes
1answer
85 views
Understanding the output of the “who -a” command
I ask this question because, while there are many answers on the internet showing that "who -a" is an option, nobody explains how to read the output. If you can provide a link to an online site that ...
5
votes
3answers
174 views
Can a file that was originally sparse and expanded be made re-sparse
I know that copying or transferring what was originally a sparse file without using a utility that understands sparse files will cause the 'holes' to be filled out. Is there a method or utility to ...
0
votes
2answers
153 views
Clear the screen and show a banner
I need a text banner on a screen which is projected all the time. The screen is connected to a PC with tmux on it.
Example of text "banners":
figlet $(fortune)
or
toilet "$(cowsay $(fortune))"
...
0
votes
1answer
87 views
Change Directory and List Files [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Make cd automatically ls
I think that it would be very useful to have a unix utility that combines 'cd' and 'ls' so that when you change your directory, it automatically ...
20
votes
2answers
2k views
What is the difference between curl and wget?
I am keen to know the difference between curl and wget. Both are used to get files and documents but what the key difference between them... Why are there two different methods?
3
votes
2answers
219 views
Are there any utilities to quickly add, list and remove command aliases?
I'd like to be able to quickly, on-the-fly add (and list/remove) command aliases so that they persist between shell restarts (as if they were added to .bashrc). Are there any ready ...
3
votes
2answers
106 views
Peer to peer~ish LAN storage
I have a distributed application that consists in a main CMS server where "human" users can upload videos, pictures (media content, basically) and a bunch of "players" that play those videos or ...
5
votes
1answer
592 views
Are there alternatives for `dd`?
What other tools should I use to read and write files with truncation, seeking and skipping. dd's command line options seem inconvenient and foreign and I don't like choosing between slow, but precise ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
cp or rsync, is cp really worth it?
I hope this does not count as a question without a real answer, as I can't seem to find a good reason to use cp(1) over rsync(1) in virtually all circumstances. Should one typically favour rsync over ...
5
votes
4answers
596 views
A standard tool to convert a byte-count into human KiB MiB etc; like du, ls1
Is there a standard tool which converts an integer count of Bytes into a human-readable count of the largest possible unit-size, while keeping the numeric value between 1.00 and 1023.99 ?
I have my ...
0
votes
0answers
84 views
Can I arrange icons by type?
I know I can list icons on my desktop in my RedHat Linux machine by selecting "clean up by name" of right-click options. I used to use Windows and kind of miss a function which can arrange the icons ...
4
votes
3answers
232 views
Monitor directory and if a file is requested then rsync on demand
Is there a tool that monitors a certain directory and if a program tries to access a file in that directory, the program loads that file from another place transparent for any application that tries ...
-1
votes
1answer
297 views
Phrase Express Equivalent for Linux?
Is there some sort of auto text-insertion program with macros, similar to PhraseExpress for Windows in Linux?
1
vote
1answer
158 views
How to change the default line length for od and hexdump
Is there any way to change the default line length for the od and hexdump commands? Can't see anything apropriate in the man pages.
0
votes
3answers
108 views
CLI & Markup language
I often find myself editing files for my personal use that are plaintext. Either those are notes, annotations in project directories or sometimes the output of programs that I annotate.
However, ...
2
votes
2answers
132 views
List of available command options?
I'm currently setting up my first web server without a control panel and so far things are going pretty good!
I was just wondering if anyone could direct me to somewhere that explains all of the ...
1
vote
3answers
95 views
line count on all the PHP scripts within my webroot with wc
How can I do a line count on all the PHP scripts within my webroot?
I am trying something like this below to no avail:
wc -l *.php
5
votes
2answers
490 views
Alternative to watch which support colors
I have a command (phpunit) which has a colored output. According to the watch, command I should be able to use the --color flag to allow color rendering to pass through. However, this isn't working. ...
3
votes
1answer
133 views
Multi-machine tool in the spirit of moreutils' `parallel`?
parallel from moreutils is a great tool for, among other things, distributing m independent tasks evenly over n CPUs. Does anybody know of a tool that accomplishes the same thing for multiple ...
2
votes
4answers
142 views
xsel < /tmp/xselection not working in script
I'm trying to use the following script:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Edit xselection in gvim
xsel > /tmp/xselection
gvim /tmp/xselection
xsel < /tmp/xselection
But the final line does not seem to be ...
3
votes
3answers
370 views
Why doesn't uname -a return a useful identifier
I typed the command uname -a into my college's server and got this:
2.6.18-274.3.1.el5 #1 SMP Tue Sep 6 20:14:03 EDT 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
Are they trying to hide the version of Linux that ...
3
votes
2answers
493 views
Fix or alternative for mktemp in OS X
I'm looking at a bash script someone else wrote that uses mktemp:
TEMP=`mktemp --directory`
However, this line does not work on my machine (OS X 10.6).
How would I fix this line so that it is ...
18
votes
4answers
603 views
Are Linux utilities smart when running piped commands?
I was just running a few commands in a terminal and I started wondering, does Unix/Linux take shortcuts when running piped commands?
For example, let's say I have a file with one million lines, the ...
5
votes
1answer
185 views
Interactive tree command
Is there any version of tree command that displays file structure as a tree structure, but in a way that I can interactively walk trough?
Why do I need it exactly - I am trying to simulate TextMate ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
file block size - difference between stat and ls
I've noticed that when I do a:
ls -ls file
It provides block count, say 8 blocks.
When I do:
stat file
I notice that the block count is 16, twice the number given by ls.
The block size on my ...
11
votes
2answers
217 views
`test` and `[` - different binaries, any difference?
I noticed while answering another question that test and [ are different binaries, but the [ manpage pulls up test's. Besides the requirement for an ending ], is there any difference? If not, why are ...
1
vote
1answer
534 views
Listing a hardrive partition by blocks using LBA
Most hard drive and partition inspection tools seem to list the items using sectors, head.. etc. From another question I was told that these are virtual because they have to be converted from lba, ...
2
votes
1answer
312 views
How to plot the output of a command
How can I plot the output of this command line with GNUPlot? What should the diagram script look like?
I want a histogram.
wget -O - -o /dev/null http://www.stackoverflow.com/ |
cat | cat | sed ...
3
votes
2answers
699 views
Set alignment of numeric columns when columnating data
I use column -t to format data for easy viewing in the shell, but there seems to be no option to specify column alignment (e.g. align to the right).
Any Bash one-liners to do it? I have arbitrary ...
3
votes
2answers
79 views
Output the changes to a log file
If I use
tail -f *filename*
I get a real nice display of whatever is changing in a given file. However, sometimes I want to be able to search this text or otherwise look it over slowly.
Is ...
7
votes
4answers
3k views
How can I use sed to replace a multi-line string?
I've noticed that, if I add \n to a patter for a substitute using sed, it does not match. Example:
$ cat > alpha.txt
This is
a test
Please do not
be alarmed
$ sed -i'.original' 's/a test\nPlease ...
