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The screen terminal multiplexer can capture window output in several ways. Here are the most practical approaches depending on your use case. Enable logging before starting screen Start a new screen session with the -L flag to log all output to a file: screen -L -S mysession This creates a log file named screenlog.0 in…
The tee command by default reads from stdin and writes to both stdout and files. To capture only stderr, you need to explicitly redirect it. Basic stderr redirection to tee The straightforward approach is to redirect stderr to stdout, then pipe to tee: command 2>&1 | tee output.log This captures both stdout and stderr. If…
Temporary files are essential for any non-trivial Bash script. Whether you’re processing data, staging changes, or handling inter-process communication, you need reliable ways to create uniquely-named files that won’t collide with other processes. Using mktemp The standard and most reliable approach is mktemp, which generates a cryptographically random temporary filename: tmpfile=$(mktemp) echo “Temporary file created…
CONFIG_HZ sets the kernel’s internal timer interrupt frequency (measured in Hz). This determines how often the kernel’s scheduler runs and how fine-grained process preemption can be. The default value is typically 250 Hz on most distributions, though some set it to 1000 Hz for lower latency workloads. Higher CONFIG_HZ values (like 1000 Hz) reduce scheduling…
Ubuntu boots to the graphical desktop by default, but you can change it to boot directly to a text-mode login prompt. This is useful for headless servers, troubleshooting, or resource-constrained systems. The method depends on your init system. Modern Ubuntu uses systemd, but the GRUB approach still works if you need it. Using systemd (recommended)…
aclocal is part of GNU Autotools and generates aclocal.m4 files needed by the autoconf build system. It’s typically required when working with projects that use traditional Autotools-based builds. Quick Install sudo dnf install automake The automake package provides aclocal, automake, and related utilities. Verify the Installation After installation, confirm aclocal is available: aclocal –version You…
The kernel log buffer (dmesg) outputs timestamps in seconds since boot by default, making it difficult to correlate events with wall-clock time or other system logs. Here’s how to convert them to human-readable format. Using journalctl Instead of dmesg The modern approach is to use journalctl, which handles timestamp formatting automatically: journalctl -b This shows…
Grep handles tab characters in a few different ways depending on your needs. Here’s what actually works. Using \t with extended regex The most straightforward approach uses grep’s extended regular expressions (-E flag): grep -E ‘\t’ filename.txt This matches any line containing a literal tab character. The \t escape sequence is interpreted as a tab…
To check whether a function exists in Bash, use the type builtin with the -t option. This returns a string identifying what the name is: alias, keyword, function, builtin, or file. Basic Check The simplest approach: if [[ $(type -t f1) == “function” ]]; then echo “f1 is defined as a function” fi This works…
Bash maintains a set of built-in options that control script behavior. You disable them using set +o followed by the option name, or with short flags like set +x. The Basic Syntax set +o option-name Or using short flag notation: set +x The + sign disables an option; – enables it. This works for both…
Most modern systems have thermal sensors built into the CPU and motherboard. Reading these sensors is essential for monitoring system health, diagnosing performance issues, and preventing thermal throttling or hardware damage. Install lm-sensors The standard tool for reading hardware sensors on Linux is lm-sensors. Install it on your system: Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install lm-sensors RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:…
The usermod command is the standard tool for modifying user accounts. To change a username, use the -l (or –login) option: sudo usermod -l user1 u1 This changes the login name from u1 to user1. However, there’s an important caveat: usermod only updates the /etc/passwd file. The user’s home directory, mail spool, and other resources…
You need to check whether a directory exists in your $PATH variable. This is useful when verifying that a tool installation succeeded, or when debugging shell initialization scripts. The regex approach Since $PATH uses colons as separators, a regex is the most straightforward method: if [[ “$PATH” =~ (^|:)”/usr/local/mytool/bin”(:|$) ]]; then echo “Directory found in…
The standard systemctl enable command should work for rpcbind.service, but if you’re seeing it fail to start after reboot, there are several approaches to troubleshoot and fix the issue. Check the Current State First, verify the actual status: systemctl status rpcbind.service systemctl is-enabled rpcbind.service If is-enabled returns disabled, the service wasn’t properly enabled. Check for…
When running scripts as root, you often need to execute commands with the environment of a different user. The most reliable way to retrieve another user’s PATH is by spawning a login shell under that user’s context. Basic Approach user1path=$(su – user1 -c ‘echo $PATH’) This spawns a login shell (-) as user1 and outputs…
The scp command handles multiple files efficiently, whether you’re pushing to a remote server or pulling from one. Here are the practical approaches for copying multiple files from remote to local. Brace Expansion Use brace expansion to specify discrete files: scp user@remote:file{1,2,3} ./ This works well when you have a known set of files with…
When you source a script using . script.sh or source script.sh, the $0 variable doesn’t point to the sourced script—it stays as the path of the parent shell or calling script. This creates a problem if you need the sourced script to know its own location. The solution: use ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} The ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} variable holds the…
When writing system administration scripts, you often need to check if a user account exists before taking action. There are several reliable methods to accomplish this. Using id command The id command retrieves user information and returns a non-zero exit code if the user doesn’t exist. This makes it ideal for conditional testing: user=”hello” if…
If you’re running Linux Mint and want to install the MATE desktop environment, you’ll need to use the appropriate metapackage for your distribution. Using apt The standard approach for most Linux Mint versions is to install the mint-meta-mate metapackage: sudo apt install mint-meta-mate Note that aptitude is largely obsolete in modern Linux distributions. apt is…
MATE’s mouse settings don’t include a graphical toggle for natural (or inverted) scrolling on touchpads, unlike GNOME or Cinnamon. You’ll need to configure it through the command line or configuration files. Using synclient If your system uses Synaptics touchpad driver, you can invert scrolling direction with synclient: synclient VertScrollDelta=-111 synclient HorizScrollDelta=-111 Verify the change took…