The standard sort command is single-threaded by default, which limits performance on modern multi-core systems. Several approaches exist to speed up sorting operations using parallelism. GNU Sort with Parallel Sorting Modern versions of GNU sort (8.23+) include built-in parallel sorting support. Enable it with the –parallel flag: sort –parallel=4 large_file.txt > sorted_output.txt The –parallel option…
The most straightforward way to convert SVG files to PNG is using ImageMagick or Inkscape. Both are widely available in standard repositories and handle the conversion reliably. Using ImageMagick (convert/magick) ImageMagick provides the magick command (the modern equivalent to the older convert utility): magick input.svg output.png For basic conversions, that’s all you need. To control…
There are several ways to retrieve the hostname on a Linux system from Python. The choice depends on your use case and whether you need the simple hostname or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN). Using socket.gethostname() The simplest approach uses the socket module from the standard library: import socket hostname = socket.gethostname() print(hostname) This…
When working with Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS), files containing spaces in their names require special handling during the hdfs dfs -put command. Without proper escaping or quoting, the shell interprets spaces as delimiters, splitting the filename into multiple arguments. Direct Upload with Quoting The simplest approach is to wrap the filename in quotes: hdfs…
The most straightforward way to read an environment variable in Python is with os.getenv(): import os api_key = os.getenv(‘API_KEY’) print(api_key) If the variable doesn’t exist, getenv() returns None. You can provide a default value as a fallback: debug_mode = os.getenv(‘DEBUG’, ‘False’) port = os.getenv(‘PORT’, ‘8000’) For variables that must exist, use os.environ[] instead. This raises…
Use os.Getenv() to read an environment variable: package main import ( “fmt” “os” ) func main() { val := os.Getenv(“MY_VAR”) fmt.Println(val) } os.Getenv() returns an empty string if the variable doesn’t exist. This means you can’t distinguish between an unset variable and one explicitly set to an empty string. Checking if a variable exists To…
Disabling a user account is a common administrative task. Whether you’re offboarding an employee, removing an unused service account, or securing a compromised account, there are several approaches depending on your requirements. Lock the account with usermod The simplest method is to lock the password hash: sudo usermod -L username This prepends an exclamation mark…
Process priority management is essential for ensuring critical tasks get CPU resources when needed. Linux provides several mechanisms to control how the kernel scheduler allocates CPU time to processes. Understanding Priority Levels Linux uses two priority concepts: Nice value: ranges from -20 (highest priority) to 19 (lowest priority). Default is 0. Real-time priority: ranges from…
When upgrading libvirt from an older version (like 1.2.2) to 2.5.0 or later, you may encounter a socket connection error when trying to create VMs: ERROR Failed to connect socket to ‘/var/run/libvirt/virtlogd-sock’: No such file or directory Domain installation does not appear to have been successful. This happens because libvirt 2.5.0 introduced the virtlogd daemon…
When the kernel migrates a process from one CPU’s runqueue to another, the Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) must adjust the process’s virtual runtime (vruntime) to account for the different scheduling histories of each CPU. This prevents fairness issues where a migrated process could gain an unfair advantage on the destination CPU. How vruntime Adjustment Works…
Linux doesn’t provide a glibc wrapper for ioprio_set(), so you need to call it directly via syscall(). Here’s the basic approach: #include <unistd.h> #include <sys/syscall.h> syscall(SYS_ioprio_set, IOPRIO_WHO_PROCESS, pid, ioprio_value); Required definitions You’ll need to define the I/O priority classes, target types, and helper macros. Add these to your source file or header: /* I/O priority…
EncFS is a FUSE-based encrypted filesystem that lets you create an encrypted directory without a separate partition. Installation approaches vary depending on your distribution version and repository availability. Using Distribution Repositories On modern RHEL-based systems (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux 9+, AlmaLinux 9+), EncFS is typically available in the EPEL repository: sudo dnf install epel-release sudo…
After a libvirt upgrade, VMs fail to start with the error: error: Failed to start domain kvm1 error: Network not found: no network with matching name ‘default’ This happens when the default NAT network (virbr0) isn’t automatically created during the upgrade. Quick fix: Restore the default network The fastest solution is to recreate the default…
The default TeX Live packages available through standard repositories are often outdated and incomplete. The official TeX Live installer provides access to current versions and the full package collection, though it requires around 4-5GB of disk space. Prerequisites Before starting, ensure you have the required dependencies installed: sudo yum groupinstall -y “Development Tools” sudo yum…
There are several tools available for extracting images from PDFs on Linux, each with different strengths depending on your use case and the PDF structure. pdfimages (Poppler Utils) The most straightforward approach is using pdfimages from the poppler-utils package: pdfimages document.pdf image This extracts all images and saves them as image-000.ppm, image-001.ppm, etc. By default,…
Getting kernel function call stacks is essential for debugging driver issues, understanding kernel behavior, and performance profiling. The approach depends on what you’re trying to trace: live kernel execution, crash analysis, or post-mortem inspection. Using ftrace The kernel’s built-in ftrace framework is the first tool to reach for. It’s zero-overhead when disabled and has minimal…
Dia is a diagram editor useful for creating flowcharts, UML diagrams, and other technical drawings. While it’s not in Rocky Linux 9’s default repositories, you can install it through EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux). Prerequisites You’ll need root access or sudo privileges. Verify your system: cat /etc/os-release Enable EPEL Repository Install the EPEL repository…
When trying to mount an encrypted EncFS directory as a normal user, you may encounter this error: $ encfs -s ~/t/.enc ~/t/enc EncFS Password: fuse: failed to exec fusermount: Permission denied fuse failed. Common problems: – fuse kernel module not installed (modprobe fuse) – invalid options — see usage message Even though the same command…
The most common need is collapsing multi-line records into single lines. Here are the practical approaches: Using tr to remove newlines The simplest method removes all newlines: tr -d ‘\n’ < input.txt > output.txt This works well for data without embedded line breaks you want to preserve. For CSV or structured data where you need…
When running Ubuntu on older servers like Dell PowerEdge systems with legacy graphics cards (Matrox G200eR2, etc.), you may encounter extremely slow desktop performance. The issue typically stems from the X server falling back to unoptimized drivers or incorrect video mode detection. Identifying the problem First, check your current graphics configuration: lspci | grep -i…