The “invalid syntax, continuing…” warning from sysctl typically means your /etc/sysctl.conf file has a malformed line that the parser can’t understand. Here’s how to diagnose and fix it. Identifying the Problem When you run sysctl -p to load configuration from /etc/sysctl.conf, any syntax error will be printed with a line number: sysctl -p warning: /etc/sysctl.conf(44):…
If you already have PHP and nginx running on Rocky Linux 9 and need to add or update glibc, glibc-common, and GD libraries independently, you can do so safely without disrupting your existing installation. Understanding the dependencies glibc: The GNU C Library — the core runtime library for nearly all C programs on Linux glibc-common:…
Different projects and languages have different indentation conventions. Rather than manually adjusting settings each time you switch contexts, you can define custom commands in Vim to toggle between common tab widths quickly. Using Custom Functions and Mappings Add these functions to your ~/.vimrc: function SetTab2() set shiftwidth=2 set tabstop=2 set softtabstop=2 echo “Set tab to…
Sending output to stderr keeps error messages separate from normal program output, making it easier to redirect and filter logs in shell scripts and pipelines. Basic Approach with fmt The simplest method uses fmt.Fprintln() with os.Stderr: package main import ( “fmt” “os” ) func main() { fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, “This is an error message”) } This writes…
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…
When you’re working in a Makefile, you often need to reference files relative to where the Makefile itself is located. This is especially useful for multi-directory projects or when your build system needs to know its own location. The Solution Make provides the MAKEFILE_LIST variable, which contains the names of all makefiles that have been…
SSH key management becomes critical when you’re handling multiple identities across different hosts. By default, ssh tries keys in a specific order, but you can explicitly configure which key to use for particular hosts through the SSH config file. Using ~/.ssh/config The cleanest approach is to define host-specific key configurations in ~/.ssh/config. This file lets…
iOS SSH clients have matured significantly, and if you need SOCKS proxy support, there are several solid options worth evaluating. The key difference from desktop clients is that iOS imposes sandbox restrictions, so dynamic forwarding requires apps built with that constraint in mind. vSSH vSSH remains one of the more capable SSH clients for iOS,…
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”(:|$) ]]; then echo “Directory found in…
The standard systemctl enable command should work for rpcbind.service, but if you’re seeing it fail to start after reboot, there are several approaches to troubleshoot and fix the issue. Check the Current State First, verify the actual status: systemctl status rpcbind.service systemctl is-enabled rpcbind.service If is-enabled returns disabled, the service wasn’t properly enabled. Check for…
If you’ve set up passwordless SSH login with key-based authentication but lftp keeps prompting for a password, you need to explicitly configure it to use your SSH keys. The basic approach The simplest method is to pass an empty password to lftp, which signals it to fall back on SSH key authentication: lftp -u user,…
Python provides several ways to check if files or directories exist, with different trade-offs depending on your use case. Using pathlib (recommended) The modern approach uses pathlib.Path, which is cleaner and more object-oriented: from pathlib import Path path = Path(‘/etc/passwd’) # Check if path exists (file or directory) if path.exists(): print(“Path exists”) # Check if…
When running scripts as root, you often need to execute commands with the environment of a different user. The most reliable way to retrieve another user’s PATH is by spawning a login shell under that user’s context. Basic Approach user1path=$(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…