Install eCryptFS tools On Fedora/RHEL-based systems: dnf install ecryptfs-utils On Debian/Ubuntu: apt-get install ecryptfs-utils Load the kernel module modprobe ecryptfs To ensure the module loads automatically on boot, add it to /etc/modules-load.d/: echo “ecryptfs” | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/ecryptfs.conf Create directories You’ll need two directories: one for encrypted storage (.private) and one as the mount point…
GNOME 2 and Early KDE Desktop Customization This guide documents theme configuration for GNOME 2 and early KDE environments. If you’re running GNOME 40+, KDE Plasma 5, or later, refer to your desktop’s modern theming systems instead—most of these packages and configuration methods no longer apply. Historical Context The Shiki Colors theme paired with GNOME…
Setting Up Xen Dom0 on Fedora Xen remains a production hypervisor for enterprise deployments (AWS EC2, Citrix Hypervisor), though KVM has become the default for most Linux distributions. If you’re deploying Xen in 2026, you’ll likely be working with recent stable releases rather than the legacy versions covered in older guides. This guide covers building…
Querying Files from Installed Packages The rpm and dnf commands let you inspect exactly which files a package installed and find the package that owns a specific file. These queries work on both the host system and inside containers like Toolbox or Distrobox. List Files from an Installed Package rpm -ql package-name This recursively lists…
Using rsync for Home Directory Backups rsync is a reliable choice for backing up your Linux home directory, especially when dealing with large files and incremental changes. Unlike git (which struggles with files >5GB), rsync efficiently handles large files and only transfers what’s changed on subsequent runs. Basic Backup Command The fundamental syntax is straightforward:…
Firefox Configuration for Linux Firefox performance on Linux can be significantly improved through configuration tuning. Most of these settings apply across platforms, though this guide focuses on Linux-specific considerations. Network Pipelining HTTP pipelining allows Firefox to send multiple requests on a single connection before waiting for responses. Modern HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 handle multiplexing more efficiently,…
Capturing Desktop Video on Linux with ffmpeg ffmpeg is the de facto tool for desktop recording on Linux. It can capture your X11 or Wayland display and encode directly to MP4, WebM, or other formats without requiring intermediate files. Basic X11 Screen Capture For X11-based desktops (KDE Plasma, XFCE, i3, etc.), use the x11grab input…
Generate SSH Key Pair If you don’t already have a key pair, use Ed25519 — it’s faster and more secure than RSA: ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C “your_email@example.com” For older systems that don’t support Ed25519, RSA with 4096 bits still works: ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 Keys are stored in ~/.ssh/ by default: id_ed25519 (private) and…
Installation sshfs is the standard tool for mounting remote filesystems over SSH. It’s available in most distribution repositories. Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install sshfs RHEL/CentOS/Fedora: sudo dnf install sshfs Alpine: apk add sshfs On some systems you may need to ensure the fuse kernel module is loaded: sudo modprobe fuse Basic Mount Mount a remote directory…
Installing akmod NVIDIA Driver on Fedora Installing the NVIDIA driver on Fedora via akmod (automatic kernel module) is the cleanest approach when using RPM Fusion. The driver rebuilds automatically whenever the kernel updates, saving you manual reinstalls. Prerequisites First, verify your GPU is supported. Check the NVIDIA driver support matrix for your hardware. Most consumer…
Installing MPlayer and MEncoder on Fedora MPlayer and MEncoder are no longer actively maintained, but they’re still available through RPM Fusion if you need them for legacy content or specific workflows. Most users should consider modern alternatives like mpv (MPlayer’s successor) or ffmpeg for transcoding, but this guide covers the traditional setup. Enable RPM Fusion…
Sending Email via Gmail SMTP with mailx/s-nail The mailx (or s-nail on modern distributions) command remains useful for scripted email delivery, particularly when you need to send alerts or notifications automatically. Gmail’s SMTP service works well for this, though it requires TLS authentication and specific configuration. Prerequisites Most Linux distributions include mailx or s-nail by…
Network Configuration on the Gateway A Linux box serving as a network gateway needs two network interfaces: eth0: Connected to the local network (LAN) with IP 192.168.0.1 eth1: Connected to the upstream network (Internet) with IP 198.51.100.1 The goal is to allow clients on the 192.168.0.0/16 network to route traffic through this gateway to reach…
Control or Disable SELinux in Fedora and RHEL-based Systems SELinux provides mandatory access controls that catch security violations most firewall and file permission rules miss. Before disabling it, exhaust other options — SELinux warnings often reveal real security problems worth understanding. That said, there are legitimate reasons to adjust SELinux: testing application behavior without policy…
Guake: A Drop-Down Terminal for GNOME Guake is a drop-down terminal emulator for GNOME that brings the Quake-style console experience to Linux desktops. When you press a hotkey (F12 by default), a terminal slides down from the top of the screen. Press it again and it retracts. It’s fast, minimal, and designed purely around keyboard…
Setting Up a SOCKS Proxy Over SSH A SOCKS5 proxy tunneled through SSH provides encrypted communication between your client and a remote server. This is useful for bypassing network restrictions, securing connections on untrusted networks, or routing traffic through a trusted server. Basic Setup The simplest approach uses SSH’s dynamic port forwarding with the -D…
Backup Strategy for Xen File-backed DomU Xen remains in production use (AWS EC2, Citrix Hypervisor), though KVM has become the standard Linux hypervisor. This guide covers automating backups for file-backed Xen virtual machines. The approach adapts to other hypervisors like KVM with minimal modification. Architecture and Prerequisites The backup system assumes: Virtual machines stored in…
Running Jobs in the Background When you need to start long-running commands while continuing to work in the shell, run them in the background. Bash and other modern shells maintain a job list and allow you to switch jobs between foreground and background execution. Only one job can run in the foreground at a time….
Setting Default Playback Parameters in mpv mpv inherits much of MPlayer’s command structure, but with modern improvements for hardware acceleration, Wayland support, and codec handling. Here’s how to configure default startup volume and playback position. Configuration File Edit ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf and add your defaults: volume=80 start=10 The volume parameter sets initial volume as a percentage (0–100)….
Understanding lftp Data Connection Hangs When using lftp to connect to FTP servers, you may encounter a stall with “Making data connection” after logging in: < — 227 Entering Passive Mode (xx,xx,xx,xx,xx,xx) —- Connecting data socket to (yy,yy,yy,yy) port zz `ls’ at 0 [Making data connection…] The connection hangs indefinitely, though other clients like FileZilla…