CSCI 3190 (Directed Study (Unix Power Tools)), Spring 2004:
Homework 1

Assigned:

January 31, 2004.

Due:

February 9, 2004, at 5pm.

Credit:

10 points.

Reading

Read about the following topics, either by skimming the mentioned online references or in another book or reference.

1. How to find out information (the man, info, and apropos commands). Covered in section 2 of Introduction to Linux.

2. File and filesystem basics (commands to manipulate files and directories, file permissions). Covered in section 3 of Introduction to Linux.

Problems

Answer the following questions. You may write out your answers by hand or using a word processor or other program, but please submit hard copy, either in class or in my mailbox in the department office. Answers to most questions will involve experimentation on a Unix or Linux system. You are free to use any appropriate system; if you use something other than Red Hat Linux please tell me what.

Finding Things Out

1. (2 points) Most Unix systems have a command that will print out a simple text-only calendar for a particular month and year. What command is this, and how would you use it to find out what day of the week you were born? (I.e., tell me the line or lines you would type in a terminal window to accomplish this.)

   (Hint: man -k or apropos may be helpful.)

2. (2 points) When you are reading a man page, is there a way to search for particular text? What is it?

   (Hint: man man and man less may be helpful.)

Files and Directories

1. (2 points) On one of the lab machines, the command ls -l /etc/passwd produces the following output:

   -rw-r-r- 1 root root 2545 Aug 8 09:57 /etc/passwd

   What does all of this mean? (I.e., what does the string of dashes and letters mean? The 1? The 2545? and so on.)

   (Hint: man ls and info ls may be helpful.)

2. (2 points) What command(s) would you use to create a directory in your home directory called KeepOut whose contents can be read only by you?

3. (2 points) What command(s) could you use to find out how much disk space is available on all the mounted disks? What command(s) could you use to find out how much disk space is taken up by all the files in your home directory?