Objectives

This course gives a general introduction to UNIX and to Linux. It applies to all UNIX variants (AIX, Solaris, ...) and all Linux distributions (including z/Linux).

The course only treats the user aspects of the operating system and not the system aspects. In addition to the basic topics like the file system and the shell, and conceptual similarities and differences with other operating systems, it mainly focuses on the basic UNIX command set. Part of the course is dedicated to a sufficiently in-depth treatment of the vi editor. An important amount of time is spent to practical exercises.

Main topics

• Introduction:

history and philosophy of UNIX and Linux • UNIX variants • organisation of the kernel • applications under UNIX/Linux

• Generalities:

log on • basic commands • the shell and elementary commands • on-line help

• File system:

file and directory structure • file manipulation commands • security

• Shell:

use of the Korn and bash shells • redirecting and pipes • wildcards • shell commands and shell variables • substitution

• Editor:

vi • different modes of operation (command — text editing) • find and replace • edit of different files • save

• Data tools:

find (looking for files) • grep (looking for text patterns in a file) • sort • diff • using filters and pipes • ...

• Shell scripts:

basic principle • sh, ksh, bash: differences • quoting • passing parameters • here documents • return codes

• Unix in the network:

utilities: ftp, telnet, rsh, rsc, and their secure versions ssh, scp, sftp