Commonly asked questions

1. Where can I find [blah blah] for Linux?

These are the main sites which archive all of the stuff for Linux:

• ftp://nic.funet.fi/pub/Linux
• ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux
• ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux
• ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/linux (home of Slackware)

There are others, but these should have most everything. If you can't find it, ask Archie. (See question 3).

2. How do I anonymous FTP?

3. Where is Archie?

4. How do I create/extract .??? files?

* .tar files

For more information, man tar.

* .gz files (also .z files)

For more info, man gzip.

* .Z files

For more info, man compress/uncompress.

* .tar.gz

* .tar.Z

* .tgz (sometimes .taz)

* .shar

5. How do I uudecode/uuencode a file?

(These files sometimes have the extension .uu or .uue, but the best way to tell a uuencoded file is the existence of a BEGIN 6XX line and and END line.) uudecode [file] will uudecode to whatever file is in the BEGIN 6XX [filename] line. uuencode [file] [file] > file.uu encodes a file.

For example: if I wanted to uuencode foo.bar,I would: uuencode foo.bar foo.bar > foo.uu (The first name is what file to encode, the second is what it will be called upon extraction, since this is almost universally the same thing, just put the same thing :)

6. How do I compile source?

look for a README or INSTALL, etc...cd to directory with Makefile or makefile make

(you may have to edit some stuff, like config.h, etc.)

6a. I'm looking for source for [blah blah] ...

Otherwise, ask Archie (see question 3).

7. How do I sz over a 7-bit connection?

8. How do I make my .plan work?

9. How can I stop messages being sent to my account?

People keep sending me messages on my Unix account. How do I stop them from doing this? -=or=- My friends are to send me messages but they can't. How can I enable them to do this?

• To turn your messages on, type mesg y
• To turn your messages off, type mesg n

10. I've got this file with weird characters/spaces in it, and I can't delete it. How can I get rid of it?

One of the easiest ways to do this is to rm -i * and answer no until you get to the file you want gone and answer yes for that one. For more info, man rm.

11. I need to search for a file.

I know it is somewhere under my home directory, but I'm not sure where. How do I find it? You can try this: find $HOME -name "[filename]" -print

If the file is indeed under your home directory, this should find it. Note that the argument to -name ("[filename]") can be a regular expression, too. For more info, man find. find can be very useful.