How to Start Learning LinuxHow to Start Learning Linux
I was asked for advice on how to start learning Linux. Rather than replying via email I’m writing a blog post for future people who ask such questions and also[...]
Category: Linux
Timing ProcessesTiming Processes
One thing that happens periodically is that I start a process from an interactive shell, discover that it takes longer than expected, and then want to know how long it[...]
Flash, Apple, and LinuxFlash, Apple, and Linux
Steve Jobs has published an interesting article about Flash [1]. He criticises Flash for being proprietary, this seems a little hypocritical coming from Apple (who’s the only competitor for Microsoft[...]
Marshmallow Challenge for Linux ProgrammersMarshmallow Challenge for Linux Programmers
Tom Wujec gave an interesting TED talk about training people in team-work and engineering through building the tallest possible structures from 20 pieces of spaghetti, 1 yard of string, and[...]
Discovering OS Bugs and Using SnapshotsDiscovering OS Bugs and Using Snapshots
I’m running Debian/Unstable on an EeePC 701, I’ve got an SD card for /home etc but the root filesystem is on the internal 4G flash storage which doesn’t have much[...]
Ext4 and Debian/LennyExt4 and Debian/Lenny
I want to use the Ext4 filesystem on Xen DomUs. The reason for this is that the problem of fsck times on ext4 (as described in my previous post about[...]
Ext4 and RHEL5/CentOS5Ext4 and RHEL5/CentOS5
I have just noticed that Red Hat added Ext4 support to RHEL-5 in kernel 2.6.18-110.el5. They also added a new package named e4fsprogs (a break from the e2fsprogs name that[...]
The Transition to Ext4The Transition to Ext4
I’ve been investigating the Ext4 filesystem [1]. The main factor that is driving me to Ext4 at the moment is fsck times. I have some systems running Ext3 on large[...]
Finding Thread-unsafe CodeFinding Thread-unsafe Code
One problem that I have had on a number of occasions when developing Unix software is libraries that use non-reentrant code which are called from threaded programs. For example if[...]
Per-process Namespaces – pam-namespacePer-process Namespaces – pam-namespace
Mike writes about his work in using namespaces on Linux [1]. In 2006 I presented a paper titled “Polyinstantiation of directories in an SE Linux system” about this at the[...]