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Book Summary InformationAuthor: Aaron Weber, Arnold Robbins, Ellen Siever, Robert Love, Stephen Figgins Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2005-08-03 ISBN: 0596009305 Number of pages: 944 Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Book Reviews of Linux in a Nutshell, 5th EditionBook Review: Excellent reference book. Summary: 5 Stars
Title: Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (5th Edition)
Authors: Ellen Siever, Aaron Weber, Stephen Figgins, Robert Love, Arnold Robbins
Publisher: O'Reilly
Pages: 925
ISBN: 0-596-00930-5
Linux in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference is exactly what it says in the subtitle. The book is geared almost exclusively to someone sitting at a machine, looking for how a command is used. If you're just starting with Linux and are looking for something to get you started, this is not the book you want. If you want something that will teach you how to use Linux, the introduction recommends Learning Red Hat Linux or Running Linux, both of which are also from O'Reilly. Pick up Linux in a Nutshell if you already have at least a basic understanding of using Linux and want a good book for looking up how specific commands work.
The book starts off with a brief introduction that is equal parts extolling the virtues of Linux and description of the books content. The introduction is followed by a short section (5 pages) listing commands a beginning user might need, followed by a slightly longer (18 pages) list of common System and Network administration commands. These sections contain just enough description to know why and how you might use these commands. But you don't need to wait long before you get more detail. In the next chapter you hit the meat of the book, which is a 500 page alphabetized list of Linux commands. They provide the syntax for the command, along with a list of any options that are available. For me, the value here is not having to swap back and forth between looking at man pages and what I'm trying to work on.
Chapters 4-6 are divided into task related sections. These sections all follow about the same format: a brief description of the process involved, followed by a list of related commands, their syntax, and options. The first of these (Ch 4) describes how to setup a Dual boot machine. They cover the use of LILO and GRUB, providing the commands and options used by each. Chapter 5 covers Package Management, the process used to install and update applications. They cover the use of RPM (Redhat Package Manager) and Debian style packages. They go into detail about various methods using apt, rpm, up2date, yum, and synaptic. They also cover building packages for those developing their own applications. Chapter 6 goes in depth into the functionality of the Bash and Korn shells. It covers both commands that can be issued at a prompt and the use of shell scripts.
Chapters 7-11 cover some of the text manipulation utilities in Linux. Chapter 7 goes over pattern matching and the use of regular expressions. There's also a handy chart of what metacharacters work in which utility. Chapter 8 talks about the text editing functions of Emacs, including a 13 page list of commands and the associated hotkeys. Chapter 9 covers the same for vi, ex, and vim. Chapter 10 covers the application sed and its use as a script based text editing tool. Chapter 11 describes awk/gawk and how they can be used for text processing and as a scripting program language.
Chapters 12-14 address Source code management in Linux. Chapter 12 gives a brief overview of the concepts of multiple developers, code versions, and source code repositories. It also introduces several code management systems. Chapters 13 and 14 go in depth about two of these, CVS and Subversion, respectively.
Finally, there's a comprehensive index of both topics and commands. One of my pet peeves, especially with reference books, is a weak index. That is definitely not the case here. This book makes it easy to find what you're looking for. As far as I can tell, all the commands are indexed, and a random sampling of topics always netted me the correct page number.
In conclusion, Linux in a Nutshell does an excellent job of providing you the commands and utilities available in your typical Linux installation. If you know what you're trying to do, this book is handy for looking up the command and syntax required to do it. The entries are clear and concise, but still provide a good level of detail on the commands, switches, and options they're describing.
Summary of Linux in a Nutshell, 5th EditionOver the last few years, Linux has grown both as an operating system and a tool for personal and business use. Simultaneously becoming more user friendly and more powerful as a back-end system, Linux has achieved new plateaus: the newer filesystems have solidified, new commands and tools have appeared and become standard, and the desktop--including new desktop environments--have proved to be viable, stable, and readily accessible to even those who don't consider themselves computer gurus.
Whether you're using Linux for personal software projects, for a small office or home office (often termed the SOHO environment), to provide services to a small group of colleagues, or to administer a site responsible for millions of email and web connections each day, you need quick access to information on a wide range of tools. This book covers all aspects of administering and making effective use of Linux systems. Among its topics are booting, package management, and revision control. But foremost in Linux in a Nutshell are the utilities and commands that make Linux one of the most powerful and flexible systems available. Now in its fifth edition, Linux in a Nutshell brings users up-to-date with the current state of Linux. Considered by many to be the most complete and authoritative command reference for Linux available, the book covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions. Comprehensive but concise, the fifth edition has been updated to cover new features of major Linux distributions. Configuration information for the rapidly growing commercial network services and community update services is one of the subjects covered for the first time. But that's just the beginning. The book covers editors, shells, and LILO and GRUB boot options. There's also coverage of Apache, Samba, Postfix, sendmail, CVS, Subversion, Emacs, vi, sed, gawk, and much more. Everything that system administrators, developers, and power users need to know about Linux is referenced here, and they will turn to this book again and again.
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