The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

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RoundsToZero: Dec 3, 2004; An open door is an invitation

Well in general you just want to do find / -name sendmail.cf. I don't know if what you posted would work, but it's not the best way to do it.

What distro are you using? I've seen distros where the sendmail config file stuff is in its own package. The sendmail.cf is huge and there is a book on the order of 1000 pages about it.

Edit: 1232

# ? Jun 27, 2007 14:45

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 14:25

Alowishus: Jan 8, 2002; My name is Mud

invid posted:

Any idea how can I go about configuring mailstats?

Are you running Sendmail? Or are you perhaps on a system which defaults to Postfix?

On current systems, sendmail.cf is generated from a file called sendmail.mc. If you just installed Sendmail but haven't configured it yet, it's feasible that sendmail.cf would be missing yet sendmail.mc would be present.

But I'm guessing you have another MTA... what distro are you using?

# ? Jun 27, 2007 17:15

JoeNotCharles: Mar 3, 2005; Yet beyond each tree there are only more trees.

invid posted:

I'm trying to configure mrtg-mailstats for my server, and its telling me to find a sendmail.cf file, but for some reason, after doing a
code:
find / | grep sendmail.cf
I get no results.

Any idea how can I go about configuring mailstats?

Are you sure you're actually running sendmail? Every modern Linux distro I'm aware of has switched to something easier to configure (such as qmail, exim or postfix).

# ? Jun 27, 2007 20:40

Begby: Apr 7, 2005; Light saber? Check. Black boots? Check. Codpiece? Check. He's more machine than kid now.

I want to echo the first X lines of a large file. Basically I want 'tail' but for the beginning of the file instead of the end. Is there a command for that?

# ? Jun 28, 2007 13:42

Accipiter: Jan 24, 2004; SINATRA.

Begby posted:

I want to echo the first X lines of a large file. Basically I want 'tail' but for the beginning of the file instead of the end. Is there a command for that?

What is the opposite of a tail?

head

# ? Jun 28, 2007 13:55

Twlight: Feb 18, 2005; I brag about getting free drinks from my boss to make myself feel superior; Fun Shoe

Hello everyone,

Ill admit that my knowledge of Linux and mail servers is very weak and I have a few questions that I hope you guys can answer.

Here at work I have a server that I would like to send mail to our exchange server and then to my desk (all internal) But I'm not sure what I'm trying to ask. Is this mail forwarding? or something else? I've been reading and found that Sendmail is quite complex, should I use postfix?
Thanks

Twlight fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Jun 28, 2007

# ? Jun 28, 2007 16:34

Begby: Apr 7, 2005; Light saber? Check. Black boots? Check. Codpiece? Check. He's more machine than kid now.

Accipiter posted:

What is the opposite of a tail?

head

Holy poo poo! That is goddam brilliant!

# ? Jun 28, 2007 21:43

Smackbilly: Jan 3, 2001; What kind of a name is Pizza Organ! anyway?

Begby posted:

Holy poo poo! That is goddam brilliant!

If you like that, check out the the description of "less" given in the name section of its man page.

# ? Jun 28, 2007 21:46

Dolorous Decay: Aug 12, 2003; by Lowtax

On Ubuntu 7.04, is it possible to change the wallpaper for each individual desktop that you switch to using Beryl's multiple desktops (the ones you access by using the scroll wheel on the desktop, not the ones from GNOME)?

# ? Jun 28, 2007 23:12

Equanimity: Jan 4, 2007

Dolorous Decay posted:

On Ubuntu 7.04, is it possible to change the wallpaper for each individual desktop that you switch to using Beryl's multiple desktops (the ones you access by using the scroll wheel on the desktop, not the ones from GNOME)?

There is an option in the Configuration Editor (gconf-editor):

desktop -> gnome -> background -> draw_background

If that doesn't work as intended, you might want to stop Nautilus from taking over the desktop completely, using:

apps -> nautilus -> preferences -> show_desktop

You'd probably need to log in again to check if it works.

# ? Jun 29, 2007 00:25

The Merkinman: Apr 22, 2007; I sell only quality merkins. What is a merkin you ask? Why, it's a wig for your genitals!

teapot posted:

Apparently, Autodesk is Broadcom of software -- nothing that it made runs on Linux. Nevertheless, you can try to check if it works with VMWare 3d acceleration support: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=84344

I would try that but...

Me on ubuntuforums.org posted:

Well I made a big mistake and closed the terminal before it was done installing, I thought I made a mistake so I figured I'd close it and retype ./vmware install.pl unfortunately when I do:
code:
A previous installation of VMware software has been detected.

The previous installation was made by the tar installer (version 3).

Keeping the tar3 installer database format.

Uninstalling the tar installation of VMware Server.

Unable to find the answer INITSCRIPTSDIR in the installer database 
(/etc/vmware/locations). You may want to re-install VMware Server.

Execution aborted.

Failure

Execution aborted.

# ? Jun 29, 2007 03:43

Alowishus: Jan 8, 2002; My name is Mud

The VMware installer keys off some files that are already in place so you're going to have to delete them by hand to fool it into thinking it's a fresh install. Probably 'rm -rf /etc/vmware' will do the trick.

# ? Jun 29, 2007 16:50

6174: Dec 4, 2004

What Debian packages do I need to get man pages in section 2?

For instance I was trying to learn about timers today, "man time" has a see also to "getitimer(2)". Then a call to "man 2 getitimer" simply returns to entry. I've already installed the docs for gcc, binutils, and even the package "manpages", but it seems I'm still missing some.

Edit: I'm running Lenny if it makes a difference.

Edit2: I've got another question. I was playing with the command time. On an online manpage it said there was also a GNU version of time. Curious I tried "time --version" and got an error. Then I looked at my packages, saw GNU Time was not installed, so I changed that. Then this happened:

$ which time
/usr/bin/time
$ time --version
bash: --version: command not found

real 0m0.001s
user 0m0.000s
sys 0m0.000s
$ /usr/bin/time --version
GNU time 1.7
$

What the hell is going on? I'm running bash, and according to "man bash" time is not a built-in function.

6174 fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Jun 29, 2007

# ? Jun 29, 2007 22:07

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

Twlight posted:

Here at work I have a server that I would like to send mail

Which mail? All mail that arrives to all users? Mail for a particular user?

quote:

to our exchange server and then to my desk (all internal)

Why would anyone SEND mail to a desktop box from a server? Server is supposed to be more reliable, so it makes more sense to store it on the server is accessed/copy remotely from desktop over IMAP.

quote:

But I'm not sure what I'm trying to ask. Is this mail forwarding? or something else?

It may be alias, postprocessing, replication, delivery rule... You really should define the scope of "mail" being processed that way.

quote:

I've been reading and found that Sendmail is quite complex, should I use postfix?

Use exim or postfix. Sendmail's useful functionality is more or less the same, but configuration procedure is horrible.

teapot fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Jun 30, 2007

# ? Jun 30, 2007 03:41

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

6174 posted:

What Debian packages do I need to get man pages in section 2?

For instance I was trying to learn about timers today, "man time" has a see also to "getitimer(2)". Then a call to "man 2 getitimer" simply returns to entry. I've already installed the docs for gcc, binutils, and even the package "manpages", but it seems I'm still missing some.

Edit: I'm running Lenny if it makes a difference.

manpages-dev

quote:

Edit2: I've got another question. I was playing with the command time. On an online manpage it said there was also a GNU version of time. Curious I tried "time --version" and got an error. Then I looked at my packages, saw GNU Time was not installed, so I changed that. Then this happened:

$ which time
/usr/bin/time
$ time --version
bash: --version: command not found

real 0m0.001s
user 0m0.000s
sys 0m0.000s
$ /usr/bin/time --version
GNU time 1.7
$

What the hell is going on? I'm running bash, and according to "man bash" time is not a built-in function.

It's a pipeline prefix -- with a single argument it behaves similar to /usr/bin/time -p. And it is mentioned in the man page under "SHELL GRAMMAR", "Pipelines".

# ? Jun 30, 2007 03:52

FrontLine: Sep 17, 2003; I gave Mr. Adequate hot, steamy man love and all he bought me was a custom title!

This is more an AIX question then it is a Linux but I get the feeling the same solution will work on both.

I'm looking for the command to assign a directory a certain amount of size. I'd like assign a file called 'Jimmy' a maximum size of 9GB and it will show up as such when I run 'df -k'.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 00:19

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

FrontLine posted:

This is more an AIX question then it is a Linux but I get the feeling the same solution will work on both.

I'm looking for the command to assign a directory a certain amount of size. I'd like assign a file called 'Jimmy' a maximum size of 9GB and it will show up as such when I run 'df -k'.

I can't tell what you mean, exactly. How would this be different from just creating a 9G file?

# ? Jul 2, 2007 00:28

FrontLine: Sep 17, 2003; I gave Mr. Adequate hot, steamy man love and all he bought me was a custom title!

Twinxor posted:

I can't tell what you mean, exactly. How would this be different from just creating a 9G file?

It's like creating a partition just for that directory. It's meant to ensure enough disk space exists when you need it (like for an important bit of software). I'll give specifics if required.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 00:37

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

FrontLine posted:

I'm looking for the command to assign a directory a certain amount of size. I'd like assign a file called 'Jimmy' a maximum size of 9GB and it will show up as such when I run 'df -k'.

dd if=/dev/zero of=$FILENAME bs=1 count=1 seek=9G will create and allocate a 9 GB file, but without actually writing 9 GB to disk.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 00:42

FrontLine: Sep 17, 2003; I gave Mr. Adequate hot, steamy man love and all he bought me was a custom title!

Mr. Heavy posted:

dd if=/dev/zero of=$FILENAME bs=1 count=1 seek=9G will create and allocate a 9 GB file, but without actually writing 9 GB to disk.

Can you explain what this is going to do?

edit: thanks

I'll try it now.
edit2: i dont think this is quite what im after.

FrontLine fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Jul 2, 2007

# ? Jul 2, 2007 00:50

Vulture Culture: Jul 14, 2003; I was never enjoying it. I only eat it for the nutrients.

FrontLine posted:

Can you explain what this is going to do?

edit: thanks I'll try it now.
edit2: i dont think this is quite what im after.

Honestly, you're not going to find what you're looking for without LVM.

FrontLine posted:

It's like creating a partition just for that directory.

Do that.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 01:01

FrontLine: Sep 17, 2003; I gave Mr. Adequate hot, steamy man love and all he bought me was a custom title!

I just looked up LVM as I'd never heard of it. It does look like what I'm after. I take it anything I do with it on Linux can be done the same way on AIX?

# ? Jul 2, 2007 01:29

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

FrontLine posted:

I just looked up LVM as I'd never heard of it. It does look like what I'm after. I take it anything I do with it on Linux can be done the same way on AIX?

Not exactly, however AIX had its own volume management long before Linux.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 01:31

FrontLine: Sep 17, 2003; I gave Mr. Adequate hot, steamy man love and all he bought me was a custom title!

teapot posted:

Not exactly, however AIX had its own volume management long before Linux.

Mm alright.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 01:47

Snozzberry Smoothie: Jun 27, 2005; by Fragmaster

I was wondering if there was a way that I could give the www-data group full permissions for the /dev/lp1 port, that would stay there when I reboot my server. I'm sick of chmod'ing it every time I boot up.

(It's for a line printer that my PHP app uses, before anyone asks why I want to do this weird thing).

# ? Jul 2, 2007 02:54

covener: Jan 10, 2004; You know, for kids!

Snozzberry Smoothie posted:

I was wondering if there was a way that I could give the www-data group full permissions for the /dev/lp1 port, that would stay there when I reboot my server. I'm sick of chmod'ing it every time I boot up.

(It's for a line printer that my PHP app uses, before anyone asks why I want to do this weird thing).

if the group of /dev/lp1 is something specific like printer, make it a secondary group of your apache user. Otherwise, grep through /etc/udev.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 06:06

covener: Jan 10, 2004; You know, for kids!

FrontLine posted:

I just looked up LVM as I'd never heard of it. It does look like what I'm after. I take it anything I do with it on Linux can be done the same way on AIX?

you want to create a new JFS filesystem based on hopefully free space on some existing volume group.

As root:

"lsvg" to show volume groups (groups of physical disks, where storage for filesystems come from), 'lsvg rootvg' assuming you have this defined..

Look at "PP Size" and "Free PPs" and hope you see 9gb.

"smitty jfs" to create a new filesystem in the volume group with enough space

# ? Jul 2, 2007 06:10

bigperm: Jul 10, 2001; some obscure reference

This may seem like a stupid question, but how do I make shortcuts on my desktop in Ubuntu 7.04? It seems like this was a straight forward thing last time I install unbuntu (6) but now I have no idea! I just want to be able to get to my music folder from my desktop without it actually being in /home/desktop

# ? Jul 2, 2007 06:20

Spartan22x: Dec 22, 2006; by Fragmaster

Okay, I'm running KDE on Debian(unstable). In Kate, every time I try to select the Encoding option under the Tools menu (or even just mouse over it), KDE dies. Not just kate, but the whole loving desktop environment freezes, and the only thing I can do is exit out into the shell (or whatever the term is) with ctrl-shift-F1. Is this a common problem/is there any way to fix it?

Also, is there a way to get working graphics drivers for Nvidia cards? The ones in the repository are broken :s

# ? Jul 2, 2007 06:37

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

bigperm posted:

This may seem like a stupid question, but how do I make shortcuts on my desktop in Ubuntu 7.04? It seems like this was a straight forward thing last time I install unbuntu (6) but now I have no idea! I just want to be able to get to my music folder from my desktop without it actually being in /home/desktop

In Nautilus, drag a file or folder to the desktop while holding Alt.

# ? Jul 2, 2007 08:56

Crusader: Apr 11, 2002

Spartan22x posted:

Also, is there a way to get working graphics drivers for Nvidia cards? The ones in the repository are broken :s

I'm not familiar enough with the Debian packaging system to know the Right Way to install older drivers offhand, but here's their Wiki page on the subject:

http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

You could also just use the NVIDIA installer from:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_100.14.11.html

# ? Jul 2, 2007 14:43

teapot: Dec 27, 2003; by Fistgrrl

bigperm posted:

This may seem like a stupid question, but how do I make shortcuts on my desktop in Ubuntu 7.04? It seems like this was a straight forward thing last time I install unbuntu (6) but now I have no idea! I just want to be able to get to my music folder from my desktop without it actually being in /home/desktop

A file has to be in your "/home/username/Desktop" (NOT "/home/desktop", "/home/username/desktop", "/home/Applications and Settings" or some other bullshit filename !) to be shown on your desktop. However it does not have to be an actual directory, it can be a link to the directory, or even a music player launcher with that directory or playlist as one of parameters. Also you may prefer to add a launcher button to a panel instead of desktop -- launcher buttons can be created for files and directories as well as for applications (right click on panel, add...).

# ? Jul 3, 2007 03:18

bigperm: Jul 10, 2001; some obscure reference

teapot posted:

A file has to be in your "/home/username/Desktop" (NOT "/home/desktop", "/home/username/desktop", "/home/Applications and Settings" or some other bullshit filename !) to be shown on your desktop. However it does not have to be an actual directory, it can be a link to the directory, or even a music player launcher with that directory or playlist as one of parameters. Also you may prefer to add a launcher button to a panel instead of desktop -- launcher buttons can be created for files and directories as well as for applications (right click on panel, add...).

Thanks a lot for the help.

# ? Jul 3, 2007 03:45

ExileStrife: Sep 12, 2004; Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!

Is there a way to view or monitor individual core load in a Dual 3.6Ghz Xeon Gentoo environment? I would like to know if those four cores are actually being used at all.

# ? Jul 3, 2007 14:54

mrbucket: Nov 11, 2004; aaag armrest

Work has an NIS database set up.

When users are connected at work, running `who` will show their username, terminal, login date, and hostname.

[root@box ~]# who
user pts/1 Jul 3 10:03 (mymachine)

When users are connected from home through the VPN, a `who` will show their IP address. The VPN entries are not in the NIS hosts file, however they are in DNS. /etc/nsswitch.conf is set to look at dns, as well.

Any ideas?

# ? Jul 3, 2007 15:19

dfn_doe: Apr 12, 2005; I FOR ONE WELCOME OUR NEW STUPID FUCKING CATCHPHRASE OVERLORDS

ExileStrife posted:

Is there a way to view or monitor individual core load in a Dual 3.6Ghz Xeon Gentoo environment? I would like to know if those four cores are actually being used at all.

Go into 'top' then hit '1' to toggle 'SMP view'.

# ? Jul 3, 2007 16:36

ExileStrife: Sep 12, 2004; Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!

dfn_doe posted:

Go into 'top' then hit '1' to toggle 'SMP view'.

Ooooooh, didn't know top could do that. I'm at work today so I haven't had a bunch of time to look into it, but the top's help didn't reveal anything: is it possible to also see individual process load on the individual cores?

And a bonus question, are these statistics (just individual core load) available through snmp? I'll take some time to investigate this later myself, but it would be a timesaver if someone knew this off the top of their head!

# ? Jul 3, 2007 17:34

RoundsToZero: Dec 3, 2004; An open door is an invitation

dfn_doe posted:

Go into 'top' then hit '1' to toggle 'SMP view'.

You can also hit "f" then "y" or "[" to show you information about which CPU a certain process is running on (hit enter when you're done).

# ? Jul 3, 2007 17:34

ExileStrife: Sep 12, 2004; Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!

I tried f and y, but as far as I can tell, displays a "Sleeping in Function" field which doesn't seem to be relevant. '[' does not seem to be a valid button anywhere, whether at the default view, or on the f screen for field selection.

# ? Jul 3, 2007 18:23

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 14:25

rotor: Jun 11, 2001; classic case of pineapple derangement syndrome

Can someone with SATA functioning properly under linux name the motherboard/card/chipset they're using? edit: and kernel version, I guess?

I have had zero luck with cheap Silicon Image cards, and the nicer ones are super expensive. It might be easier to get a cheapo nforce board if the nforce4 sata drivers are stable in linux.

# ? Jul 3, 2007 19:17

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Linux Questions Thread: a bunch of pitfalls, but technically it's possible

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