Linux in a Nutshell (Paperback)

by Ellen Siever (Author), Aaron Weber (Author), Stephen Figgins (Editor)
Key Phrases: package management, boot methods, variable meaning, Linux Commands, The Concurrent Versions System, The Subversion Version Control System (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This is one desktop companion which confident Linux users simply cannot be without." Linux User, November 2003 "The best way to sum this book up is with the original reviewer's words: "If you don't lock your office, this will be the first thing that a techie colleague will steal!"." Linux Format, September "...anyone serious about Linux programming and administration needs this book...The authors are to be congratulated for the scope of coverage, as here's enough here about both the vi and Emacs editing systems, desktop set-ups and packages, as well as a nod to multimedia use. " - Gary Flood, IT Training, October 2004

Product Description
Linux in a Nutshell, now in its fourth edition, has won awards in the Linux community as the most indispensable book about Linux. It is an essential desktop reference for the commands that users of Linux utilize every day, with the depth of information and the practical, succinct "In a Nutshell" format that made the previous editions so popular. Comprehensive but concise, Linux in a Nutshell covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions. It's several quick references rolled into one: sed, gawk, RCS, CVS, vi, Emacs, bash, tcsh, regular expressions, package management, bootloaders, and desktop environments are all covered in this clear, to-the-point volume, along with core command-line utilities. The fourth edition continues to track the major changes in bootloaders, the GNOME and KDE desktops, and general Unix commands. Coverage has been added for GRUB, and for vim, the popular and feature-loaded extension to vi. The addition of several new options to the iptables firewall command and new commands related to DNSSEC and ssh show the book's value as a security tool.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly; 4 edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596004826
• ISBN-13: 978-0596004828
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,718 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Manual, May 6, 2004

By	Robert L. Stinnett (Boonville, MO) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

How many times have you been trying to find a particular command but just can't remember what it was called. How many times have you been typing in a command and forgot the options available?

Through this book, the author has taken many of the substaintial commands for users, admins, networking and programming and rolled them into a dictionary of sort for Linux users.

Sure, you can find out a lot about any command through the online man pages, but the author has taken the somewhat cryptic man pages and broken them down into simple, to the point, references laid out much like you would expect to find in a dictionary.

In addition, you'll find handy reference manuals for common utilities, such as emacs, vi, CVS, sed and awk. While each of these could fill a book in themselves, the author has broken them down to the bare basics to help you get up and running and understand basic operation of each.

All in all, a wonderful reference manual that will compliment more in-depth manuals on actual use and administration of a Linux system.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Is just what is should be, November 9, 2004

By	B. Rossen "Equitus" (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

If you understand what "in a nutshell" means, then you shall be pleased with this book. It is not a tutorial, it is not a beginners' guide, it is not a theory book... it is a reference book, featuring entries that are succinct, to the point, sparse in places, but complete in breadth and indispensable.

I don't use Linux for my work station (Mac OS X) or for my servers (BSD UNIX) and so when I need to do something on a Linux box the UNIX commands at my fingertips sometimes don't work; then I turn to this book. Very handy.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your IT tool box would be empty without it, August 19, 2003

By	Norman V. Bauer "I hope my reviews help you d... (Easton, Maryland, US of A) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have used Linux (nearly every major and some minor distributions) and I cannot tell you how many times this book has saved me. It is also great because a huge percentage of the commands covered also work just fine in UNIX (though I recommend UNIX in a nutshell too. I also have never bought a book from O'Rielly that was less than top notch. If you are a newbie or want to learn Linux in general BUY THIS BOOK WITH ANOTHER BOOK. Like all of the ....in a nutshell books it's reference book not a read cover-to-cover book....