Unix in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference - Covers GNU/Linux, Mac OS X,and Solaris

by Arnold Robbins, Colleen Gorman (Editor), Mike Loukides (Editor)

Overview

As an open operating system, Unix can be improved on by anyone and everyone: individuals, companies, universities, and more. As a result, the very nature of Unix has been altered over the years by numerous extensions formulated in an assortment of versions. Today, Unix encompasses everything from Sun's Solaris to Apple's Mac OS X and more varieties of Linux than you can easily name.

The latest edition of this bestselling reference brings Unix into the 21st century. It's been reworked to keep current with the broader state of Unix in today's world and highlight the strengths of this operating system in all its various flavors.

Detailing all Unix commands and options, the informative guide provides generous descriptions and examples that put those commands in context. Here are some of the new features you'll find in Unix in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition:

Solaris 10, the latest version of the SVR4-based operating system, GNU/Linux, and Mac OS X

Bash shell (along with the 1988 and 1993 versions of ksh)

tsch shell (instead of the original Berkeley csh)

Package management programs, used for program installation on popular GNU/Linux systems, Solaris and Mac OS X

GNU Emacs Version 21

Introduction to source code management systems

Concurrent versions system

Subversion version control system

GDB debugger

As Unix has progressed, certain commands that were once critical have fallen into disuse. To that end, the book has also dropped material that is no longer relevant, keeping it taut and current.

If you're a Unix user or programmer, you'll recognize the value of this complete, up-to-date Unix reference. With chapter overviews, specific examples, and detailed command.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780596100292
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/20/2005
Series:	In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)
Edition description:	Fourth Edition
Pages:	906
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.96(d)

About the Author

Arnold Robbins, an Atlanta native, is a professional programmer and technical author. He has worked with Unix systems since 1980, when he was introduced to a PDP-11 running a version of Sixth Edition Unix. He has been a heavy AWK user since 1987, when he became involved with gawk, the GNU project's version of AWK. As a member of the POSIX 1003.2 balloting group, he helped shape the POSIX standard for AWK. He is currently the maintainer of gawk and its documentation. He is also coauthor of the sixth edition of "Learning the vi Editor" from O'Reilly.

Table of Contents

• Dedication
• Preface
• Part I: Commands and Shells
  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: Unix Commands
  • Chapter 3: The Unix Shell: An Overview
  • Chapter 4: The Bash and Korn Shells
  • Chapter 5: tcsh: An Extended C Shell
  • Chapter 6: Package Management
• Part II: Text Editing and Processing
  • Chapter 7: Pattern Matching
  • Chapter 8: The Emacs Editor
  • Chapter 9: The vi, ex, and vim Editors
  • Chapter 10: The sed Editor
  • Chapter 11: The awk Programming Language
• Part III: Software Development
  • Chapter 12: Source Code Management: An Overview
  • Chapter 13: The Revision Control System
  • Chapter 14: The Concurrent Versions System
  • Chapter 15: The Subversion Version Control System
  • Chapter 16: The GNU make Utility
  • Chapter 17: The GDB Debugger
  • Chapter 18: Writing Manual Pages
• Part IV: References
  • Appendix A: ISO 8859-1 (Latin-1) Character Set
  • Appendix B: Bibliography
• Colophon

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Ever UNIX user and programmer needs a rock-solid day-to-day reference. For years, thousands of UNIX users have relied on UNIX in a Nutshell. Now this book has been massively updated for today’s new generation of “UNIX-es,” from GNU/Linux to Mac OS X and Solaris 10. The new Fourth Edition is an outstanding single source for all you need to know now about UNIX commands, shells, editing tools, software development utilities, and a whole lot more.

Users will wear out Arnold Robbins’s huge commands section, which has been systematically revised and reorganized. Commands common to most versions of UNIX and Linux are covered first: meat-and-potatoes stuff like autoconf, cat, chmod, cp, find, finger, ftp, make, mount, ssh, tar, and so forth. All version-specific options for each command are listed with their own subheads, for fast and convenient access. Once every significant common command has been reviewed, dozens of commands unique to individual platforms are covered. For instance: cdrecord and strace for Linux; ditto and nano for OS X; encrypt and filesync for Solaris.

Robbins’s extensive coverage of UNIX shells has been reworked to cover bash, the 1993 (and 1988) versions of ksh, and tcsh instead of the original Berkeley csh. There’s an entire new chapter on package management. Robbins has thoroughly revised his coverage of editors, adding key vim commands and updating the GNU Emacs discussion through Version 21. Perhaps the most significant addition: extensive new coverage of source code management, including chapters on CVS and the newer Subversion Version Control System (SVCS). Robbins’s goal: to present “UNIX for the 21st century.” Users and programmers will agree that he’s succeeded. Bill Camarda, from the December 2005 Read Only

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