Knowledge Base
Linux Knowledgebase
This is a list of quickstart guides for Linux programs, designed to get the user up and running as fast as possible.
Style
Praxis Only
We leave theory alone as much as possible. The documentation should be of the form ‘if you want X, type Y’.
We don’t need to explain what a program does - anyone looking up ‘how to X’, already knows what they want to do.
We don’t even need to explain which program to use - if someone wants to combine an mp4 and webm video into a single video file, they only care about that result, not about learning ffmpeg
.
Any interest in these tools only comes after we can use them.
Chronological
Entries should read like scripts - everything in the right order, with small notes on what this does.
The chronology should never branch.
If gitea
can use three different types of database, the documentation should simply pick one and continue instructions from there.
Repetition works better than a reference - if a database requires three commands to set up, it’s better to repeat those three commands for every program that requires a database than to just link to another file which discusses databases.
Closing
Introductory documents should show anything required to cleanly uninstall a program, without leaving bulky configuration files behind.
Three Input Types
There are three types of examples:
Fixed input:
ls
Anything with arbitrary input should be shown as a variable.
ls $FILE
Non-commands (e.g. output) should be shown as quoted text:
LK img Mail kn Projects music
Example
How to see which websites you're actively accessing:
` ` `bash
ss -tr dst :$PORT
` ` `
> State Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address:Port Peer Address:Port Process
> ESTAB 0 0 192.168.0.14:42476 149.154.167.91:https
> ESTAB 0 0 192.168.0.14:43644 104.17.90.199:https
What’s wrong with everything else?
Man pages
- Orders items by the alphabet rather than by relevance.
- Often presumes you know everything except that one program.
- Often written in the 80’s, and it shows.
- Zero respect for your time.
curl cheat.sh/
- Doesn’t have the programs I like.
- Too short to get you started on many programs.
- Poor understanding of priority (
git stash
is covered beforegit commit
).
Current State
This started as a few personal notes, and will probably continue to look like that for some time. It’s a bit of a mess.
Systemd is taken as a default. Non-systemd commands are mentioned when required for a distro, e.g. runit for Void Linux.