Preface

This is a book about Linux, a freely available clone of the Unix operating system whose uses range from embedded systems and personal data assistants (PDAs) to corporate servers, web servers, and massive clusters that perform some of the world's most difficult computations.

Whether you are using Linux for personal software projects, for a small office or home office (the so-called 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 the configuration of the GNOME and KDE desktops. But foremost in Linux in a Nutshell are the immeasurable utilities and commands that make Linux one of the most powerful and flexible systems available.

In addition to the tools and features written specifically for it, Linux has inherited many from the Free Software Foundation's GNU project, the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), the X Window System (XFree86), and contributions from major corporations as well as the companies that created the major Linux distributions. More recent projects extend Linux in exciting ways, some through changes to the kernel and some through libraries and applications that radically change the user's experience; the GNOME and KDE desktops are the most prominent examples.

This book is a quick reference for the basic commands and features of the Linux operating system. As with other books in O'Reilly's "In a Nutshell" series, this book is geared toward users who know what they want to do and have some idea how to do it, but can't always remember the correct command or option.