Mastering Red Hat Linux 9 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Conventions Used in This Book

If you’re new to the world of Sybex books, you need to know about a number of conventions that we use.

Linux commands such as ls and files such as /etc/passwd within the main body of a paragraph are offset as inline code.

Longer lists of commands and code are organized in separate lines. The command prompt is shown as a hash mark (#).

 # mkbootdisk 2.4.20-8

Hash marks are also commonly used in a program file to indicate a comment; I’ve done my best to make the context clear.

 # System initialization

Sometimes the code you enter depends on a variable such as the version number, in which case the code is italicized:

  # mkbootdisk kernel_version

Due to publishing constraints, continuation arrows (→) break a single command line such as

passwd chat = *New*password* %n\n *Retype*new*password* %n\n *passwd:
→ *all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*

into two different lines in the book. It still is a command that you enter on one line.

Italics generally represent new terms.

If an item is in bold in code, it represents what you might type in at the command-line interface to get the given output:

 # /usr/lib/yp/ypinit -m
At this point, we have to construct a list of the
 hosts which will run NIS servers. 
RH9 is in the list of NIS server hosts. Please 
continue to add the names for the 
other hosts, one per line. When you are done with the list, type a
 <control D>.

+ signs indicate key combinations. For example, Ctrl+Alt+F2 means that you should press these keys simultaneously.

With URLs, I’ve omitted the http:// and the trailing slash for brevity (and to prevent bad line breaks). For example, the home page of the Linux Documentation Project appears as www.tldp.org, where it technically should be http://www.tldp.org/. Fortunately, with the defaults in web browsers and server software such as Apache, this generally makes no difference.

When we discuss the Linux GUI, the menu arrow Ø, points you to a choice from a menu or submenu. For example, Main Menu Ø Graphics Ø The Gimp tells you to click on the Main Menu button, navigate to the Graphics menu, and then click The Gimp.