Installation guide

Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................vii
1. Changes To This Manual ....................................................................................................vii
2. Finding Appropriate Documentation .................................................................................viii
2.1. Documentation For First-Time Linux Users.......................................................viii
2.2. For the More Experienced ..................................................................................... x
2.3. Documentation for Linux Gurus............................................................................ x
3. Document Conventions......................................................................................................... x
4. Using the Mouse ................................................................................................................xiii
5. Copying and Pasting Text With X......................................................................................xiii
6. More to Come ....................................................................................................................xiii
6.1. We Need Feedback! ............................................................................................xiii
7. Sign Up for Support ........................................................................................................... xiv
I. System Reference........................................................................................................................... xv
1. File System Structure.......................................................................................................... 17
1.1. Why Share a Common Structure?........................................................................ 17
1.2. Overview of File System Hierarchy Standard (FHS) .......................................... 17
1.3. Special File Locations.......................................................................................... 21
2. The proc File System......................................................................................................... 23
2.1. A Virtual File System........................................................................................... 23
2.2. Top-level Files in the proc Filesystem................................................................ 24
2.3. Directories in /proc/.......................................................................................... 37
2.4. Using sysctl ...................................................................................................... 52
2.5. Additional Resources........................................................................................... 52
3. Boot Process, Init, and Shutdown ....................................................................................... 55
3.1. The Boot Process ................................................................................................. 55
3.2. A Detailed Look at the Boot Process................................................................... 55
3.3. Running Programs at Boot Time ......................................................................... 60
3.4. Differences in the Boot Process of Other Architectures ...................................... 60
3.5. SysV Init .............................................................................................................. 60
3.6. Init Runlevels ....................................................................................................... 61
3.7. The /etc/sysconfig/ Directory...................................................................... 62
3.8. Shutting Down ..................................................................................................... 74
4. Boot Loaders....................................................................................................................... 77
4.1. Boot Loaders and System Architecture ............................................................... 77
4.2. GRUB................................................................................................................... 77
4.3. Installing GRUB .................................................................................................. 78
4.4. GRUB Terminology ............................................................................................. 79
4.5. GRUB Interfaces.................................................................................................. 80
4.6. GRUB Commands ............................................................................................... 81
4.7. GRUB Menu Configuration File.......................................................................... 82
4.8. LILO .................................................................................................................... 84
4.9. Options in /etc/lilo.conf ............................................................................. 85
4.10. Changing Runlevels at Boot Time ..................................................................... 86
4.11. Additional Resources ......................................................................................... 87
5. Users and Groups................................................................................................................ 89
5.1. Tools for User and Group Creation...................................................................... 89
5.2. Standard Users ..................................................................................................... 89
5.3. Standard Groups................................................................................................... 91
5.4. User Private Groups ............................................................................................. 92
5.5. Shadow Utilities................................................................................................... 94
6. The X Window System ....................................................................................................... 97
6.1. The Power of X.................................................................................................... 97
6.2. XFree86................................................................................................................ 97
6.3. Desktop Environments and Window Managers................................................. 102