Overview of UNIX Fundamentals

Seth's Unix Tips

August 21, 2008

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Overview of UNIX Fundamentals

The most common, and most fatal, error made by UNIX users is to attempt to memorize the exact command sequences that they need to do exactly what they want done. Many quick-fix UNIX orientation courses and books do little more than hand out cheat sheets and step-by-step instructions for how to accomplish common tasks on a particular system. The danger is that when the system breaks, or the user moves to a new system, or they simply want to do something a little different, they find themselves helpless and frustrated.

The goal of this series is to provide you with a basic understanding of the concepts and terminology underlying the UNIX operating system. Once you know the basics of how Unix works, you can quickly adapt to different implementations or system failures.

The ideas you need are not difficult or complex, but they are rarely stated in plain English. In addition to reading these pages, you may wish to read the intro to section 2 of the manual pages (man 2 intro or under Solaris, man -s 2 intro). That usually contains a more precise and detailed description of system terminology and functions as relevant to your particular system.