Unix and Linux

Anything about any version of Unix or Linux or BSD.
Aug 12 19:43

Redacting Accidental Passwords in Your .bash_history File

When I accidentally type a password in bash, I used to immediately exit so that the current commands in my "history" would get appended to the $HISTFILE. Then I'd vi (edit) that file (usually .bash_history) and remove the password. But this is pretty lame and I used to forget to do it sometimes.
Apr 06 17:23

Some Succumb to the Lumbar Bummer

I hurt my lower back last year. Thankfully it was a soft tissue thing and not permanent. I had to go to six weeks of physical therapy and while I was there the therapist told me, unsurprisingly, that sitting in front of a computer all day would mean my back problem would keep coming back.

But she had a great idea. She suggested that I write a program that makes me stand up from my chair every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. I've been doing it for about a year now and it has been a great thing for my lower back. I run a Mac (OS X 10.5, Leopard) at work, so here is how I did this.

Mar 08 23:27

Limericks I Wrote

Disclaimer: As anyone with a pulse knows, the dirtier limericks are always the funniest. So if you can’t handle X-rated content (or humor), what in the fuck are you doing on the goddamn fucking Internet, dumbshit?

 

It’s said that a handsome young sailor

Learns much from his very first jailer

For down in the brig

Mar 08 23:22

Operating Systems

Operating systems were invented to replace or help computer operators. Operators were people who sat in data centers and managed the computers' memory, and hard disk space. They were also the people who input programs and data into the computer. This was important because there was usually a shortage of memory and disk space. Often the operator had to manually type the program into the computer's memory by using a teletype machine.
Mar 08 22:55

Better Information Security Through the Elimination of General Purpose Operating Systems

Please forgive the formal sounding language here. I wrote this back in August 2007, and it must have been for something kind of formal, but I don’t remember what or why. Enjoy. Purpose-built, Internet-facing servers (e.g., front-end web servers) have no need for n% of the functionality in their OSs and bundled applications. Yet these latter two groups of code are often the basis of the amplification and propagation of exploits.