Re: Unix administrator
Chris Parker wrote:
>
> > Student here from a micro$oft school of thought and sick of it. What
> > do I need to read...study to gain the honor of a unix admin.? Is
> > athere any good online classes or tutorials that i should check into?
> > Also what would be a good route to take for a beginner programming?
> > Hopefully the Debian gurus will reply.
> > THANKS TO ALL THAT REPLY!
Well, why set your sights so low?
>From http://tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/loginataka.html:
(check the other faqs there, too)
$Date: 2000/02/28 11:42:40 $
The Loginataka
(This was originally a Usenet response to some eager
newbie questions.)
Speak, O Guru: How can I become a Unix Wizard?
O, Nobly Born: know that the Way to Wizardhood is
long, and winding, and Fraught with Risks. Thou must
Attune thyself with the Source, attaining the arcane
Knowledge and Conversation of the System Libraries and
Internals. Yea; and such an all-consuming Time and
Energy Sink is this as to greatly Imperil thy Grade
Point Average (if one thou hast), not to mention thy Sex
Life (if one thou hast). But persevere, oh Larval One;
rewards beyond the Dreams of Lusers await thee!
Speak, O Guru: What books should I study? Are the
O'Reilly "Nutshell" guides a good place to start?
O, Nobly Born: know that the Nutshell Guides are but
the outermost Portal of the True Enlightenment. Worthy
are they (and praise to the Name of O'Reilly, whose
books show forth the Hacker Spirit in numerous pleasing
ways), but the Nutshell Guides are only the Beginning
of the Road.
If thou desirest with True Desire to tread the Path of
Wizardly Wisdom, first learn the elementary Postures of
Kernighan & Pike's The Unix Programming Environment;
then, absorb the mantic puissance of March Rochkind's
Advanced Unix Programming and W. Richard Stevens's
Advanced Programming In The Unix Environment.
Immerse thyself, then, in the Pure Light of
Maurice J. Bach's The Design Of The Unix Operating
System. Neglect not the Berkelian Way; study also The
Design and Implementation Of The 4.4BSD Operating System
by Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic et. al.
For useful hints, tips, and tricks, see Unix Power
Tools, Tim O'Reilly, ed. Consider also the dark Wisdom
to be gained from contemplation of the dread Portable C
And Unix Systems Programming, e'en though it hath flowed
from the keyboard of the mad and doomed Malvernite whom
the world of unknowing Man misnames "J. E. Lapin".
These tomes shall instruct thy Left Brain in the Nature
of the Unix System; to Feed the other half of thy Head,
O Nobly Born, embrace also the Lore of its Nurture. Don
Libes's and Sandy Ressler's Life With Unix will set thy
Feet unerringly upon that Path; take as thy Travelling
Companion the erratic but illuminating compendium
called The New Hacker's Dictionary (Eric S. Raymond,
ed., with Guy L. Steele Jr.).
(In this wise shalt thou travel the Way of the Camel.)
Speak, O Guru: To attain Mastery, how many Kernels do
I need to take apart and reassemble?
O Nobly Born: this question reveals that indeed thou
hast touched upon an Ineffable Truth about Unix ---
that thou canst not Plumb its Mysteries by mere Study
but must become One with it through Practice. The true
Way to the Knowledge of the Source is not the timid and
footling way of the Student, but the Divine Foolery of
the Hacker. Hack, then; strive against Mighty Problems,
have joy in thy Striving, and let the Crashes fall
where they may (maintaining the while, for the Good of
thy Karma, a Rigorous Backup Policy).
(In this wise shalt thou travel the Way of the Lion.)
In this day of Boot-Time Autoconfiguration and
Dynamically Loadable Device Drivers, reassembling
a Kernel is no longer the daunting Test and Seal of
Mastery that once it was. However, writing and verifying
thine own Device Driver for some piece of Exotic
Hardware is still a worthy challenge to thy Budding
Guruhood. Indeed, such Challenge may be found the
Crafting of any Program sufficiently Powerful to Extend
or Compete with the Tools now available in Open Source.
Therefore: seek thee out the Open Source Unixes:
OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and most Especially Linux
in many of its Incarnations. Join the Wizards and
Aspirants to Wizardhood who Labor Unceasingly to
Improve these. Commune with them in their Great Work,
their unceasing Extension and Reinvention of Unix. In
this wise may thou become one among the Mighty.
Speak, O Guru: Some there are who claim that the
sole Path to Wizardry and the proper Way of every
Right-Thinking Hacker is to rewrite the Unix Kernel
from Scratch. Is this not Sacrilege?
Sacrilege, O Nobly Born? Nay! Certainly the Kernel
Source is the Inmost Mystery of Unix --- but there is a
Mystery beyond that Mystery. The Nature of Unix inhereth
not in any one Version but in the Design Tradition of
which all Unixes are Evolving Parts.
The Rite of the Rewrite is not the only Path to Mastery,
but it is perhaps the highest and most Sacred of all
Paths. Few indeed are those who, travelling it, have
crossed the dark and yawning Abyss of Implementation to
Delivery. Many, yea, many in truth stagnate yet in the
Desert of Delay, or linger ever in the ghastly limbo
called Perpetual Beta.
Speak, O Guru: What, then, is the True Path to
Wizardhood?
O Nobly Born: learn, and seek within thyself. Cultivate
the cunning of the Serpent and the courage of the
Tiger; sup deeply from the Wisdom of those who came
before thee. Hack, and hack again; grow, by trial and
by error. Post thy best hacks to the Net and gain in
Repute thereby. Also, O Nobly Born, be thou grave and
courteous in thy speech; be helpful to those less than
thee, quick to succour and slow to flame.
If thou dost these things faithfully, if thou travellest
with high heart and pure intention, soon shall thy
callow Newbiehood be shed. By degrees imperceptible
to thyself shalt thou gain Power and Wisdom, Striving
and Doing all the while. Gradually shall thy Puissance
unfold and deepen.
O Nobly Born, if thou dost all these things, thy
Wizardhood shall surely come upon thee; but not of a
sudden, and not until after thy arrogant Mind hath more
than half Forgotten that such was its Aim. For know this
--- you may not by thyself in Pride claim the Mantle
of Wizardry; that way lies only Bogosity without End.
Rather must you Become, and Become, and Become, until
Hackers respect thy Power, and other Wizards hail thee
as a Brother or Sister in Wisdom, and you wake up and
realize that the Mantle hath lain unknown upon thy
Shoulders since you knew not when.
(In this wise shalt thou travel the Way of the Child.)
SHANTIH! SHANTIH! SHANTIH!
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>
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