Chapter 11. Files, Processes, and Permissions

Chapter 11 picks up where Chapter 10, "The Bash Shell," left off. In other words, this is—for the most part—a chapter that takes place at the command line.

The exceptions to the command-line focus are the discussions of how to mount devices and create default permissions for a group. These tasks can be done at the command line or using the Gnome interface. This chapter describes how to mount devices both ways and how to create default permissions with Gnome.

This chapter addresses these questions: How do you find out about a system? How do you find out about disk space and directories? How do you find files and text within files?

This chapter also shows you how to view and monitor processes. If the time has come for a process to die, you will learn how to kill it.

Finally, file ownership and permissions are explained. What does it mean to own a file? How can a file have more than one owner? What are permissions, and how are they changed?

Topics covered in this chapter include the following:

• Getting information about your system

• Processes

• The file system

• Permissions and ownership