Questions tagged [history]
The history of Unix systems and their main components. Please DO NOT USE this tag for shell-related questions; use "command-history" instead.
447 questions
0 votes
0 answers
29 views
Historiographical resources about Linux [closed]
While trying to document myself about some less known Linux features I found some kernel mailing list discussions that contained a lot of advanced and counter intuitive technical knowledge, sparkled ...
- 185
6 votes
2 answers
2k views
Why wasn't this `ls` bug about file sizes on NFS mounts from HP-UX systems ever fixed?
I was reading the info file on my GNU/Linux system for the ls command, when I encountered the following under the -s/--size option: For files that are NFS-mounted from an HP-UX system to a BSD system,...
- 269
14 votes
2 answers
1k views
Why do shell control statement have that syntax (semicolon/newline+then/do)
I of course realize the need to have something that separates the condition to the actual commands to be executed under the control statement, but why were it chosen to use both semicolon and a ...
- 492
0 votes
0 answers
35 views
Was dovecot the first to prefix a hash with the scheme?
I know that crypt in glibc has ${scheme_token}$ at the start of the hashes in /etc/shadow that can be used to infer the scheme, but dovecot has the actual name of the hashing scheme used included as a ...
- 400
0 votes
0 answers
29 views
can't remove items from the bash history using a while loop [duplicate]
I have a faulty command several times in my history and want to remove it with history -d <id_of_faulty_command>. I can identify this via a --writeout (instead of the correct --write-out) Now ...
- 287
1 vote
0 answers
72 views
When was command history feature first introduced?
I'm trying to find out when the first shell (unix or otherwise) was introduced with the feature "press up to edit the previous command". The earliest things I have definite dates for so far ...
5 votes
7 answers
1k views
Why is the output of Device Status Report sent to the standard input instead of output?
On Wikipedia it is explained that "Device Status Report" is an ANSI control sequence that "[r]eports the cursor position (CPR) by transmitting ESC[n;mR, where n is the row and m is the ...
26 votes
3 answers
2k views
Why does gmtime() give days 1-31, but months 0-11?
The 'gmtime()' standard library function returns a struct that has days numbered 1-31, but months numbered 0-11. Why is that? Presumably there is some historic reason?
0 votes
0 answers
120 views
How to keep all bash history?
Is there a way to keep all bash history without any kind of management? I know HISTFILESIZE is the variable where you can specify the number of bash history records that are kept. But I don't want to ...
- 1
0 votes
0 answers
32 views
Is there a way to keep bash for reformatting my history? [duplicate]
I commonly want to do something with a bunch of files, so I type in something like: $ for nam in *.c > do > echo $nam > done Aaah, I failed to use upper case C so I go to edit again and ...
- 423
8 votes
1 answer
330 views
bash or ksh 'vi' mode - How to jump to end of history (most recent command)?
I am a long time ksh user, and use bash under duress - both in 'vi' editing mode. One thing that has always niggled - after searching back through history for a command (.e.g <Esc>/needle), how ...
- 318
5 votes
1 answer
162 views
Why does this bash for loop syntax work?
Why does this braced syntax work $ for (( i=0; i<3; ++i )) { echo $i; } 0 1 2 when the manpage says the syntax is for (( expr1 ; expr2 ; expr3 )) ; do list ; done $ bash --version | head -1 # ...
- 1,099
2 votes
2 answers
248 views
Why is session defined on kernel level? Is it introduced exclusively for tty/job control?
I have read a lot of articles and questions/answers on this site about sessions. I understand what they represent (source) : A collection of process groups established for job control purposes. Each ...
- 517
-3 votes
1 answer
151 views
Why is the adm group named adm? What does adm stand for?
According to the Debian wiki: adm: Group adm is used for system monitoring tasks. Members of this group can read many log files in /var/log, and can use xconsole. Historically, /var/log was /usr/adm (...
- 4,501
1 vote
1 answer
211 views
Why does /etc/group file not use user IDs?
Looking at the Linux group file I see that it lists group members by name and not by ID. Other files which need to identify users (e.g. shadow file) use the id. My question is how or why did group end ...
- 61