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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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What're some of the dumbest things you've done to yourself in Linux? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

300 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm working on a some materials for a class wherein I'll be teaching some young, wide-eyed Windows nerds about Linux and we're including a section we're calling "foot guns". Basically it's ways you might shoot yourself in the foot while meddling with your newfound Linux powers.

I've got the usual forgetting the . in lines like this:

$ rm -rf ./bin

As well as a bunch of other fun stories like that one time I mounted my Linux home folder into my Windows machine, forgot I did that, then deleted a parent folder.

You know, the war stories.

Tell me yours. I wanna share your mistakes so that they can learn from them.

Fun (?) side note: somehow, my entire ${HOME}/projects folder has been deleted like... just now, and I have no idea how it happened. I may have a terrible new story to add if I figure it out.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

There's nothing wrong with that command, per se. You must've ducked up something else?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

It's grub.cfg not grub.conf. it's really easy to miss because everything else is .conf.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Oh shit that's right, totally missed that! :D

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Me too, including when ferociously trying to debug why grub wouldn't find a freaking bootable anything. The error message isn't "uh, no config bro" but "hey, nothing to boot here, see ya in The Shell". Argh.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Yeah, it has definitely caught me off guard a couple of times when installing Arch. At that stage if there's no grub it didn't install or the ESP flag isn't set on EFI. If there is grub but no options it's usually the config.

One time it was because I forgot to install the kernel, it took me a while to figure that one out.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That's why I always press tab to autocomplete due to this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah, for a while I didn't realize auto complete was as simple as installing bashcompletion. Doesn't help if the file doesn't exist though.