Download ARCHIVE 2923

ComputorEdge
6/10/11
Now do a <ls -la sig*> and you should see the entries:
tonyp% ls -la sig*
-rw-r—r—
1 tonyp
-rw-r—r—
1 tonyp
users
users
565 May 31 17:06 sig_fortunes
44 May 31 17:08 sig_fortunes.dat
Now to test out the file:
tonyp% /usr/games/fortune sig_fortune
Tony J. Podrasky | Great truths about life that little children have learned:
| "Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time"
If you keep doing the above command, eventually you should see all four of the entries.
Now, edit the sig_fortunes file and put whatever you like into it. You might go back to the /usr/games/fortunes directory and
look at some of the fortunes that are already there and cut-and-paste them into your personal sig_fortunes file. Remember to
give the author credit by keeping his name with the quote.
Next week, we'll see how to run the <fortune> program using <cron> and store the results in your <.signature> file and have
Mozilla or Firefox put it at the end of your e-mail.
NOTE: I give my shell files uppercase names so that I know they are my shell files and not the system's binaries. For
example, when I save the data (the commands between the "CUT HERE" lines, which is the actual shell file) I might call it "VI",
which is not to be confused with the system's "vi" file—but I call it "VI" because it calls (or uses) the system's "vi editor."
Tony has been in the computer field since 1976 when he started working for Data General Corp as a field engineer. Later
going on to design hardware interfaces, write patches for operating systems, and build networks. It was in 1995 while working
with the military on several projects that he ran into a "spook" who showed him a laptop that ran a then-unknown O/S called
"Linux." "A laptop running a form of UNIX tony = a marriage made in heaven!" Tony can be reached for questions at Linux
Questions for Tony ([email protected]).
31 of 44