filesystem interview questions
Top filesystem frequently asked interview questions
What is the ~/.local folder good for and is it safe to remove the content within this folder?
Source: (StackOverflow)
This answer and email message indicate that something called "OverlayFS" is available in Ubuntu 11.10 and will forcefully replace aufs in Ubuntu 12.04.
How do I use it? Where is its documentation?
Source: (StackOverflow)
How is the /tmp directory cleaned up? Is it automatic? If so, how frequently is it cleaned up?
Source: (StackOverflow)
After upgrading my laptop from karmic to lucid, my fat32 partition won't mount automatically. I get the message:
The disk drive for /osshare is not ready yet or not present
Continue to wait; or Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery
Funny thing is, if I skip, then /osshare/ is mounted once I log in.
I've a similar setup on my desktop, and it works fine. Fstab on desktop:
UUID=4663-6853 /osshare vfat utf8,umask=007,gid=46 0 1
/etc/fstab on laptop:
UUID=1234-5678 /osshare vfat utf8,auto,rw,user 0 0
Source: (StackOverflow)
I haven't tried this command on Ubuntu (for obvious reasons) so I am not sure if Ubuntu will allow its execution. But it's famous for deleting everything. Just out of curiosity, what happens when the kernel and /bin are deleted? How does rm maintain a run time stack? How does rm manage to communicate with the file system and complete deletion? How does it communicate with hardware?
Source: (StackOverflow)
What is the difference between /etc/init/ and /etc/init.d/?
More generally, what meaning does the .d suffix convey to a directory?
Source: (StackOverflow)
When trying to mount an exfat filesystem, I get the following error:
Error mounting /dev/sda6 at /media/gkp/Backup: Command-line
`mount -t "exfat" -o "uhelper=udisks2,nodev,nosuid" "/dev/sda6" "/media/gkp/Backup"'
exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: unknown filesystem type 'exfat'
Exfat is used on some USB sticks and camera sd cards. What can I do to mount this type of filesystem?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I'm planning on selling a USB external hard drive that currently contains an old Ubuntu installation with stored passwords and banking information.
How can I securely erase the drive before selling it?
Source: (StackOverflow)
What is the rationale for the "unix system resources", or /usr directory, as described here, which duplicates many of the directory names under the root directory /?
My purpose: I'm installing Oracle JDK for the umpteenth time and decided this time to just put it under /home/user and I'm just reading around a bit to see if it is a bad idea on a single user machine.
Source: (StackOverflow)
This question already has an answer here:
I'm running an Ubuntu Server 13.04, but I see the same on a 12.04: I have six directories with command files. These are:
- /bin
- /sbin
- /usr/bin
- /usr/sbin
- /usr/local/bin
- /usr/local/sbin
What are the differences between these?
For example: if I'm writing my own scripts, where should I add these?
Source: (StackOverflow)
In Windows there’re perhaps only a couple of important folders (by important I mean important in my logical picture of the Windows file system) in the installation drive (in my case C:\). Namely Program Files and Windows. I simply stay away from Windows folder and the “add remove program files” is good enough to handle the program files folder of Windows. Of course there’s a folder named Users where the users (who are not admins) can access only their folders.
Thus there’s a clear picture at some level in my mind of the Windows file system. In Ubuntu, when I reach the location /, there’s a huge list of folders, most of which I have no clue as to what they contain. The /bin folder seems to be the equivalent of the Windows folder in windows. The /usr folder seems like it’s the equivalent of the Users folder in Windows. But even the /home folder looks like it can fit the bill.
Please understand that I do understand, that Ubuntu (Linux) has a different character than that of Windows, i.e., there need not be exact equivalent of Windows functions, in Ubuntu. All I am looking for is a bit more clearer picture of the Ubuntu file system.
This question is a part of a bigger question which I am splitting up to make it more answerable. The original question can be found here:
http://sgsawant.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/whats-the-equivalent-of-add-or-remove-programs-in-ubuntu/
Source: (StackOverflow)
It seems to me that having both /mnt and /media is a little redundant. Is there any tangible difference between the two that I'm not aware of?
Is there a standard that most people follow for where to mount things, e.g. use one for certain types of devices, or is this completely subjective?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I found a 6 GB IDE HDD in my basement. I want to plug it in and see what might be on it. The drive seems to be recognized in BIOS.
I can't find it in Ubuntu to view files, and Ubuntu is the only OS on that particular computer. I was wondering if Ubuntu has an equivalent to the Windows feature "My Computer", which lists all available drives/storage devices. Typically, My Computer shows C:, which can be opened to view all of your directories and files. At this point, it is very similar to Ubuntu's Home Folder.
How to view/select all available partitions of that drive or all available HDD's without formatting or tampering with the contents in any way?
Source: (StackOverflow)
In Ubuntu 13.04 there was an option to use the PPA by Relan in order to get ExFat functionality. Seeing that in Ubuntu this functionality is now available from the repositories without the PPA I tried this but failed to make it work.
So my question is how do I enable exfat support?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Is there a simple command to display the total aggregate size (disk usage) of all files in a directory (folder)?
I have tried these, and they don't do what I want:
ls -l, which only displays the size of the individual files in a directory, nor df -h, which only displays the free and used space on my disks.
Source: (StackOverflow)