Here are some useful tips and tricks for running Redhat Linux systems , from version 5.1 to 8.0. Some may be helpful to you. Some may be out of date. Some may be obvious in the manual, but who ever reads those?
NOTE: You need to be root to do most of these!
RPM commands lock up or freeze
Sounds like the RPM database has been corrupted.
- cd /var/lib/rpm
- db_verify Packages (only salvagable if this is ok)
- rm -f __db.*
- rpm -vv --rebuilddb
- Cross your fingers!
Adding new TrueType fonts
- Make a new directory, say /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/MyTTFdir
- Copy your .ttf font files into there
- cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/MyTTFdir
- ttmkfdir to make the fonts.scale file
- mkfontdir to make the fonts.dir file (needed for TTF fonts?)
- chkfontpath --add=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/MyTTFdir (or manually by editing /etc/X11/fs/config)
- service xfs restart (or /etc/init.d/xfs restart)
- chkfontpath --list to see if MyTTFdir was added
- xfontsel to browse/view available fonts
CD Burning
- cdrecord -scanbus to find out the SCSI ID X,Y,Z of your burner (usually 0,0,0)
- cdrecord -v dev=0,0,0 blank=fast to fast blank a CD-RW
- cdrecord -v dev=0,0,0 blank=all to thoroughly blank a CD-RW
- mkisofs -v -J -r -o mysrcdir.iso mysrcdir to create an ISO image of all files in directory mysrcdir
- mount -t iso9660 -o ro,loop mysrcdir.iso /mnt/cdrom to check that the ISO image is OK before burning
- mkisofs -v dev=0,0,0 speed=10 -data mysrcdir.iso to burn ISO image at 10x speed
- cdrecord -dummy ... will do a dummy write for testing
- cdrecord driveropts=burnproof will turn on ‘burnproof’ settings
- mkisofs -v -J -r . | cdrecord -v driveropts=burnproof speed=10 dev=0,0,0 - will avoid creating an intermediate ISO image
- mount /mnt/cdrom to mount the CD
- cdrecord -v speed=10 dev=0,0,0 -pad -audio *.wav will burn an audio CD of .wav files
The /etc/profile.d/ directory
Most people know about /etc/profile script which gets run for each new shell, setting up ‘global’ environmental variables etc.
Well, the /etc/profile.d/*.sh (for sh-style shells: sh, bash, bash2) and /etc/profile.d/*.csh (for csh-style shells: csh, tcsh) are also run. It’s a nice clean way to easily plug settings (like $PATH) in and out for new programs you can’t get RPMs for.
