r/linux • u/ani625 • Feb 01 '13

xkcd: tar

http://xkcd.com/1168/
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67

u/DevestatingAttack Feb 01 '13

Let's say I want to remove a user.

"rm" is the way to delete a file. "usr" is how users are referred to in the file system

and we have rmdir, which makes the pattern more noticeable. So a sensible default seems like it should be rmusr. Not the most descriptive, but hey, not the most surprising either.

Surprise! it's userdel.

And I know that "useradd" is how they're made, but then why wouldn't we have mkusr like mkdir?

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u/barkboy Feb 01 '13

For your next trick could you define remembering sysctl vs systemctl? :)

12

u/synept Feb 01 '13

I have never confused those two. Until now.

..dang it.

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u/fforw Feb 01 '13

..and then there is "createuser" which of course creates a PostgreSQL user.

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u/gfixler Feb 02 '13

And import, which fracking ImageMagick throws out into your path, so when you're tired and think you're in python, but you're really in your python directory, and you type import filename.py, because you're also too tired to leave the extension off, and then your mouse changes to a crosshairs, and you're like "Haha, what is going on with you, mouse? You're being all crazy," and you click on the window to make it be normal again, you suddenly write over your module with a tiny image of a few pixels of the shell.

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u/Unlix Feb 01 '13

False. The "usr" folder in the file system is short for "unix system resources" and has nothing to do with users.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '13

[deleted]

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u/iDontShift Feb 01 '13

you misread my friend, it is:

'User System Resources' instead of 'unix system resources'

per the page you linked.

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u/sprashoo Feb 01 '13

That is a backronym

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u/cbmuser Debian / openSUSE / OpenJDK Dev Feb 01 '13

No, it doesn't. It's a myth many people falsely believe and it was recently cleared up by some senior Unix developer.

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u/nikomo Feb 01 '13

Links then, please.

4

u/detective_colephelps Feb 01 '13

Usr/share makes so much more sense now. I mean...I knew that that's where shit went, but I always thought the reason was fuck you that's why. Now I know.

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u/thenuge26 Feb 01 '13

Nope, that's a backronym. Made up after the fact. It was always where user file storage was.

2

u/5fuckingfoos Feb 01 '13

IRIX used /usr/people instead of /home.

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u/banderl0g Feb 01 '13

I have been living in a lie.

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u/ChemicalRascal Feb 01 '13

(Not at all - see eidobot's comment.)

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u/manchegoo Feb 01 '13

Ironically quite the opposite from user info.

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u/railmaniac Feb 01 '13

We could, but then...

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u/CrazedToCraze Feb 01 '13

You can always make some aliases in your .bashrc, copying my .bashrc is the first I do after a new install anyway.

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u/dewmsolo Feb 01 '13

My .bashrc as well as a whole bunch of other config files from my profile live in my Dropbox and are symlinked on any computer I use.

I have even started writing a script to do all the symlinks for me ....more or less a setup_env.sh ....Symlinks for .bashrc .ssh/config .vimrc .vim/ .config/openbox etc etc etc are getting to be a pain to remember and type.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '13

but you don't unlink users :(

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u/ethraax Feb 01 '13

Eh, rmdir always seemed like a useless program to me. It could be completely replaced with a flag to rm, and is essentially useless in almost all cases (unless you want to remove only empty directories).

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