Linux - General
Cockpit
dnf install cockpit systemctl enable cockpit.socket systemctl start cockpit.socket firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=cockpit
Access via https://host.example.conm:9090
Default self-signed key and cert:
- /etc/cockpit/ws-certs.d/0-self-signed.key
- /etc/cockpit/ws-certs.d/0-self-signed.cert
Gnome
Window Manager
Bring back minimise/maximise buttons:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout ":minimize,maximize,close"
Power Settings
Fedora 38 changed default power settings. Per-user can be control in the control UI widget. For workstation edition, there is a default that applies at login screen (eg after reboot).
Check with:
sudo -u gdm dbus-run-session gsettings list-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power | grep sleep
Set (eg to 1 hour) with:
sudo -u gdm dbus-run-session gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power sleep-inactive-ac-timeout 3600
To disable, set to 0.
MOTD
Files in /etc/motd.d, create text with banner or figlet.
OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive sync:
- install package: onedrive
Authorization:
onedrive
and follow link to generate a login link to give back to onedrive.
- Storage in ~/OneDrive
- Configuration in ~/.config/onedrive
Show config:
onedrive --display-config
Dry run Synchronise:
onedrive --synchronize --dry-run --verbose
Synchronise:
onedrive --synchronize
Sync file list in ~/.config/ondrive/sync_list like:
# Demo /Security/*.kdbx !/Documents/Unwanted /Documents !/Temp
Then test:
onedrive --synchronize --dry-run --verbose
See also here
Grub
In /etc/default/grub, add to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX (GRUB_CMDLINE_XEN):
- dom0_mem=max:1024M dom0_max_vcpus=1
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
RPM
Extract files from an RPM without installing:
rpm2cpio ./something.rpm | cpio -idmv
SELinux
getenforce setenforce 1 setenforce Enforcing sestatus
Show all boolean flags (state and default):
semanage boolean --list
Boolean flags (-P for persistence accross reboots):
getsebool -a setsebool -P httpd_read_user_content true setsebool -P httpd_enable_homedirs true
or with semanage tool:
semanage boolean --modify --on httpd_enable_homedirs
Change context of the public directory and its contents:
chcon -R -t httpd_user_content_t public_html
Change context of writable directory:
semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t '/home/jblogs/public_html/writable'
Restore to default context:
restorecon -v '/home/jblogs/public_html'
Interrogate SE policy:
sesearch --allow -s httpd_t -b httpd_enable_homedirs
Use setroubleshoot to diagnose blocked activities.
systemd
Service Control
Basic use:
systemctl start something systemctl stop something systemctl enable something systemctl disable something
Service definition files in:
- /usr/lib/systemd/system
Deinitions with "@" names have argument passed as parameter, such as:
systemctl status clamd@scan
Show all defintions:
systemctl list-unit-files --type=service
Log Monitoring
All entries from boot time in UTC:
journalctl -b --utc
Show how many boots are recorded:
journalctl --list-boots
Time window:
journalctl --since "2022-01-01 00:50" --until yesterday journalctl --since 09:00 --until "1 hour ago"
Filter by unit (multiple -u options can be given):
journalctl -u httpd.service
Filter by UID/GID:
journalctl _UID=1000 _GID=1000
Do not page kernel messages:
journalctl -k --no-pager
SHow only 20 lines, or follow:
journalctl -20 journalctl -f
Service Definitions
See also:
Create service file:
- /etc/systemd/system/example.service
[Unit] Description=Example Service [Service] Type=oneshot ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /example.py
A oneshot type is suitable for commands that run and then finish. The default type is simple, which assumes service has started as soon as it starts executing.
Other optional settings:
Type=simple Restart=always User=jbloggs WorkingDirectory=/blah
Note that systemd does not use a shell to exec so a shebang does not work: run explicity under sh, python3, etc.
Timers
See also:
Show timers:
systemctl list-timers systemctl list-timers -all systemctl list-timers state=failed systemctl status *timer
Create unit file:
- /etc/systemd/system/example.timer
[Unit] Description=Example Timer [Timer] OnBootSec=10min OnUnitActiveSec=5min OnCalendar=*-*-* *:0/15 Persistent=true Unit=example.service [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
- Run 10 mins after booting, 5 min after activation and every 15 mins
- Persistent=true: If the system is offline during a scheduled run, execute when the system is next online.
Check syntax:
systemd-analyze verify example.*
Enable and start the timer:
systemctl daemon-reload systemctl enable example.timer systemctl start example.timer
Check with:
systemctl status example.timer journalctl -f -u example.service
OnCalendar
General format (Day Of Week is optional):
- DOW YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
| Definition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| * Weekly | Weekly |
| * *-*-* 00:30:00 | Every month at 30 mins past midnight |
| Sun 2025-*-* 03:00:00 | Every Sunday in 2025 at 0300 |
| *-*-* *:*:00 | Every Minute |
| *-*-* *:*/5:00 | Every 5 minutes |
| *-*-* *:*/30:00 | Every 30 minutes |
| *-*-* *:00:00 | Every 1 hour |
| *-*-* */2:00:00 | Every other hour |
| *-*-* */12:00:00 | Every 12 hour |
| *-*-* 9-17:00:00 | Between certain hours |
| *-*-* 00:00:00 | Daily |
| *-*-* 01:00:00 | Every Night |
| *-*-* 02:00:00 | Every Night at 2am |
| *-*-* 07:00:00 | Every morning |
| *-*-* 00:00:00 | Every midnight |
| Sun *-*-* 00:00:00 | Every sunday |
| Fri *-*-* 00:00:00 | Every friday at midnight |
| Mon...Fri *-*-* 00:00:00 | Every weekday |
| Sat,Sun *-*-* 00:00:00 | Every weekend |
| * *-*-* 00:00:00 | Every 7 days |
| * *-*-01 00:00:00 | Monthly |
| * *-01,04,07,10-01 00:00:00 | Every quarter |
| * *-01,07-01 00:00:00 | Every 6 months |
| * *-01-01 00:00:00 | Every year |
Check with:
# systemd-analyze calendar '*-*-* *:0/15'
Original form: *-*-* *:0/15
Normalized form: *-*-* *:00/15:00
Next elapse: Wed 2024-05-15 06:45:00 BST
(in UTC): Wed 2024-05-15 05:45:00 UTC
From now: 9min left
Stress-NG
Load CPU:
stress-ng --cpu 4 --timeout 60s --metrics
Swap
Add filesystem swap:
fallocate -l 1G /somepath/swap chmod 600 /somepath/swap mkswap /somepath/swap swapon /somepath/swap
Check:
swapon NAME TYPE SIZE USED PRIO /dev/sda2 partition 8G 219.8M -2 /somepath/swap file 1024M 0B -3
And then add a line to /etc/fstab to ensure it is enabled at boot:
/somepath/swap swap swap defaults 0 0
Timezone
Show available zones:
timedatectl list-timezones
Set and check:
timedatectl set-timezone timedatectl timedatectl
UDEV
See also: Udev and Udev Rules.
Custom rules files in /etc/udev/rules.d and must have .rules suffix, system rules live in /usr/lib/udev/rules.d. The are processed in lexographical order.
Display device attributes with:
udevadm info --query=env --name=/dev/sdg
Match the kernel assigned name for disk, and add (+=) a symlink with a new name "/dev/bigdata":
KERNEL=="sdb", SYMLINK+="bigdata"
Match PATH_ID from udevadm command, and add a symlink to a new name "/dev/database":
SUBSYSTEM=="block", ATTRS{ID_PATH}=="pci-0000:00:10.0-scsi-0:0:1:0", SYMLINK+="database"
Matching on ID_PART_TABLE_UUID is another candidate.
- Sepate multiple matches (==) with commas
- Single assignment (=) or append to list (+=).
Users / Accounts
Show password hashing algorithm:
authconfig --test | grep hashing
Set algorithm:
authconfig --passalgo=sha512 --update
Control password policy:
- /etc/security/pwquality.conf