Earn money online through niche sites?

 

It is not as easy as people say to earn an income using the potential of the Internet, but choosing the right tools and way makes it a lot easier. Many people give up on their dream after miserably struggling for months without any success at all. Niche marketing is one of these and also a very lucrative way to earn substantial amounts of money. Creating a niche website complete with RSS product feeds has created many wealthy Internet Marketers.

 

It is important that you promote your nice website according to the market you are targeting. The placing and promotion of your website will be most effective if the niche market is covered. You need to be very clear about the segment of the market you are targeting for. Then only start Promoting your website according to your target market.

 

First of all you will have to make your site search engine friendly so that search engine could rank your site easily and ultimately you get traffic. You need to place the ads and the links at the right places.

 

So the main thing is promotion of your website as this will decide the future of your online business and making money. If the promotional efforts done in this way make the niche market you are targeting aware of your existence, you have succeeded in your promotional efforts.

 

In order to make thousands of dollars a month you will need to create as many adsense niche sites as you can. Niche sites are great because they are highly targeted and convert well. The downside however, is that they do not receive as much traffic as a website that is built around a broader theme. A good adsense niche site will typical bring in a few hundred dollars a month. Solution is to buy 10 or 20 sites and you can begin to see the earning potential. You could also create 10 niche sites with the help of automated softwares also.

 

If you take these steps carefully you will promote your website successfully.

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I have spent the last five years trying to work at home and have had some success. The following are a few facts I have to share with people who are either trying to or have given up trying to work at home. Q. What about places that put up "pay money to get a job" postings? Are they worth the money? Will I get a job if I spend the money? A. If a job asks for money, then it is not really a job. Think of it this way, would you pay to fill out an application for a job outside the home? No, of course you would not, so why you would pay someone for a work-at-home job? Let's say that ...

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What is Linux?

Linux is an operating system that evolved from a kernel created by Linus Torvalds when he was a student at the University of Helsinki. Generally, it is obvious to most people what Linux is. However, both for political and practical reasons, it needs to be explained further. To say that Linux is an operating system means that it's meant to be used as an alternative to other operating systems like MS-DOS, the various versions of MS Windows, Mac OS, Solaris and others. Linux is not a program like a word processor and is not a set of programs like an office suite.
A brief history of Linux

When Linus Torvalds was studying at the University of Helsinki, he was using a version of the UNIX operating system called 'Minix'. Linus and other users sent requests for modifications and improvements to Minix's creator, Andrew Tanenbaum, but he felt that they weren't necessary. That's when Linus decided to create his own operating system that would take into account users' comments and suggestions for improvements.
Free Software pre-Linux
This philosophy of asking for users' comments and suggestions and using them to improve computer programs was not new. Richard Stallman, who worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had been advocating just such an approach to computer programming and use since the early 1970's. He was a pioneer in the concept of 'free software', always pointing out that 'free' means 'freedom', not zero cost. Finding it difficult to continue working under conditions that he felt went against his concept of 'free software' he left MIT in 1984 and founded GNU. The goal of GNU was to produce software that was free to use, distribute and modify. Linus Torvalds' goal 6 years later was basically the same: to produce an operating system that took into account user feedback.
The kernel

We should point out here that the focal point of any operating system is its 'kernel'. Without going into great detail, the kernel is what tells the big chip that controls your computer to do what you want the program that you're using to do. To use a metaphor, if you go to your favorite Italian restaurant and order 'Spaghetti alla Bolognese', this dish is like your operating system. There are a lot of things that go into making that dish like pasta, tomato sauce, meatballs and cheese. Well, the kernel is like the pasta. Without pasta, that dish doesn't exist. You might as well find some bread and make a sandwich. A plate of just pasta is fairly unappetizing. Without a kernel, an operating system doesn't exist. Without programs, a kernel is useless.
1991, a fateful year

In 1991, ideal conditions existed that would create Linux. In essence, Linus Torvalds had a kernel but no programs of his own, Richard Stallman and GNU had programs but no working kernel. Read the two men's own words about this:

Linus: "Sadly, a kernel by itself gets you nowhere. To get a working system you need a shell, compilers, a library etc."

RMS: The GNU Hurd is not ready for production use. Fortunately, another kernel is available. [It is called] Linux.

So combining the necessary programs provided by GNU in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a kernel, developed by Linus Torvalds in Helsinki, Finland, Linux was born. Due to the physical distances involved, the means used to get Linus' kernel together with the GNU programs was the Internet, then in its infancy. We can say then that Linux is an operating system that came to life on the Internet. The Internet would also be crucial in Linux's subsequent development as the means of coordinating the work of all the developers that have made Linux into what it is today.
Linux is introduced
Late in 1991, Linus Torvalds had his kernel and a few GNU programs wrapped around it so it would work well enough to show other people what he had done. And that's what he did. The first people to see Linux knew that Linus was on to something. At this point, though, he needed more people to help him. Here's what Linus had to say back in 1991.

"Are you without a nice project and dying to cut your teeth on an OS you can try to modify for your needs?... This post might just be for you."

People all over the world decided to take him up on it. At first, only people with extensive computer programming knowledge would be able to do anything with that early public version of Linux. These people started to offer their help. The version numbers of Linux were getting higher and higher. People began writing programs specifically to be run under Linux. Developers began writing drivers so different video cards, sound cards and other gadgets inside and outside your computer could use Linux. Nevertheless, throughout most of first part of the 1990's Linux did not get out of the 'GURU' stage. GURU is a term that has evolved to mean anyone who has special expertise in a particular subject. That is, you had to have special expertise in how computers worked to be able to install Linux in those days.
Linux, at first, not for everybody

Other popular software companies sold you a CD or a set of floppies and a brief instruction booklet and in probably less than a half an hour, you could install a fully working operating system on your PC. The only ability you needed was knowing how to read. Those companies had that intention when they actually sat down and developed their operating systems. Linus Torvalds didn't have that in mind when he developed Linux. It was just a hobby for him. Later on, companies like Red Hat made it their goal to bring Linux to the point where it could be installed just like any other operating system; by anyone who can follow a set of simple instructions, and they have succeeded. For some reason, though, Linux hasn't completely lost its 'Gurus only' image. This is largely because of the popular tech press' inability to explain in a meaningful way what Linux is. The truth is that few tech reporters have real life experience with Linux and it is reflected in their writing.
Linux Today

Today, Linux is enjoying a favorable press for the most part. This comes from the fact that Linux has proven to be a tremendously stable and versatile operating system, particularly as a network server. When Linux is deployed as a web server or in corporate networks, its down-time is almost negligible. There have been cases when Linux servers have been running for more than a year without re-booting and then only taken down for a brief period for routine maintenance. Its cost effectiveness has sold it more than anything else. Linux can be installed on a home PC as well as a network server for a fraction of the cost of other companies' software packages. More reliability and less cost - it's ideal.

If you're reading this, you're obviously here to learn how to use Linux. Any learning experience means opening up to new ideas and new ways of doing things. As mentioned before, Linux is in the UNIX family of operating systems. UNIX is primarily designed to be used by professionals. You will have to learn some UNIX concepts in this lesson, but that doesn't mean that Linux is a professionals-only operating system. In fact, most major versions of Linux are designed to be as user-friendly and as easy to install as any other operating system on the market today.

Now that you know what Linux is and how good it is, there's one more thing we have to do - install Linux!

Installing Linux

Some preliminary considerations.
There are many different versions of Linux. Unlike other commercial operating systems that are controlled by one company, Linux is free to distribute and use. So, in the Linux world, there is a situation unlike what occurs in the proprietary operating system world: a number of companies, organizations and individuals have developed their own "versions" of the Linux operating system, known as distributions. There are versions of Linux that were developed to be installed on computers that receive heavy traffic, so to speak, like webpage servers. Some were developed to be used in networks where security is a priority; where sensitive information should only be accessed by a privileged few. There are versions of Linux that are meant to be installed on top of an existing operating system like Windows so people can try out Linux under familiar conditions. There are versions of Linux that are designed to be installed on platforms like Macintosh. There are versions of Linux with funny names like "Chainsaw Linux" (no kidding) and "Tutti-Frutti Linux" (yes, it's a joke)
What Linux is right for me?

This is a very difficult question to answer. To use an analogy, if I were going mountain climbing, I would need specific clothes to protect me from scrapes, the cold, wind, rain and other adverse climactic conditions. If I were going to a formal dinner, I would need a tuxedo. If I were going about my daily routine, I would wear "normal" clothes. There are computer world equivalents of mountain climbing and formal dinners as well as just sitting around the house. Linux has been fit into all those environments and more. There is even the equivalent of a swimsuit in Linux - a very scaled down version - just to cover the essentials.

Most PC users probably just need the everyday version. This kind of Linux has been widely available for some time now. Since Microsoft makes its living selling people "ordinary" operating systems, they have a lot to lose if Linux ever gets popular with the masses. For this reason they have done everything in their power to "warn" the public that Linux is something that you probably don't want and don't need. But in reality, Linux is just as easily installed and supports just as wide a range of hardware as Microsoft Windows does. The PR department at Microsoft is coming up with fewer and fewer reasons not to use Linux.
Linux on PCs containing Intel-based CPUs
It would be impossible to cover all of the different types of Linux so this lesson will only deal with standard versions of Linux that are meant to be installed on PCs with Intel-based CPUs. You may have heard of some of the companies and organizations that have created distributions for this platform, like Debian, Mandrake, Red Hat and SuSE . There are others as well. There are even versions of Linux that offer documentation and install programs in languages other than English. We should say here that it is not our intention to endorse the products of the companies we have mentioned here nor do we want to slight those companies that we haven't mentioned.

Linux Online maintains a list of all kinds of distributions. We invite you to consult that list before deciding on installing any version of Linux.
Prepare your manuals
As we mentioned before, the major versions of Linux have perfected their products to such a degree that they are very easy to install. Well designed programs will take you through the process of installation step by step so that you will be able to get Linux up and running in a relatively short period of time without any headaches. But even commercial operating systems that are billed as being the most user-friendly in the world can't guarantee a 100% problem-free installation.

The best thing to do before attempting to install Linux is to get the manuals that came with your PC out of the closet and dust them off. Major distributions of Linux have taken into account most standard hardware such as video cards, modems and sound cards, but as we said before, nobody can guarantee a problem-free installation for any operating system. Though you probably won't need them, they may help to track down a problem or prevent a future one. Now, go get those manuals, and we'll meet you in the next lesson!

Partitioning

Your hard disk is like a pie. You can divide it into sections. Unlike a pie, after you've divided it, you can't give a piece to the dog. My dog did try to eat my hard disk once and he really relishes the floppies I leave lying around, but alas, I digress. For example, if you had two partitions, popular operating systems would generally call them C and D. You can call them Ginger and Fred, or Ginger and Marianne or even the Professor and Marianne if you like. I just use these bad jokes as a way of saying that C and D are naming conventions that belong to other operating systems. Linux doesn't use them. Linux may call them /hda3 and /hda5 for example. We'll get to that in a minute. Then you will need another partition known as a 'swap' partition. This 'swap' partition is just a way that Linux uses to get more memory so that you don't run out of it.

The classic way of partitioning your hard disk is with a program called 'fdisk' The program comes with a lot of whistles and buzzers and flashing messages that say "Danger, Will Robinson". There's a version for Linux but it doesn't mention Will Robinson. We want to say here that this is the SWAT team method of doing it - the scorched-earth policy of partitioning. If you have that important term paper on your hard disk, or pictures of that dream vacation to Hawaii that you haven't shown to your Aunt Betty yet or your best DOOM scores, you'll need to make back-up copies of them. The re-partioning using this method will get rid of them - forever! [cue ominous organ music].

But installing Linux isn't dangerous and if you choose to install you may not need such a drastic solution to your partition problem. As we mentioned before, If you're fortunate enough to have a hard drive with more than one partition (the old C: and D: routine), then it may be just a question of moving some files around. Unfortunately this lesson can't take into account everybody's individual circumstances.

There's a tool called FIPS that comes with major Linux versions. This will re-arrange your hard drive so you can install Linux. There are also other commercial products that will do the same. That may be an option for you, unless you've got a hard drive that's bursting at the seams. You should know that any decent working Linux system - and by decent, I mean, having the programs that will let you do anything you did with your Windows system- will take at least 2 gigabytes. Please keep that in mind. And if you want those photos of Hawaii on there, I'd plan for a bit more

To talk about where Linux and other operating systems should go. In any situation where you've got two things sharing the same space, like two people sharing the same apartment, one person will always exert his rights over the other. Other operating systems usually want to be the only ones in the computer, so even though it's really not going to be this way, you have to install them in the first 'primary' partition, and that way it thinks it's the only one there. That means installing it in /hda1 in Linux speak. So remember, if you've chosen to go the fdisk route, the other operating system should be re-installed first. When you've got that re-installed, you are free to install Linux in what's left. Once you've installed Linux, you can actually see the other system's partition, sort of like those phony mirrors at the supermarket. We'll talk more about that in another lesson.

Plumbing with "pipes" in Linux

In this lesson, we're going to do a little plumbing. Plumbing with a computer? Well, Linux is so flexible that it even allows you to do plumbing with it. Well.... actually, it's just a little witticism of mine because the command we're going to learn in this lesson is called 'pipe', and plumbers work with pipes. To use the pipe command, you don't type: pipe. You press the '|' key. The location will vary on keyboards from country to country. This symbol is like two vertical slashes, one on top of the other.

This is the first time that we're going to see a command that's meant to be used with other commands. That means that the pipe will separate two commands so that they will be done one after the other. Let's try some plumbing.

For example, if you looked at the contents of your /proc directory with:

ls -l /proc

it would be too big to fit in one screen. So if we typed

ls -l /proc | more

you could scroll down with the ENTER key and see it all.

Actually, ls -l /proc | less is a better solution because you can scroll up and down with the arrow keys. Remember that in a previous lesson we said: "Less is more than more".

You're probably going to end up using this a lot. You're personal directory in /home will fill up and pretty soon 'ls -l' will overflow in your terminal or x-terminal window.

There's a little short cut if you've forgotten to use the pipe. You can also scroll up and down in a terminal with the SHIFT-PAGE UP / SHIFT-PAGE DOWN keys.

The 'grep' command

In the last section we talked about the 'find' command which finds files. Now we'll talk about the 'grep' command which finds words in files. Your windows manager may have this incorporated into its find tool but then again, the beauty of Linux is having alternatives.
What does 'grep' mean?

'grep' is a Vulcan word that means "find". Actually it isn't, but it sort of looks like it, doesn't it?

Kirk: "Find the solar system L10J, Mr. Spock."
Spock: "Grepping now, Captain." *

* Star Trek stuff copyright Paramount Pictures

Let's have a little practice session with 'grep'. The best way is learning by doing, so let's do it.
A 'grep' mini-tutorial

With 'pico' or any Linux text editor, create a file called 'mary1.txt'

pico mary1.txt

Then type:

Mary had a little lamb

Press CTRL-X in 'pico' (if you're using that) and it will prompt you to save.

Then create: mary2.txt and enter the text Mary had a little cow.

Save that and create the file: mary3.txt and type: Mary had a little too much to drink. Now we know what Mary was doing when she wasn't watching her lambs! Now save that file.

OK, now we're ready to try out 'grep', so phasers on stun and let's go.

Type the following command:

grep Mary mary*.txt

Let's explain this a little. 'grep' looks for the word "Mary" in any text file that is called "mary(something).txt". You've created three files that start with 'mary', so the asterisk makes sure that 'grep' will look for the word 'Mary' in all three.

You should get this output:

mary1.txt Mary had a little lamb
mary2.txt Mary had a little cow
mary3.txt Mary had a little too much to drink

The word 'Mary' is in all of those files, so you'll get this output.

If you type grep little mary*.txt you'll get the same output because the word "little" is also in each of those files. But if you type the word "cow", you'll get this output:

mary2.txt: Mary had a little cow

because the word "cow" is only in mary2.txt.

Typing grep drink mary*.txt will get us more or less the same, only that mary3.txt will show up instead of mary2.txt.

Well, there's 'grep' in a nutshell. It's been a pleasure 'grepping' with you!

Commands to control your system

ps

'ps' will give you a list of the processes running on your system.
If you happen to forget what your name is, you can type ps -u. This is the user mode and your user name will appear in the first column. Actually, there's more than that. There will be other columns about memory usage, the time you started running the processes and others.

You can see other users processes if you type ps -au. If you're not using a networked computer, you will see yours and root's processes. If you're into detective work, you can type just ps -a and try to guess who's using the process.

The information that you'll probably be most interested in is the column that shows the "process ID" or "PID". We'll get into why these are so important in the next part of the lesson.

File systems in Linux

This is a beginner's course and one of the concepts that newcomers to Linux find different is the idea of a file system in Linux. That is to say, the way data is stored and managed in Linux.

MS-Windows and Mac users are used to clicking on an icons and dragging the files they want copied to a floppy or another part of the hard drive. Linux users that use KDE or GNOME can also copy files in that way to different parts of the hard drive. However, if you would like to use floppies, we should talk here a bit about the type of file system Linux uses.

MS-Windows, from Windows 95 on up uses a file system called 'vfat' Linux uses a different system called 'ext2'. There are also other types of file systems out there. You may have chosen to have both Windows and Linux installed in your computer. At one point, you might have to access files in the Windows partition of your hard drive. You would use a command called 'mount' to do that. You would also have to indicate as an option in that command that the file system you want to access or "mount" is a Windows 'vfat' file system.

On the same idea, though floppies are becoming somewhat obsolete, you may want to store some files on a floppy or access data on a floppy that someone has given to you. You would also have to use the command 'mount' before you copied data to or got data from a floppy disk. If that person is a Windows user, then you would have to indicate once again that the file system is 'vfat'. If you want to copy data from your Linux partition to a floppy, you would have to format and then "mount" the floppy as a Linux 'ext2' file system.
Formatting a floppy for Linux

Most floppies sold on the market are pre-formatted for MS-Windows. You can copy data from Linux to a Windows formatted floppy with no problem. If you want to copy Linux files to a floppy to be used in another Linux machine or to be used by you later in Linux, then it might be better to format the floppy for Linux's ext2 file system.

We should also say now that this is considered an administration task. You have to be working as 'root' to be doing this. As you get more familiar with Linux, you can use commands such as 'su' to do the work of root on certain occasions when you're not actually working as root. We'll explain this command in later lessons.

To create a linux floppy "by hand", you would place a floppy in the drive and type:

mke2fs /dev/fd0

The command is an abbreviated way of saying "make an ext2 file system". The other part is the device, your floppy drive, which is known to Linux as "fd0" (floppy drive 0). As we mentioned in the first part of the course, everything is a file in Linux, including your floppy drive.

You will hear the customary noise of the floppy drive (some are louder than others - some older ones that I've heard sound like a chain saw) and you will get some output like this:

Linux ext2 filesystem format

and some other information about the size of the floppy etc.

You now have a Linux formatted floppy. You may want to run this command to check if the floppy has defects

e2fsck /dev/fd0

Some windows managers have a nice program to do both the formatting and the checking of the disk at the same time.

Mounting file systems

In this part of the lesson about file systems we'll learn how to use the commands mount and umount

We've mentioned previously that there's a different idea in Linux as to what constitutes a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM drive and another partition of your hard disk (the Windows partition, for example). Though some windows managers for Linux have provisions for clicking on an icon to access a floppy drive, for example, the method behind this is quite different from other OSes. In Linux the floppy drive or other device must be "mounted". That means basically, incorporating it temporarily into your Linux file system or, in other words, telling Linux that it is a file to be written to or copied from.

To access a floppy disk from the command line of our shell, we would use the command mount and type the following: (remember: you need to be working as 'root' to do this)

mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy

Now this assumes a couple of things:

* you have a floppy disk in the drive (you'd be surprised how many times I forget to actually put the floppy in the drive)
* in this example, the floppy type (indicated by the option -t) is a Linux formatted floppy. If you want to mount a Windows floppy, change the option to -t vfat
* in your root directory (you can get to it by typing: cd /), you have a directory called floppy. If you don't, you should create it (mkdir floppy). Some Linux distributions create this automatically during the installation process. Some don't.

Let's explain what we've just done here. When we typed: mount -t ext2 /dev/fd0 /floppy we told Linux that our floppy disk is now part of our Linux file system (/dev/fd0) and that any files we would like to store on that disk will be copied to /floppy, as if it were just another directory on our Linux system. If you did it right, typing the command 'df' (the command to see how much free disk space) should include something like this:

/dev/fd0 1390 649 669 49% /floppy

Your numbers may vary (especially if your floppy is blank!)

Now, to copy to and from the floppy disk, you would type:

cp my_file /floppy

If you wanted to create individual subdirectories on the floppy, you would first change to the /floppy directory:

cd /floppy

Then you would use the mkdir command to create the directories you want. You can also use the command cp -r my_directory/ /floppy to copy the directory automatically to the floppy. (make sure you have space! - I have on occasion tried to copy a 3MB file to a 1MB floppy!)
Mounting other devices

You can also use the mount command to copy to and from other devices.

If you would like to get some files from a CD-ROM, the standard command to do this is:

mount -t iso9660 /dev/hdb /cdrom

The type, iso9660 is the standard file system for a CD. The device (/dev/hdb) is the non-SCSI type of CD-ROM and the mount point (/cdrom) should exist. If it doesn't, you should create it in the root directory with 'mkdir', just as you may have done with the /floppy directory.

Remember that the concept of CD-ROM is read only. You won't be able to write to this type of CD-ROM drive. A message will tell you that when you mount this type of device.
Mounting another partition of the hard disk.

Many people may have preferred to install Linux along with another operating system. You may have Linux and Windows installed in the same computer. If you would like to access files on the Windows partition you would type the following command:

mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /mnt

Windows is always in the primary partition, so that's why we've used the device /hda1 (hard disk partition 1). The choice for /mnt is the standard mount point in this case. You may use the /mnt directory to mount the other devices (floppies, CDs) as well. I use the different empty directories (/floppy /cdrom /mnt) to avoid confusion.

If you change to the mount directory (cd /mnt) and then type: ls and you'll see something interesting. The directories are blue but the files are green (or red - depending on your distribution of Linux). You won't have the various color combinations as you do in Linux. That's because Windows' file system doesn't distinguish file types. Everything looks like it's a program (binary) instead of a regular file.

When you copy files from the Windows partition to the Linux partition you should bear this in mind. For example, if you wanted to copy an mp3 file from the Windows partition to the Linux partition to test out your sound configuration, it would show up as a executable program and not just a standard file under Linux. This doesn't effect your playing it, but for a more accurate accounting of what you have on your system, you may want to change the permissions of the file so that it shows up as a regular file in your color scheme. We'll talk about file permissions and and making changes to them shortly.

Umount command - unmounting file systems

Mounting file systems that aren't part of the standard Linux system is considered a temporary condition in Linux. Now that we know how to mount these outside file systems in Linux, the important thing now is to learn how to unmount it when we're finished using it.

In the early days of Linux, you could do serious damage to your system if you didn't unmount manually after you were finished. Nowadays if you have mounted a system and you shut down the computer without unmounting, the chances are pretty slim that you're going to trash a file system. Slim, however, isn't good enough for me. I'd rather not take a chance. I always take the time to unmount these external file systems when I'm finished with them.

The command for this is:

umount [/mount point]

In the examples I used in this lesson, the mount points were:

* floppy: /floppy - therefore umount /floppy
* CD: /cdrom - umount /cdrom
* Windows partition - umount /mnt

Remember also to NOT be accessing the floppy etc. when you use umount or it will give you a drive busy message. If you get this, you may have left a terminal open where you were using to copy or write to the particular drive. Check your terminals if you get this error.

I just wanted to point out another thing too. You are 'unmounting' but the command is umount (that is, without the N of un) Being u(n)familiar with the mount concept when I started with Linux, I typed unmount instead of umount and much to my surprise, I got the message: command not found. U(n)deniably, I had done something wrong. It took me a while to figure out that the command didn't include an N. I haven't really done a survey on how many people have actually done this. For all I know, I may be the only person who has, but I just thought it best to warn you.

Well, now you can use the standard devices that most PC users need. Later in our advanced class we'll talk about installing and using other devices like scanners, CD writers, Zip drives and matter/anti-matter flow inducers. (well, maybe we'll save that last one for the super-advanced classes!)

File permissions in Linux

Linux has inherited from UNIX the concept of ownerships and permissions for files. This is basically because it was conceived as a networked system where different people would be using a variety of programs, files, etc. Obviously, there's a need to keep things organized and secure. We don't want an ordinary user using a program that could potentially trash the whole system. There are security and privacy issues here as well. Let's face it, we don't want Bill to read Bob's love letters to the Janet who works in R & D. (because Janet is Bill's fiancée) In the end, it's important to know what belongs to me, to you and to everybody.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this course, the big advantage that Linux has is its multi-user concept- the fact that many different people can use the same computer or that one person can use the same computer to do different jobs. That's where the system of file permissions comes in to help out in what could be a very confusing situation. We're going to explain some basic concepts about who owns the file and who can do what with a file. We won't get into an enormous amount of detail here. We'll save that for the Linux system administration course. We will show you how to understand file permission symbols and how to modify certain files so that they're more secure.
File permission symbols
If you run the command ls -l in your home directory, you will get a list of files that may include something like this

-rw-r--r-- 1 bob users 1892 Jul 10 18:30 linux_course_notes.txt

This basically says, interpreting this from RIGHT to LEFT that the file, linux_course_notes.txt was created at 6:30 PM on July 10 and is 1892 bytes large. It belongs to the group users (i.e, the people who use this computer). It belongs to bob in particular and it is one (1) file. Then come the file permission symbols.

Let's look at what these symbols mean:

* The slash marks - separate the permissions into three types
* The first part refers to the owner's (bob's) permissions.
* The slash mark - before the rw means that this is a normal file that contains any type of data. A directory, for example, would have a d instead of a slash mark.
* The rw that follows means that bob can read and write to (modify) his own file. That's pretty logical. If you own it, you can do what you want with it.
* The second part of the these symbols after the second slash, are the permissions for the group. Linux can establish different types of groups for file access. In a one home computer environment anyone who uses the computer can read this file but cannot write to (modify) it. This is a completely normal situation. You, as a user, may want to take away the rights of others to read your file. We'll cover how to do that later.
* After the two slash marks (two here because there is no write permissions for the group) come the overall user permissions. Anyone who might have access to the computer from inside or outside (in the case of a network) can read this file. Once again, we can take away the possibility of people reading this file if we so choose.

Let's take a look at some other examples. An interesting place to look at different kinds of file permissions is the /bin directory. Here we have the commands that anybody can use on the Linux system. Let's look at the command for gzip, a file compression utility for Linux.

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 53468 May 1 1999 gzip

As we see here, there are some differences.

* The program name, date, bytes are all standard. Even though this is obviously different information, the idea is the same as before.
* The changes are in the owner and group. Root owns the file and it is in the group "root". Root is actually the only member of that group.
* The file is an executable (program) so that's why the letter x is among the symbols.
* This file can be executed by everybody: the owner (root), the group (root) and all others that have access to the computer
* As we mentioned, the file is a program, so there is no need for anybody other than root to "write" to the file, so there is no w permissions for it for anybody but root.

If we look at a file in /sbin which are files that only root can use or execute, the permissions would look like this:

-rwxr--r-- 1 root root 1065 Jan 14 1999 cron

'cron' is a program on Linux systems that allows programs to be run automatically at certain times and under certain conditions. As we can see here, only root, the owner of the file, is allowed to use this program. There are no x permissions for the rest of the users.

We hope you enjoyed this little walk-through of file permissions in Linux. Now that we know what we're looking for, we can talk about changing certain permissions.

Using 'chown'

The command chown is the chmod's cousin. It is used for changing the ownership rights of a file (hence the name 'chown' - change owner). It does not change the read, write and execution permissions however.

This command, though available to every user, is probably going to be used when you're working as root. The command is uses like this:

chown owner:group the_file

Let's say you want to copy something from your Windows partition (if you have one). You mount the partition (as root) and to save time, you copy the file to your user directory /home/bob/. If you type ls -l the_file you'll get something like this:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2428 Nov 17 13:18 the_file

As we now know from the previous lesson, root is the owner of the file. Therefore, root is the only one who has write permissions for the file (permission to modify its content). If you plan on working with the file as "bob", there isn't a snowball's chance in hell to modify that file until, as root, you run chown on the file. So let's do it!

chown bob:bob the_file

This example presupposes that your Linux version creates groups for each user. There are others that will create a generic group called users for everybody who uses the computer. On a network, groups are created according to the needs of the organization. On your single home computer, just type ls -l and see what system corresponds to you.

As you can see, 'chown' is absolutely necessary if you're working as more than one user with the computer.