Linux

48310 readers

645 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

nooter692@lemmy.ml

MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml

cypherpunks@lemmy.ml

cyclohexane@lemmy.ml

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz

262

What're some of the dumbest things you've done to yourself in Linux? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 7 months ago by danielquinn@lemmy.ca to c/linux@lemmy.ml

301 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm working on a some materials for a class wherein I'll be teaching some young, wide-eyed Windows nerds about Linux and we're including a section we're calling "foot guns". Basically it's ways you might shoot yourself in the foot while meddling with your newfound Linux powers.

I've got the usual forgetting the . in lines like this:

$ rm -rf ./bin

As well as a bunch of other fun stories like that one time I mounted my Linux home folder into my Windows machine, forgot I did that, then deleted a parent folder.

You know, the war stories.

Tell me yours. I wanna share your mistakes so that they can learn from them.

Fun (?) side note: somehow, my entire ${HOME}/projects folder has been deleted like... just now, and I have no idea how it happened. I may have a terrible new story to add if I figure it out.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] jdnewmil@lemmy.ca 12 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Using sudo when it isn't necessary, and the real cannon: sudo su.. Adding sudo to your command lines indiscriminately causes files you create to be owned by root even though they are in your home directory, and then you end up using sudo to make changes to the files... and then the filesystem permissions cannot prevent you from successfully running an accidental "sudo rm -rf /" command.

Seriously... sudo is not a "habit" to develop in order to avoid dealing with filesystem permissions problems.

[–] TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago

This is an actually good thing to teach Linux users. The spamming of sudo in Linux terminals has been a disaster for mankind.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 7 months ago

this one used to fuck me up sooooo much.

[–] luciferofastora@lemmy.zip 2 points 7 months ago

I regularly find myself trying to tweak some system config and opening the file read-only because I forgot to sudo vim it.

Doesn't help that my everyday user account doesn't have sudo privileges, so I need to su to my admin account first.