[Cialug] Introduction

[Todd Walton]

On 7/6/07, Sean McClanahan <sean.mcclanahan at westecnow.com> wrote:
> So I ran the command you suggested.  The first thing that happened was
> updatedb complaining that it cannot open a temporary file for
> /var/lib/mlocate/mlocate.db

Oops.  You have to be root to run it.  (You have to have rights to run
it; root is normally the way to get those rights.)  Try 'sudo
updatedb'.  It'll ask for your password.

> Then, on the next line, I got /usr/sbin/firewalk:   ELF 32-bit LSB
> executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses
> shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.9, stripped

Root again.  /usr/sbin is in the PATH for root, but not you.  Why
would one need to be root to run this firewalk program?  Could be
crappy program design or maybe crappy RPM design.

> How does one go about changing the path in FC?  When I type $PATH, I can
> see what my path is

PATH=$PATH:/path/to/wherever

"PATH" is called an environment variable, just as it is in Windows.
So you could try 'apropos environment'.  Don't add /usr/sbin to your
PATH.  If you need to run something there use 'sudo'.

> know there are man pages out the wazoo out there

You can learn from man pages.  It's like any reference source for
something complex.  You can learn the normal ways of using a command,
and then look it up in the man pages and find some cool switch that
does something you've been doing all along using cumbersome pipes!
For example.  man pages will come in handy.

> But I also believe in giving back the knowledge that I have gained.

That's okay.  You can keep it.  But you could help me with another
problem: Where can I find a good community source to help me program
in Visual Studio Tools for Office?  Anyone?  I'm an absolute newb to
it and I need to program a button by the end of the year.

-todd