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Last Notes

2024-12-31 18:00:25

To delete a range of ZFS snapshots, use the % (percent) character after the
full path to the first snapshot that should be included. For example, to
simulate deleting snapshots a through (including) d, use this command:
# zfs destroy -rvn mypool/tmp@a%d
Once you are sure that this is what you want, remove the -n option:
# zfs destroy -rv mypool/tmp@a%d
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2024-09-12 17:00:49

You can use /etc/make.conf to control the options used to compile software
on this system. Example entries are in
/usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf and in make.conf(5).
For options that are set for building FreeBSD's kernel and its world, see
src.conf(5).

2024-09-09 17:00:07

In order to support national characters for European languages in tools like
less without creating other nationalisation aspects, set the environment
variable LC_ALL to 'en_US.UTF-8'.

2024-09-08 17:00:18

Want to list all files of an installed package? Enter
"pkg info -l packagename".
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2024-08-15 17:00:33

Forget what directory you are in? Type "pwd".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2024-08-13 17:00:40

If you want to get a sorted list of all services that are started when FreeBSD boots,
enter "service -e".
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2024-07-09 17:00:48

Over quota? "du -sh * | sort -h " will give you a sorted list of your
directory sizes.
-- David Scheidt <dscheidt@tumbolia.com>

2024-05-24 17:00:45

You can change the video mode on all consoles by adding something like
the following to /etc/rc.conf:
allscreens="80x30"
You can use "vidcontrol -i mode | grep T" for a list of supported text
modes.
-- Konstantinos Konstantinidis <kkonstan@duth.gr>

2024-03-19 18:00:38

Nice bash prompt: PS1='(\[$(tput md)\]\t <\w>\[$(tput me)\]) $(echo $?) \$ '
-- Mathieu <mathieu@hal.interactionvirtuelle.com>

2024-03-13 18:00:46

Can't remember if you've installed a certain port or not? Try "pkg info
-x port_name".

2024-03-12 18:00:41

Want to know how many words, lines, or bytes are contained in a file? Type
"wc filename".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2024-01-07 18:00:05

When you've made modifications to a file in vi(1) and then find that
you can't write it, type ``<ESC>!rm -f %'' then ``:w!'' to force the
write
This won't work if you don't have write permissions to the directory
and probably won't be suitable if you're editing through a symbolic link.
If you have sudo(8) installed and permissions to use it, type
``<ESC>w ! sudo tee %'' to force a write.

2023-10-21 17:00:41

If you accidentally end up inside vi, you can quit it by pressing Escape, colon
(:), q (q), bang (!) and pressing return.

2023-09-20 17:31:14

This fortune brought to you by:
$FreeBSD$

2023-09-18 22:30:58

Need to remove all those ^M characters from a DOS file? Try
tr -d \\r < dosfile > newfile
-- Originally by Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-17 07:30:31

Need to do a search in a manpage or in a file you've sent to a pager? Use
"/search_word". To repeat the same search, type "n" for next or "p" for
previous.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-17 06:31:03

To set a quota of 10 GB for the user named foo on a ZFS dataset, run the
following command:
# zfs set userquota@foo=10G pool/home/foo
The zfs userspace command can display the quota and current space usage:
# zfs userspace pool/home/foo
To unset a quota, assign "none" as the value.
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-16 05:30:37

Time to change your password? Type "passwd" and follow the prompts.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-15 22:30:25

Want to strip UTF-8 BOM(Byte Order Mark) from given files?
sed -e '1s/^\xef\xbb\xbf//' < bomfile > newfile

2023-09-15 19:30:35

Don't let your zpool fill up completely by creating a dataset with
reservation.
# zfs create -o refreservation=<5% of total pool space> <poolname>/reserved
You can always shrink the reserve if you need the space, but your pool will
always have space left this way.
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-15 18:30:48

If you accidentally end up inside vi, you can quit it by pressing Escape, colon
(:), q (q), bang (!) and pressing return.

2023-09-15 17:30:47

"man security" gives very good advice on how to tune the security of your
FreeBSD system.

2023-09-15 16:30:19

This fortune brought to you by:
$FreeBSD$

2023-09-15 13:31:11

Want to know how much memory (in bytes) your machine has installed? Let
sysctl(8) tell you with the following command:
sysctl hw.realmem
The realmem value is memory before the kernel and modules are loaded, whereas
hw.physmem is what is left after they were loaded.
The number of active CPUs is displayed using this command:
sysctl hw.ncpu
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-14 15:30:32

Need to quickly return to your home directory? Type "cd".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-14 08:30:22

2023-09-14 05:30:58

Do you want to know which version of FreeBSD you are running? Enter
"freebsd-version -ku" to display kernel and userland version.
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-13 11:31:09

When using ZFS as the file system the "df" command is reporting the pool size
and not file system sizes. It also does not know about descendent ZFS
datasets, snapshots, quotas, and reservations with their individual space usage.
Use the built-in "zfs list" command to get a better overview of space usage:
zfs list -o space
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-12 22:30:36

ZFS keeps a history of commands run against a specific pool using the
history subcommand to zpool:
zpool history
More details are available using the -i and -l parameters. Note that ZFS
will not keep the complete pool history forever and will remove older
events in favor of never ones.
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-12 13:30:39

In order to support national characters for European languages in tools like
less without creating other nationalisation aspects, set the environment
variable LC_ALL to 'en_US.UTF-8'.

2023-09-11 23:31:05

Need to see your routing table? Type "netstat -rn". The entry with the G
flag is your gateway.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-11 13:30:34

Simple tcsh prompt: set prompt = '%# '

2023-09-11 10:30:46

You can use "whereis" to search standard binary, manual page and source
directories for the specified programs. This can be particularly handy
when you are trying to find where in the ports tree an application is.
Try "whereis firefox" and "whereis whereis".
-- Konstantinos Konstantinidis <kkonstan@duth.gr>

2023-09-11 09:30:52

To change an environment variable in tcsh you use: setenv NAME "value"
where NAME is the name of the variable and "value" its new value.

2023-09-11 02:30:34

To save disk space in your home directory, compress files you rarely
use with "gzip filename".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-10 21:30:33

If other operating systems have damaged your Master Boot Record, you can
reinstall it with gpart(8). See
"man gpart" for details.

2023-09-10 20:31:01

If you want to recursively copy a directory preserving file and directory
attributes use
"cp -a source target"
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-10 16:30:38

Forget when Easter is? Try "ncal -e". If you need the date for Orthodox
Easter, use "ncal -o" instead.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-10 15:30:29

You can press Ctrl-L while in the shell to clear the screen.

2023-09-10 13:30:54

"man tuning" gives some tips how to tune performance of your FreeBSD system.
-- David Scheidt <dscheidt@tumbolia.com>

2023-09-10 12:30:35

You can use the 'fetch' command to retrieve files over ftp, http or https.
fetch https://www.FreeBSD.org/images/beastie.png
will download the beastie image from the FreeBSD web site.

2023-09-10 05:30:55

Forget what directory you are in? Type "pwd".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-07 20:30:30

nc(1) (or netcat) is useful not only for redirecting input/output to
TCP or UDP connections, but also for proxying them with inetd(8).

2023-09-07 19:30:02

Do you want to run a program directly after some other process has ended? Use
"pwait pid && new_program"
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-07 07:30:32

You can use the 'fetch' command to retrieve files over ftp, http or https.
fetch https://www.FreeBSD.org/images/beastie.png
will download the beastie image from the FreeBSD web site.

2023-09-07 01:30:33

"man hier" will explain the way FreeBSD filesystems are normally laid out.
-- David Scheidt <dscheidt@tumbolia.com>

2023-09-06 13:31:17

2023-09-05 09:31:03

You can limit the depth of the displayed datasets in the "zfs list" output
using the -d parameter. To display only the first level of datasets below
mypool/usr and not the ones deeper than those, run this command:
zfs list -d 1 mypool/usr
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-05 08:30:35

2023-09-05 06:30:55

You can search for documentation on a keyword by typing
apropos keyword

2023-09-04 10:30:58

To see the MAC addresses of the NICs on your system, type
ifconfig -a
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-03 22:30:47

This fortune brought to you by:
$FreeBSD$

2023-09-03 21:31:05

Do you want to run a program directly after some other process has ended? Use
"pwait pid && new_program"
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-03 15:30:53

To set a custom ZFS property on the mypool pool, you need to provide it
using the "key1:key2=value" syntax, where the colon (:) is used as the
separator and identifier from the built-in ZFS properties:
# zfs set warranty:expires=2038-01-19 mypool
The custom property is applied to all datasets and can be queried like any
built-in properties using zfs get:
zfs get warranty:expires mypool
To reset the value of a custom property, use the inherit subcommand:
# zfs inherit warranty:expires mypool
Removing a custom property from a pool is done using the -r flag to the
"zfs inherit" command:
# zfs inherit -r warranty:expires mypool
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-03 14:30:37

In order to make fetch (the FreeBSD downloading tool) ask for
username/password when it encounters a password-protected web page, you can set
the environment variable HTTP_AUTH to 'basic:*'.

2023-09-03 04:30:59

Need to do a search in a manpage or in a file you've sent to a pager? Use
"/search_word". To repeat the same search, type "n" for next or "p" for
previous.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-02 12:31:09

2023-09-02 08:31:18

2023-09-01 17:30:49

Man pages are divided into section depending on topic. There are 9 different
sections numbered from 1 (General Commands) to 9 (Kernel Developer's Manual).
You can get an introduction to each topic by typing
man <number> intro
In other words, to get the intro to general commands, type
man 1 intro

2023-09-01 12:30:52

Do you wonder what a terminal program is doing at the moment? dd(1) does not
show any throughput? Hit "^T" (Control + t) to send SIGINFO to the process
and see what it is doing.
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-01 11:30:39

"man ports" gives many useful hints about installing FreeBSD ports.

2023-09-01 09:31:12

You can use aliases to decrease the amount of typing you need to do to get
commands you commonly use. Examples of fairly popular aliases include (in
Bourne shell style, as in /bin/sh, bash, ksh, and zsh):
alias lf="ls -FA"
alias ll="ls -lA"
alias su="su -m"
In csh or tcsh, these would be
alias lf ls -FA
alias ll ls -lA
alias su su -m
To remove an alias, you can usually use 'unalias aliasname'. To list all
aliases, you can usually type just 'alias'.

2023-09-01 08:30:34

If you have a CD-ROM drive in your machine, you can make the CD-ROM that is
presently inserted available by typing 'mount /cdrom' as root. The CD-ROM
will be available under /cdrom/. Remember to do 'umount /cdrom' before
removing the CD-ROM (it will usually not be possible to remove the CD-ROM
without doing this.)
Note: This tip may not work in all configurations.

2023-09-01 07:30:43

"man hier" will explain the way FreeBSD filesystems are normally laid out.
-- David Scheidt <dscheidt@tumbolia.com>

2023-09-01 06:31:22

Need to remove all those ^M characters from a DOS file? Try
tr -d \\r < dosfile > newfile
-- Originally by Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-01 05:30:38

You can look through a file in a nice text-based interface by typing
less filename

2023-09-01 04:30:57

To clear the screen, use "clear". To re-display your screen buffer, press
the scroll lock key and use your page up button. When you're finished,
press the scroll lock key again to get your prompt back.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-01 03:30:45

To easily configure your installed FreeBSD use bsdconfig(8).
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-01 02:31:23

To learn more about what your system is doing, take a look at systat(1). For
example, to get various statistics related to virtual memory usage, process
scheduling, device interrupts, system name translation caching, and disk I/O,
enter the following:
systat -vmstat
Other values are icmp, icmp6, ifstat, iostat, ip, ip6, netstat, pigs, sctp,
swap, tcp, or zarc. You can switch between displays using :<display> and exit
back to your shell by typing
:quit
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-09-01 01:31:29

Need to find the location of a program? Use "locate program_name".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-09-01 00:30:59

Do you want to do a binary upgrade of your running FreeBSD installation? Use freebsd-update(8).
To install updates and patches for the running branch use
# freebsd-update fetch install
To upgrade to a newer release use
# freebsd-update upgrade -r ${name_of_release}
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-08-31 23:30:57

Sometimes a single slow HDD can cripple the performance of your entire system. You can spot one like this:
# gstat -I5s | sort -rn -k9 | head
-- Alan Somers <asomers@FreeBSD.org>
%

2023-08-31 15:31:00

To determine whether a file is a text file, executable, or some other type
of file, use
file filename
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-31 13:30:39

Want to know how many words, lines, or bytes are contained in a file? Type
"wc filename".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-31 12:30:33

You can use "pkg info" to see a list of packages you have installed.

2023-08-31 11:30:40

"man security" gives very good advice on how to tune the security of your
FreeBSD system.

2023-08-31 10:30:45

nc(1) (or netcat) is useful not only for redirecting input/output to
TCP or UDP connections, but also for proxying them with inetd(8).

2023-08-31 09:30:26

The "zfs list" command can be filtered in multiple ways. To display just
the dataset name, use the -o parameter:
zfs list -o name mypool/usr
More columns and their order can be defined by separating them with commas:
zfs list -o mountpoint,name,avail
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-08-31 08:30:36

You can make a log of your terminal session with script(1).

2023-08-31 07:31:03

A user "sender" needs the following permissions set to send a ZFS dataset:
# zfs allow -u sender send,snapshot txpool
On the receiving side, the user "receiver" requires these permissions:
# zfs allow -u receiver compression,mountpoint,mount,create,receive rxpool
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-08-31 06:30:36

If other operating systems have damaged your Master Boot Record, you can
reinstall it with gpart(8). See
"man gpart" for details.

2023-08-31 05:31:03

To find out the hostname associated with an IP address, use
drill -x IP_address
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-31 03:30:33

Forget when Easter is? Try "ncal -e". If you need the date for Orthodox
Easter, use "ncal -o" instead.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-31 01:30:56

2023-08-31 00:31:13

2023-08-30 23:31:20

Simple tcsh prompt: set prompt = '%# '

2023-08-30 17:31:06

To display the compression ratio for the ZFS dataset /var/log on the pool
mypool, run the following command:
zfs get refcompressratio mypool/var/log
The refcompressratio will only display the compression ratio for that specific
dataset, not the descendant datasets. To include the child datasets, the
command looks like this:
zfs get compressratio mypool/var
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-08-30 15:30:43

To see all of the directories on your FreeBSD system, type
find / -type d | less
All the files?
find / -type f | less

2023-08-30 14:31:01

To see the IP addresses currently set on your active interfaces, type
"ifconfig -u".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-30 13:30:57

When you want your users to be able to reboot or shutdown FreeBSD, add them
to the group "operator" and they are allowed to use shutdown(8) and poweroff(8).
-- Lars Engels <lme@FreeBSD.org>

2023-08-27 16:30:27

If you `set watch = (0 any any)' in tcsh, you will be notified when
someone logs in or out of your system.

2023-08-27 15:31:08

To make the "zfs list" output more script-friendly, you can suppress the
output of the headers for each column by passing the -H parameter:
zfs list -H
Another helpful option for script writers is -p, which displays the numbers
in non-rounded, exact values:
zfs list -p
-- Benedict Reuschling <bcr@FreeBSD.org>

2023-08-27 14:30:23

Nice bash prompt: PS1='(\[$(tput md)\]\t <\w>\[$(tput me)\]) $(echo $?) \$ '
-- Mathieu <mathieu@hal.interactionvirtuelle.com>

2023-08-27 13:30:26

If you need a reminder to leave your terminal, type "leave +hhmm" where
"hhmm" represents in how many hours and minutes you need to leave.
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-27 12:30:29

Can't remember if you've installed a certain port or not? Try "pkg info
-x port_name".

2023-08-27 11:30:48

If other operating systems have damaged your Master Boot Record, you can
reinstall it with gpart(8). See
"man gpart" for details.

2023-08-27 10:30:29

Need to remove all those ^M characters from a DOS file? Try
tr -d \\r < dosfile > newfile
-- Originally by Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-27 09:30:42

Need to quickly empty a file? Use ": > filename".
-- Dru <genesis@istar.ca>

2023-08-27 08:31:16

"man hier" will explain the way FreeBSD filesystems are normally laid out.
-- David Scheidt <dscheidt@tumbolia.com>

2023-08-27 07:31:02

Having trouble using fetch through a firewall? Try setting the environment
variable FTP_PASSIVE_MODE to yes, and see fetch(3) for more details.