Book Image

The Software Developer's Guide to Linux

By : David Cohen, Christian Sturm
5 (2)
Book Image

The Software Developer's Guide to Linux

5 (2)
By: David Cohen, Christian Sturm

Overview of this book

Developers are always looking to raise their game to the next level, yet most are completely lost when it comes to the Linux command line. This book is the bridge that will take you to the next level in your software development career. Most of the skills in the book can be immediately put to work to make you a more efficient developer. It’s written specifically for software engineers, not Linux system administrators, so each chapter will equip you with just enough theory to understand what you’re doing before diving into practical commands that you can use in your day-to-day work as a software developer. As you work through the book, you’ll quickly absorb the basics of how Linux works while you get comfortable moving around the command line. Once you’ve got the core skills, you’ll see how to apply them in different contexts that you’ll come across as a software developer: building and working with Docker images, automating boring build tasks with shell scripts, and troubleshooting issues in production environments. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to use Linux and the command line comfortably and apply your newfound skills in your day-to-day work to save time, troubleshoot issues, and be the command-line wizard that your team turns to.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
18
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19
Index

Users and Groups

In this chapter, we’ll be taking a look at two of the building blocks that Linux uses to manage resources and maintain security: users and groups. After learning the basics and covering a very special user, root, we’ll show you how the concept of Linux user groups adds a convenient layer on top of the user abstraction.

Once we’ve covered the necessary theory, you’ll jump directly into the practical commands you need to create and modify users and groups. And, in a stunning triumph that will pay dividends if it ever comes up in an interview, you’ll see for yourself what a Linux user is actually made of (hint: it’s just three lines of plaintext).

By the end of this chapter, you’ll:

  • Understand what users are and what they’re used for
  • Understand the distinction between root and normal users, and how to switch between them when you need to
  • Know how to create and modify users and groups...