Blog::Log » linux

Using screen for linux background processing

stefan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:48:56 +0000

Perfect for long running batch jobs on a remote server over unreliable connections or if you want to bring your laptop home (instead of keeping that terminal running).

Do the same thing again if you want to create another window.

All the following screen commands are preceeded by Ctrl-a (i.e. first press ctrl-a then the shortcut below)

0-9 – switch to window by id
Ctrl-n – next window
Ctrl-a – previous window
K – kill window

The next day, log in as usual and attach to the screen session using

screen -x

Check the man page for screen for other options and shortcuts.

Count files recursively in a directory using Linux

stefan — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:53:57 +0000

Using Linux, to get the number of files in the current directory, use:

ls -1 | wc -l

To count the number of files recursively in the current and all directories below it, use:

find . -type f | wc -l

Simple Backup on Linux and Ubuntu

stefan — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:18:37 +0000

Incremental encrypted remote backup using Amazon S3: Duplicity

Incremental backup to another (remote) directory: rdiff-backup

Easily available on Ubuntu using:

sudo apt-get rdiff-backup

Nice instructions for automating and scheduling backups.

Simple backup by simply tar’ing everything, instructions on Ubuntu Forums.