final linux term paper
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 1/21
Name : MD NAUSHAD ALAM
Prog. Name : B.TECH (CSE)150
Section : RC-1912
Roll No. : B 51
Subject Name : LINUX PROGRAMMING
Subject Code :CSE-207
MS. MANEET KAUR GILL
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 2/21
2. ABSTRACT
3. INTRODUCTION OF LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM
4. ADVANTAGE OF LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM
5. DIA-ADVANTAGE OF LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM
6. CRITIQUE OF LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM
7. THE ZERO INSTALL CRITIQUE
8. A CONSTRUCTIVE CRITIQUE OF DEBIAN LINUX
9. REFERENCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 3/21
I take this opportunity to present my votes of thanks to all those guidepost
who really acted as lightening pillars to enlighten our way throughout this
term paper that has led to successful and satisfactory completion of this
study.
We are really grateful to our HOD SIR for providing me with an opportunity
to undertake this term paper in this university and providing us with all the
facilities. We are highly thankful to Ms MANEET KAUR MAM for her
active support, valuable time and advice, whole-hearted guidance, sincere
cooperation and pains-taking involvement during the study and in
completing the assignment of preparing the said term paper within the time
stipulated.
ABSTRACT OF LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 4/21
INTRODUCTION OF
LINUX OPERATING
SYSTEM
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 5/21
The origins of Linux lie with the
development of the UNIX
operating system. UNIX was
developed in 1969 by researchers
based at AT&T Bell Laboratories
to provide an operating system
tailored to the needs of a research
environment; an efficient and
affordable operating system
designed to run on minicomputers
with multitasking and multi-user
capabilities. Over the years, UNIX
evolved to a portable, powerful
and flexible operating system,
used within research laboratories
and enterprise computer systems
around the world. It had been
designed at a time when
mainframes and minicomputers
were the only computers
available, and as these computers
evolved in terms of power,
capability and features, UNIX
evolved alongside to provide the
operating system support that was
required. In a nutshell, UNIX is an
operating system designed to run
on big, powerful computers in
order for the computers to carry
out big, powerful tasks.
Technologies such as networking
and the World Wide Web were
originally developed with UNIX
in mind, and for these reasons
UNIX remains the most popular
choice of operating system for
network servers and mainframe
systems.
The Linux operating system was
originally conceived by Linus
Torvalds, a research student based
at the University of Helsinki in
Finland. His intention was to
develop a version of the UNIX
operating system that could
effectively run on a PC
workstation. The first released
version of the software, version
0.11, was widely distributed over
the Internet, and in the following
years Linux was added to and
refined by programmers from
around the world. In time, all of
the main features and applications
of the UNIX operating system
were implemented into Linux.
Due to its ‘open-source’ nature,
the source code for the Linux
kernel is freely available for users
and programmers alike.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 6/21
ADVANTAGES OF
LINUX:
• COST – The most
obvious advantage of
using Linux is the fact
that it is free to obtain,
while
Microsoft products are
available for a hefty
and sometimes
recurring fee.
Microsoft licenses
typically are only
allowed to be installed
on a single computer,
whereas a Linux
distribution can be
installed on anynumber of
SScomputers, without
paying a single dime.
• SECURITY – In line with
the costs, the security
aspect of Linux is much
stronger than that of
Windows. Why should I
have to spend extra money
for virus
protection software? The
Linux operating system
has been around since the
early nineties and has
managed to stay secure in
the realm of widespread
viruses, spyware and
adware for all these years.
Sure, the argument of the
Linux desktop not being as
widely used is a factor as
to why there are no
viruses. My re-buttle is
that the Linux operating
system is open source and
if there were a widespread
Linux virus released today,
there would be hundreds of
patches released
tomorrow, either by
ordinary people that use
the operating system or by
the distribution
maintainers. We wouldn’t
need to wait for a patch
from a single company like
we do with Windows.
• CHOICE (FREEDOM) –
The power of choice is a
great Linux advantage.
With Linux, I have the
power to control just about
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 7/21
every aspect of the
operating system. Two
major features I have
control of are
your desktops look and
feel by way of
numerous Window
Managers, and the kernel.
In Windows, MY either
stuck using the boring
default desktop theme, or
risking corruption or
failure by installing a
third-party shell.
• Software - There are so
many software choices
when it comes to doing
any specific task. You
could search for a text
editor on Freshmeat and
yield hundreds, if not
thousands of results. My
article on 5 Linux text
editors you should know
about explains how there
are so many options just
for editing text on the
command-line due to the
open source nature of
Linux. Regular users and
programmers contribute
applications all the time.
Sometimes its a simple
modification or feature
enhancement of a already
existing piece of software,
sometimes its a brand new
application. In
addition, software on
Linux tends to be packed
with more features and
greater usability than
software on Windows.
Best of all, the vast
majority of
Linux software is free and
open source. Not only are
you getting
the software for no charge,
but you have the option to
modify the source code
and add more features if
you understand the
programming language.
What more could you ask
for?
• Hardware - Linux is
perfect for those old
computers with barely any
processing power or
memory you have sitting
in your garage or basement
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 8/21
collecting dust. Install
Linux and use it as
a firewall, a file server, or
a backup server. There are
endless possibilities.
Old 386 or 486 computers
with barely any RAM run
Linux without any issue.
• Stability: Linux doesn’t
need to be rebooted
periodically to maintain
performance levels. It
doesn’t freeze up or slow
down over time due to
memory leaks and such.
Continuous up-times of
hundreds of days (up to a
year or more) are not
uncommon.
• Performance: Linux
provides persistent high
performance on
workstations and on
networks. It can handle
unusually large numbers of
users simultaneously, and
can make old computers
sufficiently responsive to
be useful again.
• Network
friendliness: Linux was
developed by a group of
programmers over the
Internet and has therefore
strong support for network
functionality; client and
server systems can be
easily set up on any
computer running Linux. It
can perform tasks such as
network backups faster
and more reliably than
alternative systems.
• Flexibility: Linux can be
used for high performance
server applications,
desktop applications, and
embedded systems. You
can save disk space by
only installing the
components needed for a
particular use. You can
restrict the use of specific
computers by installing for
example only selected
office applications instead
of the whole suite.
• Compatibility: It runs all
common UNIX software
packages and can process
all common file formats.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 9/21
• Fast and easy
installation: Most Linux
distributions come with
user-friendly installation
and setup programs.
Popular Linux
distributions come with
tools that make installation
of additional software very
user friendly as well.
• Multitasking: Linux is
designed to do many
things at the same time;
e.g., a large printing job in
the background won’t slow
down your other work.
• Open Source: If you
develop software that
requires knowledge or
modification of the
operating system code,
Linux’s source code is at
your fingertips. Most
Linux applications are
Open Source as well.
Today the combination of
inexpensive computers and free
high-quality Linux operating
systems and software provide
incredibly low-cost solutions for
both basic home office use and
high-performance business and
science applications. The available
choices of Linux distributions and
Linux software may be
overwhelming at first, but if you
know where to look, it shouldn’t
take long for you to find good
online guidance.
DISADVANTAGES OF
LINUX:
• Understanding –
Becoming familiar with
the Linux operating system
requires patience as well as
a strong learning curve.
You must have the desire
to read and figure things
out on your own, rather
than having everything
done for you.
• Compatibility – Because
of its free nature, Linux is
sometimes behind the
curve when it comes to
brand new hardware
compatibility. Though the
kernel contributors and
maintainers work hard at
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 10/21
keeping the kernel up to
date, Linux does not have
as much of a corporate
backing as
alternative operating
systems. Sometimes you
can find
third party applications,
sometimes you can’t.
• Alternative Programs –
Though Linux developers
have done a great job at
creating alternatives to
popular Windows applicati
ons, there are still some
applications that exist
on Windows that have no
equivalent Linux
application.
.ZERO INSTALL
CRITIQUE
Zero Install is one of the more
promising alternatives to native
package systems for Linux
distributions, such as RPM and
Debian's dpkg. Originally
developed by Thomas Leonard,
who works in the Department of
Electronics and Computing at the
University of Southampton, it
begins with a criticism of existing
package systems the difficulties of
using them, and is built to provide
an answer to the problems raised
by the critique. However, like
other alternative package systems,
it faces the problems of winning
acceptance from the major
distributions and fine-tuning its
features.
Zero Install is an offshoot of
the ROX Desktop project.
Leonard says users were reluctant
to try ROX unless it was packaged
for their distro, but packaging took
time away from development.
Moreover, maintainers could be
hard to find, and their work was
not always consistent, complete,
or high-quality. At any rate,
Leonard says, "the distributions
had enough to do supporting
GNOME and KDE, and mostly
ignored us."
ROX's woes lead to the start of
Zero Install in 2003. According to
Leonard, Zero Install has been
downloaded about 26,000 times,
and at least 112 programs can
currently be installed with it.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 11/21
Traffic on the developer list is
light but steady, since, as Leonard
points out, the program "is simple,
and the important part is the
content that people provide using
it."
OTHERS THE ZERO
INSTALL CRITIQUE
Like auto-package part of themotivation for Zero Install comes
from dissatisfaction with the
existing native systems.
The first problem that Leonard
brings up with native package
systems is a lack of freedom.
"Users are effectively confined to
the software their distribution
packages," Leonard says. "Some
distributions don't want their users
running 'unauthorized' software,
because it increases their support
costs if users report bugs to them
by mistake." While Leonard
acknowledges that this attitude is
"understandable," he also
characterizes it as "worryingly
similar to hardware manufacturers
wanting to reduce costs by using
Trusted Computing."
Another issue is security. Using
his own workstation as an
example, Leonard says, "I
currently have 2,100 Debian
packages installed. Every time I
update my computer, the authors
of every one of these packages get
to run a shell script of their choice
as root on my machine -- even the
maintainers of documentation
packages, or of packages I
installed months ago and never
ran again. Even if I trust the
packagers to this extent, what
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 12/21
about the risk that one of them has
their machine compromised?"
For Leonard, this arrangement
violates the basic security of least privilege, which "demands that a
desktop application shouldn't have
permission to destroy the system."
Efforts to allow sandboxing --
contained testing of programs --
exist, but Leonard asks, "What
policy can you possibly write for
apt-get?" The same comment, of
course, applies to YUM or any
other package management utility.
Finally, Leonard complains about
the lack of flexibility. "I'm forced
to have only a single version of
each package on my machine," he
says. "I can't compile a program
against the GTK 2.4 header files
because I have GTK 2.8 installed.
I can't install a security update to
gnupg because it will uninstall
user-mode-linux due to a conflict
with libreadline5. I can't run a
program that's ten years old,
because the libraries it needs have
changed." Yet such problems are
not inevitable. Rather, Leonard
points out, "they are arbitrary
limitations imposed by current
installation systems.
Zero Install is designed to
overcome all these problems.Rather than relying on a list of
repositories than must be
manually edited, it allows Web
pages that contain programs in a
number of formats, ranging from
Debian packages and RPMs
through tarballs and zip files that
are digitally signed and work with
any distribution, to be entered on-
the-fly. Since software is not
installed by the root user,
installation or updates of desktop
applications cannot damage the
entire system, and software can be
easily sandboxed by maintaining a
user account solely for the
purposes of experimentation.
Similarly, Zero Install tracks
different versions of a program
separately.
THE MAIN DRAWBACK TO
ZERO INSTALL is that software
must be installed separately for
each user. However, this problem
is relatively minor, since Leonard
sees Zero Install as a supplement
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 13/21
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 14/21
the distributions for which they
are designed.
FUTURE PLANS
Leonard describes Zero Install as"mostly complete." However,
the project roadmap includes a list
of enhancements that are currently
being considered. In addition to
system-wide installs -- or, at least,
the ability to share installs with
other uses -- Leonard would also
like to see integration with native
package systems, so that Zero
Install can use existing
dependencies instead of installing
duplicates. He is also considering
functionality to clean out the
cache of installed programs, to
include recommended as well as
required programs in the
dependencies, and to display
messages about what has been
installed.
Some of these features raise
critical issues. In particular,
installs for more than single users
raise security issues that Leonard
is only too aware of. Yet, on the
whole, Leonard is satisfied that
solutions can be found. Most of
these future features, he says, "just
make [Zero Install] faster or more
efficient or reliable. These are
minor technical problems, so it's
more a matter of choosing from
many possible solutions."
CONSTRUCTIVE
CRITIQUE OF DEBIAN
LINUX BY BINH
NGUYEN
The Debian Linux distribution is
widely regarded as a stable, albeit
difficult to use, operating system.
Yet, its usability happens to be the
very reason why I have selected it
as my primary desktop operatingsystem. From package
management to system
dependencies, I have found
Debian to be second to none.
Also, Debian's standards-based
approach is found throughout the
distribution, as illustrated in file
layout and configuration. For
example, configuration files are
always found in /etc while
documentation is almost always
found in /usr/share/doc.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 15/21
Such stability means that creating
packages for Debian-based
systems is astonishingly easy,
since the development cycle is
more reminiscent of Windows
than Linux releases, which tend to
change more often than not --
occurring on a weekly or even
daily basis, rather than yearly
cycles. Although it could be
argued that this results in a
superior product at any given
time, it is also quite clear that so
much constant change can result
in some less than trivial issues
such as program crashes due to
segmentation faults and mangled
configuration files. Both are
simple consequences of the lack
of full testing. It is almost like
having your user base serve as a
means of prototype testing.
Because of the numerous strengths
of Debian, many other
distributions have selected it as a
starting point including Xandros,
Knoppix, and most recently
Ubuntu. What they then do is
attempt to fix some of the more
obvious flaws in Debian such as
the installer and configuration
utilities. The resulting repackaging
often turns out to be quite
attractive.
Nonetheless, while people often
complain about the difficulties of
using the Debian installer, I've
found it to be quite usable. In my
opinion, the only difference
between Debian and other
installers from Red Hat,
Mandrake, and SuSE (now
Novell) has been the use of a GUI
(Graphical User Interface). That
issue is being addressed as part of
the Debian installer project
DEBIAN STRENGTHS
AND USABILITY
On the other hand, I believe that
Debian could be made
significantly more usable by
taking away the menu-based
interface with the 'OK' and
'Cancel' buttons, and replacing it
with a step-by-step 'state machine'
mechanism with just two
'Forward' and 'Back' buttons.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 16/21
While this may detract from the
ability of experts to jump around
through the install process, there's
no reason why you can't have the
best of both worlds: the older
install system could remain
available as an alternative
installation method.
Hardware autodetection is non-
existent during the installation
process. It could also be said that
this is a flaw, but we must
remember that Debian was
intended to be able to be installed
on virtually any system, by
bringing things down to a
common denominator. For
example, let's say you had a video
card that was incompatible with
Linux but did work in VESA
mode (which I assume the
installer will tend to run under).
Most installers will give you the
option to test whether the card will
work or not. However, in my
experience most people will tend
to skip this option and the next
time they boot up they won't be
greeted with a XDM/GDM/KDM
welcome screen, but instead are
met with a garbled array of grey
and white lines. One could argue
here that you could make it
compulsory to test your X
configuration before proceeding
though the installation process.
In terms of system configuration
Debian provides no centralized
mechanism such as those
produced by SuSE, Mandrake, and
Red Hat. Consequently, most
applications must be configured
through a program's own
configuration utilities, 'dpkg-
reconfigure', direct text file
editing, or a third party utility.
This means that it can sometimes
be extraordinarily difficult for
someone to determine how to
configure a piece of software such
as X, or hardware such as a
network car.
The packaging and dependency
checking systems are without a
doubt what set this distribution
apart when it first came about.
The ability to update your system
almost flawlessly is extremely
attractive no matter what
operating system you may use.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 17/21
A FULL FEATURED
SYSTEM THAT ACTS
THIN
People perennially argue about
speed and simplicity. What could
be simpler than not having
packages you don't want installed
but still having the ability to make
them available through a menu
system such as 'dselect', 'tasksel',
and/or 'aptitude'. For speed, I have
little doubt that Debian would
give most other (unoptimized)
distributions a run for their
money. It is here that the
minimalistic approach of the
distribution comes to the fore.
Fewer services means decreased
boot time, means less wasted
memory -- which translates into a
more enjoyable desktop
experience. At last count the
differences between Mandrake,
Red Hat, and Debian boot timeson my primary system were quite
marked. If memory serves me
correct, it came out to something
like 50 seconds, 45 seconds, and
30 seconds, respectively. From my
experience, the only distributions
which are able to equal or surpass
this are Gentoo and Slackware.
I do believe that multimedia
support should be included as part
of any operating system. After all,
the computer has become a centre-
piece in home entertainment. It is
now being used not only for work,
but also for leisure. It is not
uncommon, these days, to find a
computer being used as a second
television, radio, and/or stereo
system. In time, I have little doubt
that it will also be able to interface
with the rest of your home
appliances such as your
refrigerator and toaster. I don't
doubt that one day we shall see
the refrigerator interface with your
computer and act as a gateway to
the rest of the Internet, and order
food automatically when you run
out. Imagine a stove which would
interface with your fridge and
computer, which would then
download a recipe for a food that
it knows that you may particularly
enjoy, order the food, and then
cook for you? This may sound
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 18/21
entirely outlandish, but I do
believe that it will become a
reality someday.
For this reason, I must insist upon
the inclusion of such "extensions"
into the Debian and other Linux
distributions. Not doing so would
deprive many users the ability of
being able to maximize the
capabilites of their systems. By
doing so, I believe that in time, a
sufficiently large critical mass will
be generated such that Linux
communities will be able to
influence companies to open up
their systems and protocols.
THE ELITE NATURE OFLINUX
Another problem I have with
Debian and some other Linux
communities is the elitist nature of
certain mailing lists and user
groups. You may ask a perfectly
valid question and receive a
completely derogatory answer,
such as "RTFM" (Read The
F****** Manual). In my opinion,
this is just not appropriate. To me,
it is the equivalent of ringing up
technical support and then paying
to be insulted.
That offers some insight into
probably the biggest problem that
I have with Debian -- the lack of
highly visible documentation.
Although, I understand that there
are many examples of books and
references as part of the Debian
Documentation Project, and most
of remarkably high quality, I
believe the availability should be
more obvious to the end user. It
should be visible to the user where
they can readily find
documentation on their system
and how they can access it.
Perhaps, too, there should be links
created on the desktop to the
location of documentation; and,
that visible introductory
documentation should be installed
as a standard part of the
distribution. Even something
resembling the "Welcome" screen
of Microsoft Windows would be
sufficient and would significantly
aid a new Linux user; I have often
seen users give up on using
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 19/21
Debian and/or Linux simply
because there wasn't anyone
around to guide them through the
introductory process.
Overall, I consider Debian to be a
competent, robust distribution --
having few flaws as an operating
system, but possessing some
critical ones that have led to the
unfortunate perception of it being
an elitist distribution.
AN IMPARTIAL
CRITIQUE OF RED HAT
LINUX
• In the enterprise-class
Linux market, there are
two dominant vendors:
Novell (with SUSE Linux)
and Red Hat (with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux — or
RHEL for short).
Enterprise IT buyers
frequently ask Clabby
Analytics which Linux
distribution they should
buy — and our answer is:
“we have no preference;
they are both good”. But,
we also observe that there
are distinct differences
between each vendor’s go-
to-market and product
strategies. The primary
differences in these two
Linux offerings can be
found in each vendor’s:
• Release philosophy;
• Investment/innovation in
Linux;
• Virtualization approach
(Xen vs. KVM);
• Strategic commitment (as
evidenced by business unit
commitment); and,
• Cost
COSTS/PRICING
Red Hat admits that Novell’s
SUSE Linux generally costs 20-
30% less than its own RHEL
environment — but emphasizes
that Novell’s investments in Linux
development, testing, and
innovation are lower, hence its
costs are lower. This cost
differential, according to Red Hat,
is why Novell SUSE generally
costs less than RHEL.
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 20/21
STRATEGIC COMMITMENT
Red Hat makes a big deal about its
strategic commitment to Linux —
and points to recent
reorganizations at Novell as an
indicator that Novell’s focus on
Linux may be waning. For
instance, during a recent set of
reorganizations at Novell, the
company has eliminated its Linux
business unit.
REFERENCES
http://www.foogazi.com/2006/12/19/5-advantages-of-using-linux-
over-windows/
http://linux.about.com/cs/linux101/a/linux_2.htm
http://www.rtcubed.com/consulting/linux-advantages-
disadvantages.html
8/8/2019 Final Linux Term Paper
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-linux-term-paper 21/21
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/114230
http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT7588639943.html
www.solent.ac.uk/.../Linux%20Network%20Management%20System.pdf