All Questions
417,235
questions
2650
votes
25
answers
5.4m
views
How to list all installed packages
I'd like to output a list of all installed packages into a text file so that I can review it and bulk-install on another system. How would I do this?
- 57.5k
2208
votes
9
answers
8.0m
views
How to unzip a zip file from the Terminal?
Just downloaded a .zip file from the internet. I want to use the terminal to unzip the file. What is the correct way to do this?
- 22.3k
1723
votes
29
answers
1.9m
views
"The following packages have been kept back:" Why and how do I solve it?
I just added a PPA repository for the development version of the GIMP, but I get this error:
$ apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
...
The following packages have been kept back:
gimp gimp-...
- 23.9k
1639
votes
27
answers
2.0m
views
How can PPAs be removed?
I've added many PPAs using the add-apt-repository command. Is there a simple way to remove these PPAs? I've checked in /etc/apt/sources.list for the appropriate deb lines but they aren't there.
This ...
- 17.4k
1468
votes
12
answers
4.5m
views
How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
How do I install a .deb file via the command line?
- 26.8k
1399
votes
11
answers
4.0m
views
How do I save terminal output to a file?
How do I save the output of a command to a file?
Is there a way without using any software? I would like to know how.
- 14.3k
1329
votes
8
answers
4.0m
views
How can I copy the contents of a folder to another folder in a different directory using terminal?
I am trying to copy the contents of a folder to another folder in a different directory using terminal.
Would somebody be able to provide me an example of the command line syntax required to achieve ...
- 13.5k
1188
votes
17
answers
3.1m
views
Where is the cron / crontab log?
I want to verify that my cron job is executing and at what time. I believe there is a log for my sudo crontab -e jobs, but where?
I searched google and found recommendations to look in /var/log (...
- 12.1k
1174
votes
25
answers
3.6m
views
Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/) is another process using it?
I get this error when trying to use apt-get:
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/) is ...
1173
votes
14
answers
1.8m
views
How do I determine the total size of a directory (folder) from the command line?
Is there a simple command to display the total aggregate size (disk usage) of all files in a directory (folder)?
I have tried these, and they don't do what I want:
ls -l, which only displays the ...
- 11.8k
1172
votes
8
answers
3.6m
views
What command do I need to unzip/extract a .tar.gz file?
I received a huge .tar.gz file from a client that contains about 800 mb of image files (when uncompressed.) Our hosting company's ftp is seriously slow, so extracting all the files locally and sending ...
- 16.2k
1158
votes
5
answers
1.7m
views
How can I use Docker without sudo?
On Docker's documentation pages, all example commands are shown without sudo, like this one:
docker ps
On Ubuntu, the binary is called docker.io. It also does not work without sudo:
sudo docker.io ps
...
- 42.4k
1118
votes
20
answers
2.6m
views
How can I update my nodeJS to the latest version?
I have installed nodeJS on Ubuntu with following code
sudo apt-get install nodejs
Since I am a new user for ubuntu I also ran this code too
sudo apt-get install npm
Now when I type
nodejs --...
- 11.3k
1088
votes
10
answers
3.7m
views
Is there a command to list all users? Also to add, delete, modify users, in the terminal?
I need a command to list all users as well as commands to add, delete and modify users from terminal - any commands that could help in administrating user accounts easily by terminal.
1080
votes
7
answers
1.2m
views
How to upgrade a single package using apt-get?
How do I update a single package? As far as man apt-get says apt-get upgrade doesn't take a package/list of packages as parameter:
upgrade
upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all ...
- 11.7k
1008
votes
14
answers
1.3m
views
How to keep processes running after ending ssh session?
Let's say I launch a bunch of processes from a ssh session. Is it possible to terminate the ssh session while keeping those processes running on the remote machine?
- 59.1k
987
votes
12
answers
2.0m
views
How do I uncompress a tarball that uses .xz?
I'm used to extracting tarballs with a -xfz flag, which handles gzip and bzip2 archives.
Recently I've run into a .tar.xz file and I would like to uncompress it in one step using tar, how can I do ...
- 72.2k
983
votes
17
answers
2.2m
views
How to add a directory to the PATH?
How do I add a directory to the $PATH in Ubuntu and make the changes permanent?
- 11.1k
979
votes
7
answers
3.4m
views
How can I add a user as a new sudoer using the command line?
After I add a user using adduser, I can't see it via System > Administration > Users and Groups unless I log out and then log in again. Is that normal?
Also, can I set a newly added user as a sudoer ...
- 11.1k
978
votes
15
answers
2.0m
views
How to get bash or ssh into a running container in background mode?
I want to ssh or bash into a running docker container. Please, see example:
$ sudo docker run -d webserver
webserver is clean image from ubuntu:14.04
$ sudo docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE ...
- 24.8k
967
votes
20
answers
1.4m
views
Error message "sudo: unable to resolve host (none)"
When I run sudo the terminal is stuck for a few seconds and then outputs an error message. My terminal looks like this:
ubuntu@(none):~$ sudo true
sudo: unable to resolve host (none)
What can I do ...
- 11.1k
966
votes
5
answers
2.8m
views
How do I shut down or reboot from a terminal?
How can I shut down or reboot Ubuntu using terminal commands?
- 103k
952
votes
5
answers
1.3m
views
How to extract files to another directory using 'tar' command?
I thought tar archive.tar /users/mylocation would work, but it doesn't. How can I do that?
- 9,623
939
votes
9
answers
1.5m
views
How to enable or disable services?
I read about how to enable and disable services in Ubuntu and it seems that there are different possibilities to manage them.
The first method I found is update-rc.d to add new services to startup, ...
- 33.3k
932
votes
8
answers
2.0m
views
Find and replace text within a file using commands
How can I find and replace specific words in a text file using command line?
- 11.5k
909
votes
9
answers
1.1m
views
How can I recursively delete all files of a specific extension in the current directory?
How do I safely delete all files with a specific extension (e.g. .bak) from current directory and all subfolders using one command-line? Simply, I'm afraid to use rm since I used it wrong once and now ...
- 9,093
884
votes
9
answers
2.3m
views
How do I search for available packages from the command-line?
I have successfully installed some packages using the command:
sudo apt-get install packagename
when I have known in advance that those packages are available. But how can I search for or get a list ...
- 8,975
883
votes
9
answers
2.7m
views
How to install updates via command line?
When I log into my web server via SSH I see the information:
88 packages can be updated.
80 updates are security updates
I tried apt-get update then apt-get upgrade but each time I log in I still ...
- 8,984
862
votes
8
answers
1.6m
views
How to add existing user to an existing group?
I want to add the Apache user (www-data) to the audio group. I've read the man page for useradd, but I'm not having any luck. I'm running xubuntu 11.10. Here's what I'm doing:
$ sudo useradd -G audio ...
- 12.6k
861
votes
22
answers
1.4m
views
How do you monitor the progress of dd?
dd is a wonder. It lets you duplicate a hard drive to another, completely zero a hard drive, etc. But once you launch a dd command, there's nothing to tell you of its progress. It just sits there at ...
- 17.2k
848
votes
9
answers
1.7m
views
How to increment a variable in bash?
I have tried to increment a numeric variable using both var=$var+1 and var=($var+1) without success. The variable is a number, though bash appears to be reading it as a string.
Bash version 4.2.45(1)...
- 8,491
828
votes
4
answers
553k
views
What is the difference between apt and apt-get?
I read about the new fancy progress bar which was added to apt 1.0 in Softpedia and how to enable it here. However on running sudo apt-get update, I did not see the fancy progress bars. On reading the ...
- 12.7k
825
votes
22
answers
1.7m
views
Command for determining my public IP?
If I check with google, I can see my public IP. Is there something on the Ubuntu command-line which will yield me the same answer?
- 8,729
810
votes
16
answers
3.3m
views
How do I reset a lost administrative password?
I'm working on a Ubuntu system, and my client has completely forgotten his administrative password. He doesn't even remember entering one; however it is there.
I've tried the suggestions on the ...
user9904
805
votes
7
answers
3.0m
views
How do I rename a directory via the command line?
I have got the directory /home/user/oldname and I want to rename it to /home/user/newname. How can I do this in a terminal?
- 18.3k
791
votes
25
answers
902k
views
How can I reduce the file size of a scanned PDF file?
I have a 72.9 MB PDF file that I need to shrink to 500 KB or below.
The file was a JPEG image that I had scanned and then converted to PDF.
- 8,049
789
votes
18
answers
2.4m
views
How do I find the amount of free space on my hard drive?
Is there a way to quickly check the amount of free / used disk space in Ubuntu?
I would assume you could right click on 'file system' in the file browser and choose 'properties' or something but ...
- 10.3k
789
votes
4
answers
4.2m
views
How to delete a non-empty directory in Terminal?
How do I delete the following directory?
I typed:
rmdir lampp
This error comes up:
rmdir: failed to remove `lampp': Directory not empty
Is there a command to delete all the files in the directory ...
- 8,117
779
votes
21
answers
709k
views
How can I extract a page range / a part of a PDF?
Do you have any idea how to extract a part of a PDF document and save it as PDF?
On OS X it is absolutely trivial by using Preview. I tried PDF editor and other programs but to no avail.
I would like ...
- 7,799
769
votes
40
answers
1.3m
views
How do I remove old kernel versions to clean up the boot menu?
Every time I install a new Linux kernel, it gets left in the grub_config, making the boot menu longer each time.
I know I can manually search through the installed packages and remove them.
Does ...
769
votes
9
answers
3.8m
views
Change folder permissions and ownership
I would like the user to have full rights on this folder (as well as all sub-directories and files in it):
~/.blabla
currently owned by root.
I have found numerous posts (in this forum and ...
- 14.5k
767
votes
11
answers
651k
views
How do I find the package that provides a file?
Simple enough question: is there some shell command (or GUI method) I can use that, given the path to a file on my system, tells me what package put it there? Assuming the file did in fact come from a ...
- 10.4k
765
votes
10
answers
1.6m
views
How to run scripts on start up?
How can I run scripts automatically when Ubuntu starts up so I don't have to run them manually after startup?
- 34.5k
759
votes
47
answers
1.0m
views
What should I do when Ubuntu freezes?
All operating systems freeze sometimes, and Ubuntu is no exception. What should I do to regain control when...
just one program stops responding?
nothing at all responds to mouse clicks or key ...
- 77.2k
750
votes
9
answers
2.0m
views
What is the correct way to completely remove an application?
I've searched the net for such information and found different command lines, like these ones:
sudo apt-get remove application
sudo apt-get remove application*
sudo apt-get remove --purge ...
- 7,943
742
votes
16
answers
1.7m
views
How to check Internet Speed via Terminal?
Instead of going to sites like speedtest.net, I want to check my current Internet speed from the terminal on Ubuntu. How can I do it?
- 11.8k
738
votes
21
answers
1.8m
views
727
votes
82
answers
531k
views
What Application Indicators are available?
This question exists because it has historical significance, but it is not considered a good, on-topic question for this site, so please do not use it as evidence that you can ask similar questions ...
717
votes
7
answers
1.6m
views
How to make 'python' program command execute Python 3?
The python program command executes Python 2. Python 3 can be executed using the python3 command. How can Python 3 be executed using the python command?
- 7,313
704
votes
9
answers
2.1m
views
What does "sudo apt-get update" do?
I am wondering what sudo apt-get update does?
What does it update?
- 11k