Hacking Ubuntu

Dr. Neal Krawetz

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Published by
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© 2007 Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN-13: 978-0-4701-0872-7

0-470-10872-X

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Krawetz, Neal.
Hacking Ubuntu : serious hacks, mods, and customizations / Neal Krawetz.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-470-10872-7 (paper/cd-rom)
1. Linux. 2. Operating systems (Computers) I. Title.
QA76.76.O63K742 2007
005.4′32–dc22
2007003316

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To my parents, for systematically crushing my dreams of becoming a cartoonist while encouraging my interest in computers.

About the Author

Neal Krawetz holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University and a Bachelors degree in Computer and Information Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is a computer security professional with experience in computer forensics, profiling, cryptography and cryptanalysis, artificial intelligence, and software solutions. As a hobby, Neal collects operating systems; he currently runs RedHat, Ubuntu, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, Solaris, and HP-UX (with dozens of other operating systems ready to go). He has been a Linux user since 1993 and has enjoyed Ubuntu since 2005 (Hoary Hedgehog). Neal has configured Ubuntu on everything from personal workstations to mission critical servers.

Neal has been active in the security community for more than 15 years and has worked with the open source community for more than 20 years. His work experience spans small startup companies, academic and university environments, and large Fortune 100 corporations. Since 2002, Neal has operated Hacker Factor, a computer security and solutions provider (http://www.hackerfactor.com). At Hacker Factor, he has developed novel forensic techniques for tracking people online and has identified spammers, phishers, carders, and virus writers. He actively assists many branches of law enforcement.

Credits

Executive Editor
Chris Webb

Development Editors
John Sleeva Ken Brown

Technical Editor
Bill Hayes

Production Editor
Angela Smith

Copy Editor
Travis Henderson

Editorial Manager
Mary Beth Wakefield

Production Manager
Tim Tate

Compositor
Kate Kaminski, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Proofreader
Sossity Smith

Indexer
Johnna vanHoose Dinse

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher
Joseph B. Wikert

Anniversary Logo Design
Richard Pacifico

Cover Design
Anthony Bunyan

Acknowledgments

Wow, what a rush. I never would have thought that I could complete an entire book in less than five months. Between this book and my other commitments, I have had virtually no free time for friends and family. I sincerely thank them for standing by me and giving me words of encouragement (in between playful insults).

This book is intended for power users. However, I am only one type of power user: I usually turn off all the glitz and flash in lieu of speed and robustness. Fortunately, my friends are other power users: they love graphics, flash, bang, wow, and cutting edge. They provided a wealth of information that really helped cover all types of advanced Linux and Ubuntu needs. Many enlightening discussions were incorporated into parts of this text. To all of these people, I offer my sincerest thanks: Ragavan Srinivasan, Erik Lillestolen, LaMont Jones, Jer/ Eberhard, Paul Whyman, Mark Rasch, Valdis Kletnieks, Paul Ferguson, April Lorenzen, Marc Sachs and his band of Internet Storm Center handlers, the Department of Defense's Cyber Crime Center, and all of the folks who put together the Blackhat Briefings security conference. I must also thank my father, Howard Krawetz, for all of the hardware he sent my way, including the various graphic cards and network interfaces. And my mother, Sharon Krawetz, for her words of encouragement: "Why are you writing another book?"

Although I have done my best to make this book as complete, accurate, and understandable as possible, I must offer my gratitude to the people who have reviewed, tested, and helped enhance this manuscript: Bill Hayes for his thoroughness and ideas, and Michelle Mach for, well, everything. Their patience, feedback, and helpful comments have been an invaluable asset. Any errors in this book are strictly my own, but without them, there would be many more errors. I thank Chris Webb, John Sleeva, Ken Brown, and the staff at Wiley Publishing for this opportunity. And most importantly, I thank Neil Salkind and StudioB for infecting me with their Can-Do attitude.

Finally, nobody can use Linux without using software created by literally thousands of developers. I offer my deepest respect and thanks to the entire open source community, and to Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical Ltd. for packaging up the best of the best into one distribution: Ubuntu.