Preface

"What was it about UNIX that won my heart? . . . UNIX is mysterious when you first approach. A little intimidating, too. But despite an unadorned and often plain presentation, the discerning suitor can tell there's lot going on under the surface."

Thomas Scoville, http://unix.oreilly.com/news/unix_love_0299.html

When the above-mentioned article was first published, I was still very much a BSD newbie. My spare hours were spent struggling with kernel recompiles, PPP connectivity (or lack thereof), rm and chmod disasters, and reading and rereading every bit of the then available documentation. Yet, that article gave voice to my experience, for, like the quoted author, I had stumbled upon operating system love. In other words, I was discovering how to hack on BSD.

Since then, I've learned that there is an unspoken commonality between the novice Unix user and the seasoned guru. It doesn't matter whether you've just survived your first successful installation or you've just executed a complex script that will save your company time and money, the feeling is the same. It's the excitement of venturing into unknown territory and discovering something new and wonderful. It's that sense of accomplishment that comes with figuring something out for yourself, with finding your own solution to the problem at hand.

This book contains 100 hacks written by users who love hacking with BSD. You'll find hacks suited to both the novice user and the seasoned veteran, as well as everyone in between. Read them in any order that suits your purpose, but keep the "onion principle" in mind. While each hack does present at least one practical solution to a problem, that's just the outer layer. Use your imagination to peel away deeper layers, exposing new solutions as you do so.