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I have some questions about some Terminal commands:

  1. Why must you do sudo apt-get update before installing an program or after downloading something? Does it update Ubuntu then?

  2. What is the different between sudo gedit /location/to/afile.txt and gksu gedit /location/to/afile.txt?

  3. Why people don't use -y on the end of a command, like for example in sudo apt-get install programx -y.

  4. What does the -i and -l (are there any more) mean in a Terminal?

  5. How can I unpack any .zip or .tar.gz file in a Terminal?

oerdnj
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Korkel
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2 Answers2

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sudo apt-get update updates the repository information of apt, so you can install the latest version of packages.

sudo gedit will ask you for a password in the terminal window, while gksu gedit prompts for a password with a GUI.

Most people like to review any changes they make with root permissions, that's why they refrain from using sudo apt-get -y and similar.

As for -i and -l, these look like parameters you would give to a command. Each command behaves differently and uses different switches, so without knowing the specific command, it's not possible to tell what these mean. Read the manual (man apt-get, for example) or try using --help with any command.

Use unzip file.zip to extract a zip file and tar xzf file.tar.gz to extract a tar.gz file.

kraxor
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3

Why must you do sudo apt-get update before installing an program or after downloading something? Does it update Ubuntu then?

No , it won't update Ubuntu. It just update the repositories and PPA's.

What is the different between sudo gedit /location/to/afile.txt and gksu gedit /location/to/afile.txt?

Don't open gui application as root through sudo instead of sudo, you have to use gksu. gksu package is not installed by default, so run this command sudo apt-get install gksu to install gksu package.

Why don't people not use -y on the end of a command, like sudo apt-get programx -y?

Because people want apt-get to always propmt(ask for permission) before installing packages.

How can I unpack any .zip or .tar.gz file by Terminal?

  • unzip filename.zip

  • tar -xzvf file.tar.gz

Community
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Avinash Raj
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