Updated: 2015-01-30 18:14 EST

1 Due Date and DeliverablesIndexup to index

Do not print this assignment on paper!

2 Purpose of this AssignmentIndexup to index

Do not print this assignment on paper! On paper, you cannot follow any of the hyperlink URLs that lead you to hints and course notes relevant to answering a question.

This assignment is based on your weekly Class Notes.

  1. Use simple commands in The Unix/Linux Shell.

Remember to READ ALL THE WORDS to work effectively and not waste time.

3 Introduction and OverviewIndexup to index

This is an overview of how you are expected to complete this assignment. Read all the words before you start working.

For full marks, follow these directions exactly.

  1. Complete the Tasks listed below.
  2. Verify your own work before running the Checking Program.
  3. Run the Checking Program to help you find errors.
  4. Submit the output of the Checking Program to Blackboard before the due date.
  5. READ ALL THE WORDS to work effectively and not waste time.

You will create file system structure in your CLS home directory containing various directories and files. You can use the Checking Program to check your work as you do the tasks. You can check your work with the Checking Program as often as you like before you submit your final mark. Some task sections below require you to finish the whole section before running theChecking Program; you may not always be able to run theChecking Program** successfully after every single task step.**

When you are finished the tasks, leave the files and directories in place on the CLS as part of your deliverables. Do not delete any assignment work until after the term is over!

Assignments may be re-marked at any time on the CLS; you must have your term work available on the CLS right until term end.

Since I also do manual marking of student assignments, your final mark may not be the same as the mark submitted using the current version of the Checking Program. I do not guarantee that any version of the Checking Program will find all the errors in your work. Complete your assignments according to the specifications, not according to the incomplete set of the mistakes detected by the Checking Program.

3.1 The Source DirectoryIndexup to index

All references to the “Source Directory” below are to the CLS directory ~idallen/cst8207/15w/assignment03/ and that name starts with a tilde character ~ followed by a user name with no intervening slash. The leading tilde indicates to the shell that the pathname starts with the HOME directory of the account idallen (seven letters).

You do not have permission to list the names of all the files in the Source Directory, but you can access any files whose names you already know.

4 TasksIndexup to index

4.1 Do Worksheet 2 and Worksheet 3Indexup to index

These worksheets prepare you to do the rest of the tasks listed below by executing commands via Remote Login to the Course Linux Server.

Failure to complete the worksheets will make the rest of this assignment very difficult. Do the worksheets first!

You can download Libre Office (or Open Office) for Windows to edit the Worksheet *.odt files and save your answers. (Or you can print the PDF and write your answers on paper.) Do not use MSWord; it will mangle the format of the worksheet.

Record and save all your worksheet answers for study and quizzes!

  1. Do a Remote Login to the Course Linux Server (CLS). All work in this assignment must be done on the CLS.

  2. Use LibreOffice or OpenOffice to open, complete, and save: Worksheet #02 ODT
    • Do not use MSWord to open this file; it damages the file.
    • You must read the week’s Class Notes before you do the worksheet.
    • You will find it easier to write over the red underscores using “OVERWRITE” typing mode instead of the default “INSERT” mode.
    • Another way to fill in answers is to double-click to select the entire line of underscores and then simply type or paste to replace it.
    • Record and save all your worksheet answers for study and quizzes!
    • Read All The Words
  3. Use LibreOffice or OpenOffice to open, complete, and save: Worksheet #03 ODT
    • See the notes above for the previous worksheet.

Failure to complete the worksheets will make the rest of this assignment very difficult. Do the worksheets first!

4.2 Set your PS1 Shell PromptIndexup to index

  1. Using the PS1 variable syntax shown in Section 2 of Worksheet #02 HTML, set your prompt to include your user name, your computer name, and the basename of your current working directory. (See the definition of basename in the Pathnames class notes.)
    • Your prompt should look similar to this:   [abcd0001@idallen-ubuntu ~]$

Set your PS1 prompt every time you log in to the CLS, so that the prompt changes to tell you you the basename of your current working directory. This is faster than typing pwd all the time! You will learn later how to create a .bashrc file to make this happen automatically every time you log in to the CLS.

Bonus Feature: If you use \w instead of \W in the PS1 prompt string, the shell will display the full absolute path of your current working directory instead of just the basename. You may or may not like this feature; it doesn’t leave much room on the command line to type commands without having the command line wrap around to the next line. You choose.

4.3 Set Up – The Base Directory on the CLSIndexup to index

You must keep a list of command names used each week and write down what each command does, as described in the List of Commands You Should Know. Without that list to remind you what command names to use, you will find assignments very difficult.

  1. Create the following directory structure in your CLS personal HOME directory and record (for study purposes) the series of Unix commands you used to create it. Spelling and capitalization must be exactly as shown:
    1. Create the CST8207-15W directory in your CLS HOME directory.
    2. Create the Assignments directory in the CST8207-15W directory.
    3. Create the assignment03 directory in the Assignments directory.

Hint: You can create the entire directory tree above using one single command with one option and one pathname argument, as you did at the end of Section 4 in Worksheet #02 HTML. System administrators like to work efficiently – they learn how to do things quickly.

  1. Check the structure of this directory tree by making your HOME directory your current directory and using one of these tree commands below. Try both command lines below and use the command that gives the best-looking output in your terminal.

    $ tree CST8207-15W
    $ tree -A CST8207-15W

    The correct output will look similar to the ASCII tree diagram below. The spelling and capitalization must be exactly as shown.

    CST8207-15W
    `-- Assignments
        `-- assignment03

This assignment03 directory is called the Base Directory for most pathnames in this assignment. Store your files and answers in this Base Directory, not in your HOME directory or anywhere else.

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.4 Using a relative pathnameIndexup to index

  1. Make the Assignments directory that you created above your current directory.

  2. Run the command that shows the current date and time. One line should display on your screen that looks similar to this:

    Tue Jan 20 09:35:22 EST 2015
  3. Redo the previous command, and this time redirect the output of the command into the file date.txt in the current directory (just as you did in Assignment #02).

    Hint: Recall that you can redirect into a file any output that appears on your screen. You did this using the date command to create the file date.txt in Assignment #02.

  4. Move the date.txt file from the current directory (Assignments) into your Base Directory using the shortest relative pathname to do so. (You did work similar to this in Section 4 of Worksheet #02 ODT.)

  5. Use a command that shows file names to confirm that there are no files left in the current directory. (You will only see the directory basename of the Base Directory in the current directory.)

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.5 Using find to list all the pathnamesIndexup to index

  1. Make the CST8207-15W directory that you created above your current directory.

    Hint: What is the shortest relative pathname that will take you from the Assignments directory up to the CST8207-15W directory?

  2. In the CST8207-15W directory, use a command to recursively walk the current directory and print all the pathnames under the current directory on your screen.

    Hint: You used this exact command to print all the pathnames under the current directory in Section 8 of Worksheet #02 HTML.

  3. Repeat the same recursive command you just used and redirect the output of the command into file found.txt in your Base Directory (not in your current directory).

    Hint: For the redirection output file pathname, you must use a relative pathname that leads from your current directory down into the Base Directory. The relative pathname will contain two embedded slashes separating three name components. The basename of the relative pathname must be the destination file name found.txt

  4. Use a command that shows file names to confirm that the found.txt file is located in the Base Directory and not in the current directory.

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.6 Creating new files and directoriesIndexup to index

You may find it easier to type if you make the Base Directory you created above (assignment03) your current directory for this section. The file names in this section have been deliberately chosen to contain characters that look similar but are not the same. Pay strict attention to the names used.

  1. Copy the cal.txt file you created in Assignment #02 HTML into the Base Directory using the new name calnew,txt for the file. (Note carefully the punctuation character used in this name.) The Base Directory now has three files in it (and nothing else).

  2. Create the following directory structure starting in the Base Directory and record (for study purposes) the series of commands you used to create it. Spelling and capitalization must be exactly as shown:
    1. Create the l1dir directory in the Base Directory. Pay careful attention to the name; the first two characters of the name are not the same.
    2. Under directory l1dir create two new directories named one and two (three letters each).
    3. Under directory one create new directory One0ne (six characters, including one digit zero).
    4. Under directory two create new directory twotwO (six letters, including one that is upper-case).

Hint: You can create the entire directory tree above using one single command with one option and two pathname arguments, as you did at the end of Section 4 in Worksheet #02 HTML. System administrators like to work efficiently – they learn how to do things quickly.

  1. Check the structure of this directory tree using the same command as you used in the previous section. The correct directory tree under the Base Directory must look similar to the ASCII tree diagram below. The spelling and capitalization must be exactly as shown.

    l1dir
    |-- one
    |   `-- One0ne
    `-- two
        `-- twotwO
  2. Copy the directory l1dir to new directory Ildir using the correct directory copy option, as you did in Section 3 of Worksheet #03 HTML. Pay careful attention to the new directory name; the first two characters of the name are not the same.

    Hint: Ildir should not exist before you do this! If it already exists, recursively remove it before you do the copy, or else you will get a spurious extra level of directory.

  3. Check that the tree structure of Ildir is exactly the same as the tree structure of the l1dir directory from which you copied it.

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.7 Generating a recursive pathname listIndexup to index

  1. Make the Base Directory your current directory and then use a command to recursively generate a list of all pathnames using your l1dir directory as the starting directory. (You used this recursive command above, and many times in the Section 8 in the end of Worksheet #02 HTML. Do not use the tree or ls commands. Use the l1dir directory as your starting directory.)

    The recursive output of all pathnames under your l1dir directory will be exactly five lines long and will contain this exact line in the output somewhere (along with another four lines):

    l1dir/one/One0ne

    Make sure the exact line above appears as one of the five lines!

  2. When the five lines of recursive output above on your screen looks correct, redirect the output of the command into the file named paths.txt in the One0ne directory that you created earlier under the Ildir directory.

    Hint: Draw a file system tree diagram so that you know what relative pathname to use. Don’t try to invent the pathname in your head!

    Hint: For the output redirection file, use a relative path from your current directory down into the One0ne directory under Ildir. The relative pathname will contain three embedded slashes separating four name components. The basename of the relative pathname is the destination file name paths.txt

  3. Make the One0ne directory under Ildir your current directory. (Make sure you get the right one under Ildir and not l1dir! Display your current working directory and make sure.)

    Hint: Draw a file system tree diagram so that you know what relative pathname to use. Don’t try to invent the pathname in your head!

  4. Use a command to list the files in the current (One0ne) directory to confirm that the paths.txt file is here. Use another command to display the contents of the paths.txt file, and make sure it contains exactly five lines of pathnames from under the l1dir directory.

  5. From in the One0ne directory, copy the paths.txt file (from the current directory) into the twotwO directory that is also under the Ildir directory, giving it the new name paths.txt.copy as the destination file name for the copy.

    Hint: Again, use relative paths to do the copy. Draw a file system hierarchy picture to help you derive the correct relative pathname. For the destination file, use a relative path from your current directory that goes up the tree and then down into the two directory. The relative pathname will contain four embedded slashes separating five name components. The basename of the relative pathname is the destination file name.

  6. Save a copy of the command line you just used into a file as follows:
    1. Use the Up-Arrow key and prefix the copy command line you just typed with the echo command to echo the whole command line onto the screen. The copy command name and its two relative pathname arguments that you used to make the above copy should echo onto the screen.
    2. Again use the Up-Arrow key and add redirection to the echo command line to redirect the output into file copycommand.txt in the Base Directory. No output should appear on screen.
    3. The copycommand.txt file should contain on one line the copy command name followed by two relative pathname arguments, exactly as you typed it in the preceding question.

    Hints: Because the copycommand.txt output file must be located in the Base Directory, not in the current One0ne directory, you need to specify a relative redirection output pathname that goes up several levels to the Base Directory. The relative pathname will contain three embedded slashes and many parent directories. The basename of the relative pathname is the destination file name copycommand.txt

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.8 Working with existing directories and files: topdirIndexup to index

  1. Execute this exact command line in your account on the CLS:

    ~idallen/cst8207/15w/assignment03/create_topdir.sh

All the following commands in this task section apply to files and directories under the new topdir directory. You will have to use commands to find some of the file names mentioned here; they may be located under sub-directories. (See Searching and Finding Files.) Some of these tasks may require more than one command to complete.

  1. Find and read the file named README.txt (located somewhere under some directory under topdir). You have to find this file.

  2. Read and then delete the file foo.txt that is in the same directory as the README.txt file. (Do not delete any other decoy files named foo.txt that may be in other directories.)

  3. Move (rename) the file bar to be bar.bak (This is a move, not a copy. It renames the file.)

  4. Directly under the topdir directory, create a new empty directory named bar (three letters). (Make sure you create bar under topdir, not in your HOME or any other directory.)

  5. Find the file named stuff (not the directory with the same name) and move (rename) that stuff file to be named services under the new directory bar that you just created. (This is a move/rename, not a copy.) Make sure you move the file, not the directory with the same name.

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.9 Working with directories and files: base1, base2, base3Indexup to index

You may find it easier to type if you make the Base Directory your current directory for this section.

When the word count is given for a command, the numbers are the values you should get if you pipe the command output into the word count command, e.g. date | wc

  1. Create the following directory structure starting in the Base Directory and record (for study purposes) the series of commands you used to create it. Spelling and capitalization must be exactly as shown:
    1. Create a directory named base1 in your Base Directory.
    2. Under directory base1 create two new directories named bdir1 and bdir2 (four letters and one digit each).
    3. Under directory bdir1 create new directory bdir1-1 (four letters, two digits, and one dash).
    4. Under directory bdir2 create new directory bdir2-1 (four letters, two digits, and one dash).

Hint: You can create the entire directory tree above using one single command with one option and two pathname arguments, as you did at the end of Section 4 in Worksheet #02 HTML. System administrators like to work efficiently – they learn how to do things quickly.

  1. Verify that the directory tree under base1 looks similar to the ASCII tree diagram below. The spelling and capitalization must be exactly as shown:

    base1
    |-- bdir1
    |   `-- bdir1-1
    `-- bdir2
        `-- bdir2-1
  2. Make the Base Directory your current directory and then use a command to recursively generate a list of all pathnames using base1 as the starting directory.

    Hints: You used this recursive command many times in Section 8 of Worksheet #02 HTML. Do not use the tree or ls commands. The recursive output of all pathnames will be exactly five lines long and will contain this exact line in the output somewhere (along with another four lines):

    base1/bdir2/bdir2-1

    Make sure the exact line above appears as one of the five lines! The word count of this command output must be: 5 5 70 and if the count is wrong, re-read all the words in ths step.

  3. When the recursive output above on your screen looks correct, redirect the five lines of output of the command into the file named base1find.txt in the Base Directory. (That file name has one digit in it.) The word count of this file must also be: 5 5 70.

  4. RTFM and find the single-letter option to the copy program that preserves mode, ownership, and timestamps when you copy. Make a note of this option in your own course notes; you will use it often as a system administrator.

  5. Under your Base Directory create another directory base2 that contains a copy of everything you created under base1, with the timestamps preserved.

    Hint: The fastest way to do this is with a single recursive copy command, as you did in Section 3 of Worksheet #03 HTML, but add the option to preserve timestamps. Hint: Do not create the base2 directory before you copy, or else you will get a spurious extra level of directory.

  6. Use a command to create an empty file named mt in each of the five directories from base2 down. You will create five empty files, one in each of five directories. Hint: You can do this with one single command name and five relative pathnames.

  7. Make the base2 directory your current directory and then use a command to recursively generate a list of all pathnames under your current directory. The recursive output of all pathnames under your current directory will be exactly ten lines long and will contain this exact line in the output somewhere (along with another nine lines):

    ./bdir2/bdir2-1/mt

    Make sure the exact line above appears as one of the ten lines! The word count of this command output must be: 10 10 115 and if the count is wrong, re-read all the words in this step.

  8. When the recursive output above on your screen looks correct, redirect the ten lines of output of the command into the file named base2find.txt in your Base Directory (not in the current directory). The word count of this file must also be: 10 10 115.

  9. Under your Base Directory create another directory base3 that contains a copy of everything that you created under base2, with timestamps preserved. Hint: See the previous Hint!

  10. Under base3 rename each of the mt files to have the number of the immediate parent directory that contains it, e.g. rename base3/mt to be base3/mt3 and bdir2-1/mt to be bdir2-1/mt2-1, etc. You don’t know enough scripting yet to do this with a script; do each file manually.

    Hint: The -type f option to find may be useful here to generate a list of only file names and not show directory names.

  11. Make the base3 directory your current directory and then use a command to recursively generate a list of all pathnames under your current directory. The recursive output of all pathnames under your current directory will be exactly ten lines long and will contain this exact line in the output somewhere (along with another nine lines):

    ./bdir2/bdir2-1/mt2-1

    Make sure the exact line above appears as one of the ten lines! The word count of this command output must be: 10 10 124 and if the count is wrong, re-read all the words in this step.

  12. When the recursive output above on your screen looks correct, redirect the ten lines of output of the command into the file named base3find.txt in your Base Directory (not in the current directory). The word count of this file must also be: 10 10 124

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.10 Finding files in a mazeIndexup to index

  1. Under the Source Directory there is a directory named maze (four letters) with many, many sub-directories and sub-sub-directories, etc. (The maze contains over 17,000 pathnames.) In this large maze, find the one file with a 12-character basename that looks similar to abcd0001-txt but where the eight-character abcd0001 part of the name is replaced by your own account userid.

    Hints:
    1. Review the definition of basename in the Pathnames class notes.
    2. Recall that you do not have permission to list the names of all the files in the Source Directory, but you can access the maze directory there because you know its name.
    3. This maze directory contains many hidden sub-directories; you need a special option to see hidden files and directories.
    4. Do not try to use cd or ls to find the file in the maze; the maze is very big. Use the correct command.
    5. You must use a single command that recursively finds files by basename to find your 12-character file name. You have previously seen the command you will need in the first item b. of Section 8 of Worksheet #02 HTML.
    6. Read the file when you find it. The file content will tell you clearly that you have found the right file. If you see XXX in the file, it is not the right file.
    7. Pay careful attention to the exact spelling of the 12-character basename of the required file.
  2. When you have found your personal abcd0001-txt file in the maze, create a new directory maze in your Base Directory and copy your personal file from the maze into that new directory using the new file name treasure.txt. Read the file to make sure it’s the right one before and after you copy it into your own maze directory; the file content will tell you clearly that you have found the right file.

    Hint: Be careful not to copy the entire maze directory! Copy only the one file.

Run the Checking Program to verify your work so far.

4.11 When you are doneIndexup to index

That is all the tasks you need to do.

Check your work using the Checking Program below and save the standard output of that program into a file as described below. Submit that file (and only that one file) to Blackboard following the directions below.

When you are done, log out of the CLS before you close your laptop or close the PuTTY window, by using the shell exit command:

$ exit

5 Checking, Marking, and Submitting your WorkIndexup to index

Summary: Do some tasks, then run the Checking Program to verify your work as you go. You can run the Checking Program as often as you want. When you have the best mark, upload the single file that is the output of the Checking Program to Blackboard.

Since I also do manual marking of student assignments, your final mark may not be the same as the mark submitted using the current version of the Checking Program. I do not guarantee that any version of the Checking Program will find all the errors in your work. Complete your assignments according to the specifications, not according to the incomplete set of the mistakes detected by the Checking Program.

  1. There is a Checking Program named assignment03check in the Source Directory on the CLS. You can execute this program by typing its (long) pathname into the shell as a command name:

    $ ~idallen/cst8207/15w/assignment03/assignment03check

    You will learn of ways to make this shorter in future assignments.

  2. Execute the above Checking Program as a command line on the CLS. This program will check your work, assign you a mark, and display the output on your screen.

    You may run the Checking Program as many times as you wish, allowing you to correct mistakes and get the best mark.

  3. When you are done with this assignment, and you like the mark displayed on your screen by the Checking Program, you must redirect only the standard output of the Checking Program into the text file assignment03.txt on the CLS, like this:

    $ ~idallen/cst8207/15w/assignment03/assignment03check >assignment03.txt
    $ cat assignment03.txt
    • Use output redirection with that exact assignment03.txt file name.
    • Be absolutely accurate, as if your marks depended on it.
    • Case (upper/lower case letters) matters.
    • Make sure the file actually contains the output of the Checking Program!
    • The file should contain, near the bottom, a line starting with: YOUR MARK for
    • Really! MAKE SURE THE FILE HAS YOUR MARKS IN IT!
  4. Transfer the above single file assignment03.txt (containing the output from the Checking Program) from the CLS to your local computer.
    • You may want to refer to the File Transfer page for how to transfer the file.
    • Verify that the file still contains all the output from the Checking Program.
    • Do not edit this file! No empty files, please! Edited or damaged files will not be marked. Submit the file exactly as given.
    • The file should contain near the bottom a line starting with: YOUR MARK for
    • Really! MAKE SURE THE FILE HAS YOUR MARKS IN IT!
  5. Upload the assignment03.txt file from your local computer to the correct Assignment area on Blackboard (with the exact name) before the due date:
    1. On your local computer use a web browser to log in to Blackboard and go to the Blackboard page for this course.
    2. Go to the Blackboard Assignments area for the course, in the left side-bar menu, and find the current assignment.
    3. Under Assignments, click on the underlined assignment03 link for this assignment.
      1. If this is your first upload, the Upload Assignment page will open directly; skip the next sentence.
      2. If you have already uploaded previously, the Review Submission History page will be open and you must use the Start New button at the bottom of the page to get to the Upload Assignment page.
    4. On the Upload Assignment page, scroll down and beside Attach File use Browse My Computer to find and attach your assignment file from your local computer. Make sure the assignment file has the correct name on your local computer before you attach it.
    5. After you have attached the file on the Upload Assignment page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and use the Submit button to actually upload your attached assignment file to Blackboard.

    Use only Attach File on the Upload Assignment page. Do not enter any text into the Text Submission or Comments boxes on Blackboard; I do not read them. Use only the Attach File section followed by the Submit button. If you need to comment on any assignment submission, send me EMail.

    You can revise and upload the file more than once using the Start New button on the Review Submission History page to open a new Upload Assignment page. I only look at the most recent submission.

    You must upload the file with the correct name from your local computer; you cannot correct the name as you upload it to Blackboard.

  6. Verify that Blackboard has received your submission: After using the Submit button, you will see a page titled Review Submission History that will show all your uploaded submissions for this assignment. Each of your submissions is called an Attempt on this page. A drop-down list of all your attempts is available.
    1. Verify that your latest Attempt has the correct 16-character, lower-case file name under the SUBMISSION heading.
    2. The one file name must be the only thing under the SUBMISSION heading. Only the one file name is allowed.
    3. No COMMENTS heading should be visible on the page. Do not enter any comments when you upload an assignment.
    4. Save a screen capture of the Review Submission History page on your local computer, showing the single uploaded file name listed under SUBMISSION. If you want to claim that you uploaded the file and Blackboard lost it, you will need this screen capture to prove that you actually uploaded the file. (To date, Blackboard has never lost an uploaded file.)

    You will also see the Review Submission History page any time you already have an assignment attempt uploaded and you click on the underlined assignment03 link. You can use the Start New button on this page to re-upload your assignment as many times as you like.

    You cannot delete an assignment attempt, but you can always upload a new version. I only mark the latest version.

  7. Your instructor may also mark files in your directory in your CLS account after the due date. Leave everything there on the CLS. Do not delete any assignment work from the CLS until after the term is over!

READ ALL THE WORDS. OH PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ ALL THE WORDS!

Author: 
| Ian! D. Allen  -  idallen@idallen.ca  -  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| Home Page: http://idallen.com/   Contact Improv: http://contactimprov.ca/
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