Linux Commands to Kill your Operating System
There are a bunch of Linux commands that can and will have a negative impact on your system. Since not most people are aware of them (especially Linux newbies), it is fairly easy to get tricked into using said commands and damaging your Linux operating system. Take a look at the commands presented below, and if anyone “graciously” advises you to use them, do not take their advice and feel free to express your displeasure on said advisor.
The command “rm -rf /” will delete all the files stored in the root directory. Not only does the command delete said files by force, it also does this recursively. The “mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda” command is somewhat similar – all the files in the device mentioned after the mkfs command, will be reformatted or deleted.
The “mv /home/yourhomedirectory/* /dev/null” command will not delete the files stored in your home directory, but move them to nowhere. To be more precise, the move location does not exist. What this means that even though you did not issue a delete command, the outcome is very much the same.
If you want your system to freeze, then use the “:(){:|:&};:” command. This will cause your Linux system to initiate a very large number of processes which will inevitably lead to a system freeze. Affectionately known as the “forkbomb” this command also has the effect of corrupting data stored on your machine.
In more upbeat news, Linux Mint users will be glad to know that the first release candidate of Linux Mint 6, codename Felicia, dropped earlier this month, following the release of Linux Mint 5 64-bit edition from late October. In the “more good news for Linux” series, Adobe has issued a Flash Player version for 64-bit systems. Meanwhile Microsoft and Novell are hard at work on Moonlight, the equivalent of Adobe’s Flash for Linux and Silverlight for Windows-based systems.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Linux decided to give up on the software business and start its own airline? Read this article and put a smile on your face.
The command “rm -rf /” will delete all the files stored in the root directory. Not only does the command delete said files by force, it also does this recursively. The “mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda” command is somewhat similar – all the files in the device mentioned after the mkfs command, will be reformatted or deleted.
The “mv /home/yourhomedirectory/* /dev/null” command will not delete the files stored in your home directory, but move them to nowhere. To be more precise, the move location does not exist. What this means that even though you did not issue a delete command, the outcome is very much the same.
If you want your system to freeze, then use the “:(){:|:&};:” command. This will cause your Linux system to initiate a very large number of processes which will inevitably lead to a system freeze. Affectionately known as the “forkbomb” this command also has the effect of corrupting data stored on your machine.
In more upbeat news, Linux Mint users will be glad to know that the first release candidate of Linux Mint 6, codename Felicia, dropped earlier this month, following the release of Linux Mint 5 64-bit edition from late October. In the “more good news for Linux” series, Adobe has issued a Flash Player version for 64-bit systems. Meanwhile Microsoft and Novell are hard at work on Moonlight, the equivalent of Adobe’s Flash for Linux and Silverlight for Windows-based systems.
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Linux decided to give up on the software business and start its own airline? Read this article and put a smile on your face.
