linux-scavenger-hunt

This is a scavenger hunt to learn Linux commands. Our goal is to find all the clues and learn how to use basic Linux commands in the process.

############## IMPORTANT: RECORDING YOUR COMMANDS ##############

In order to get credit for doing the assignment, let's record our commands!

Before you run anything, run start-record. You should now see [rec] at the start of every line, indicating everything is recorded! If you get command not found, run vm-update first.

When you are done, run exit.

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Setup

First, choose a secret number with at least 4 digits. Don't forget it and don't choose the same one as anyone else! The secret number makes your clues unique, so other teams can't look over your shoulder.

Then type:

python generate_clues.py [secret number]

Any time we enclose something in square brackets, you need to replace it with an actual value (called an argument). For example, to get started I might type:

python generate_clues.py 1919

This will create a subdirectory called clues. Be sure to keep this file (called the README) open in a separate viewer.

Reference

If you want to learn more about Linux when you are finished, or need a reference during the hunt, go here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zWvBsGbqu_Rftg7P3C-tsaHbKAle7bq2s_q0q8bo9yA/edit.

Clue 1: The Hunt Begins

man

The first command we are going to learn is man, which is short for manual. Typing man [command] will give you a help page (usually called a manpage) for most commands.

ls

The next command we need to learn is ls (list). Type man ls and read the description before the list of options - you can ignore everything else for now. Press q to exit. Then type ls and you should see something like this:

APPENDIX.md clues generate_clues.py LICENSE.md next_clue.py README.md

Items which are blue are directories (aka folders!) and everything else is a file. Any time you need to know which files and directories are available, type ls!

cd

We need a couple more tools before we can start clue hunting. To change to another directory (or folder) we use cd (change directory). You may notice that man cd doesn't work. Sometimes, there is no manpage for a command. In that case google is your friend. Going into a directory (or folder) is pretty simple:

cd clues

This puts us in the clues directory (folder). To exit a directory (folder), we can do this:

cd ..

If you ever get lost, just do

cd ~/linux-scavenger-hunt

to return home. If you cd to the clues directory and do an ls, you will notice that there are a lot of directories (folders), each numbered 00001-99999. Most of them contain fake clues. Throughout our hunt we will be looking for real clues. Using cd, navigate into the clues directory and then the 12345 directory, and type ls to list the files in this directory. You should see a single file named clue.

cat

Finally we need to be able to look at our clues. We can do this by doing:

cat clue

This displays the conte of the file clue in your terminal. From now on, everything we need will be contained in these clue files. It's a good idea to keep track of all the clue numbers (like 12345) somewhere, such as on a piece of paper or in a digital note somewhere. Read this clue to continue!