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1500 questions
202
votes
3 answers
How do I get details about a package which isn't installed?
How can I get some details about a package without installing it, (eg. the description and version number) like in Synaptic or Aptitude. The command
dpkg -s PACKAGE
does not work, with this error. It works for installed packages,…
kiri
- 28,246
- 16
- 81
- 118
202
votes
6 answers
dpkg error: "trying to overwrite file, which is also in..."
For example:
$ sudo apt-get install curl
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
You might want to run 'apt-get -f install' to correct these:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
bsh :…
missingfaktor
- 2,549
202
votes
3 answers
Why is a virtual terminal "virtual", and what/why/where is the "real" terminal?
I hope the question is self-explanatory.
My understanding is that gnome-terminal and konsole are virtual terminals, and they are basically serving the same purpose, i.e. a command line environment for various optional command interpreters. (I'm not…
Peter.O
- 24,681
201
votes
8 answers
keyboard shortcut to switch between windows within an application
Is there a keyboard shortcut, or can I somehow bind a shortcut, to switch between windows within an application (similar to opt+~ on macOS)?
Ideally, I'd like Alt+Tab to be unaffected or to be rebound to switch between applications (not between…
Andrew M
- 2,398
201
votes
7 answers
How to solve "permission denied" when using sudo with redirection in Bash?
When using sudo to allow edits to files, I regularly get 'permission denied'.
For example, my mouse is jittery and sluggish, so I want to disable polling:
sudo echo "options drm_kms_helper poll=N">/etc/modprobe.d/local.conf
I'm prompted for a…
Jack
- 3,899
201
votes
6 answers
How to install many font files quickly and easily?
I need to install more than 100 fonts, so I was wondering if there is an easy way to do this task?
I know you can opening every single one and pressing install font, but installing more then 100 fonts this way will be very time-consuming.
In my…
Levan
- 10,880
201
votes
2 answers
How to enable TRIM?
I know that the Linux kernel supports TRIM as of version 2.6.33, so there should be TRIM support in ubuntu.
Is TRIM enabled by default or do I need to change some settings or install additional software for it to work? If so, how?
Uli
- 5,166
200
votes
2 answers
Connect/disconnect from VPN from the command line
I have two VPNs setup on my Ubuntu machine, one using vpnc and one using PPTP. These were both setup using the GNOME network manager interface and work great. However on occasion I need to access this machine remotely - is there a way to connect or…
Tim Fountain
- 2,099
200
votes
9 answers
How to find out how much disk space is remaining?
What is the command to find out how much disk space is being used/remaining?
hawkeye
- 3,877
200
votes
7 answers
How to convert .mkv file into .mp4 file losslessly?
I need to convert a video file from Matroska container into mp4 container. Matroska file contains one h.264 video track and one AC3 sound track. It should be possible to do this losslessly, but how to do it with native Ubuntu tools?
Transcoding is…
Seppo Erviälä
- 5,645
200
votes
6 answers
How do I get and modify the source code of packages installed through apt-get?
I am assuming that all application installed through apt-get are open source; but for those that are available in that manner, where can I get the source code for these applications as well as update them?
I have a couple applications I use…
myusuf3
- 34,189
200
votes
8 answers
How do I find the path to pg_hba.conf from the shell?
I would like to obtain the path to pg_hba.conf from the shell. The path varies between versions of PostgreSQL. For instance, for 8.4 and 9.1:
/etc/postgresql/8.4/main/pg_hba.conf
/etc/postgresql/9.1/main/pg_hba.conf
I have tried the pg_config…
Roger Dahl
- 2,192
200
votes
2 answers
How to get disk usage from command line?
How can I get the current disk usage (in %) of my hard drive from the command line?
Olivier Lalonde
- 58,691
199
votes
11 answers
How to run an alias in a shell script?
I have an executable file mpiexec, whose full path is ~/petsc-3.2-p6/petsc-arch/bin/mpiexec. Since I want to execute this command in different directories (without having to retype the entire path), I setup an alias in my home .bashrc file:
alias…
Paul
- 2,229
199
votes
6 answers
Why am I getting authentication errors for packages from an Ubuntu repository?
I'm experimenting with VPNs, so I wanted to install pptpd.
john@desktop:~$ sudo apt-get install pptpd
[sudo] password for john:
The following extra packages will be installed:
bcrelay
The following NEW packages will be installed:
bcrelay…
John
- 3,947