On 22/03/07, Tony Whitmore <tony@???> wrote:
> Mike Burrows wrote:
> >> Oh, and what was it you were doing to get this improper suggestion
> >> from your package manager?
> > I think I now know what caused all this in the first place. While
> > ... that process required the loading of a ...
>
> If you can't remember why you started out on this journey and aren't
> sure what you did to get where you are, you might find a notebook and
> pen a useful tool in helping you retrace your footsteps. Write down what
> it is you are trying to achieve and then do some research on-line on how
> best to achieve it. You could also ask for advice on this list *before*
> you start out making fundamental system changes. It would probably save
> a lot of pain in the long run.
>
> The "history" command will show previous commands you've entered in a
> terminal. You might also find a book like O'Reilly's "Running Linux" a
> worthwhile investment as it covers the fundamental principles of Linux
> system administration.
I have started so many day books, log books, note books with oh the
best of intentions. But the issues for me about keeping written notes
of what you're doing/what you've done are
- it takes so l.o.o.n.g !
- are you writing down the right stuff?
- are you writing enough ?
- are you writing too much ?
- will you be able to find it again?
- if you do, can you read your own hurried, abbreviated (*) scrawl?
- (*) sadly, my paper notebook doesn't do tab completion.
I tend to try to keep electronic logs now for key activities. Still
experimenting with different tools, but have found the following
useful:
Command line tools:
bash history and '$ history|grep foo'
'$ script job_date_time.log' - records everything to&from your
terminal. Unfortunately that includes all cursor codes, rubouts, and
escape sequences.
emacs Esc-x shell : shell buffer in your emacs session, searchable,
cut/pasteable, saveable as a text file for later reference. Does mean
that you need to be running emacs, and does mean that up-arrow does
not recall your last command.
Some folks, I know, endorse $ screen but I've never got on with that myself.
If you are working as root, some trail of your actions may show up in
various files in /var/log/.
Tools for tracking use of GUI tools are a bit more tricky. Cut/paste
from tool window into a Tomboy/stickynote window can be useful (but
then some gui tools now don't even support the hallowed original X
copy/paste conventions ... don't get me started on that.) Similarly
for major events a copy/paste into a wiki page makes a good record.
Any other techniques anyone would like to share?
