The House is on Fire!

The House Is On Fire!
Crisis Measures in Linux

Any responsible homeowner keeps a fire extinguisher somewhere near the stove. You’re cautious. Home safety is paramount in your mind. But in the event of a huge mental lapse or circumstances outside your control, it’s always important to have a way to minimize and repair damage. For the rest of the week, we’ll look at the Linux equivalent to the prudent fire-extinguisher.

Problems do happen in Linux, as with any other computer operating system. Some of the most common are corrupted filesystems, damaged files and kernel panic. Many of these result from misuse of root privileges. I’m assuming, of course, that your system has worked at some point.

Because you may find yourself in a position to take emergency measures, the first item in this series on putting out Linux fires is one we’ve already covered. But, it’s one that can make a world of difference if and when the need arises to make restorative changes to your system:

    Rule #1: Keep a change log.

I can’t overemphasize the importance of keeping track of changes you’ve made to your system. The changelog has become a permanent fixture on my desk. With the number of fresh installs I did over the course of the Great Distro Review, this log saved my butt more than once. In other words, it made me a real believer in the value of logging changes.

My changelog is an 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ bound spiral notebook, available at any office supply store. I’ve tried to incorporate it into my Linux use as deeply as possible: scribbling notes, noting problems and solutions, and, of course, logging changes item by item. The point is this - if it’s sitting on my desk, I find a way to use it. Whether it’s neat or (as in my case) nearly illegible, is irrelevant. If it’s as integral to my Linux use as a keyboard, I’m using it like I should, the fire extinguisher is somewhere between the covers.

We’ll certainly cover more advanced crisis measures this week. Linux single mode, using boot floppies, fsck, creating backups, and restoring from those backups will all be covered. Is the changelog a simple element of that plan that I covered in other issues? Absolutely. I’ll undoubtedly cover it again. But after all, you might not have to call the fire department if the fire extinguisher is right under the sink.