[ale] windows to Linux user conversion training guide

[George Allen]

Possibly a good example for the docbook would be the Mercurial
documentation: https://bitbucket.org/bos/hgbook/src
Their Makefile executes the examples so they get pulled into the book directly.

On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> Correct. The * on the end is wrong. And there needs to be a -r statement
> explanation.
>
> Actually, that whole page needs many more examples.
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 11:42 AM, Scott Plante <splante at insightsys.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> I don't believe this is correct:
>> http://jimkinney.us/3.%2Bssh%252C%2Bscp%2Band%2Brsync.html
>>
>> scp /path/to/files/ <username>@<hostname>:/path/to/new/files/* will copy
>> all of the files to the /path/to/new/files/ location on the <hostname>
>> system.
>>
>> That produces "/path/to/files: not a regular file" error for me. Perhaps
>> you meant:
>> scp /path/to/files/* <username>@<hostname>:/path/to/new/files/ will copy
>> all of the files to the /path/to/new/files/ location on the <hostname>
>> system.
>>
>> Or alternatively:
>> scp -r /path/to/files <username>@<hostname>:/path/to/new/files
>>
>> Of course, the -r will copy subdirectories as well (as I'm sure you know).
>> I assume this was a typo, but perhaps some version of scp has special
>> processing of a trailing asterisk?
>>
>> ~~~
>>
>> On a broader note, especially for Windows users, I think it's important to
>> discuss parameter expansion somewhere. I say particularly for Windows users
>> because I believe (and my batch file skills are minimal) that in Windows,
>> the individual commands are responsible for expanding converting wildcards
>> into individual files, whereas that happens before the individual command
>> sees the arguments in *nix. So in Windows, when you type:
>>
>> copy *.txt C:\temp
>>
>> The copy command sees those two arguments and is responsible for figuring
>> out that the current directory has a.txt b.txt and c.txt. It can be a subtle
>> difference for new shell users at first, but an important one, that here the
>> shell expands those arguments before the command sees them. So a similar
>> line in Linux:
>>
>> cp *.txt /tmp
>>
>> Would appear to the cp command as:
>>
>> cp a.txt b.txt c.txt /tmp
>>
>> It has no idea whether you typed out the individual files or typed
>> "*.txt". (The cp command *likes* to be anthropomorphized!)
>>
>> Maybe you feel that's too advanced a concept for this guide, and as I've
>> just demonstrated, it's difficult to explain it very clearly ;-) but I've
>> noticed new users get very confused about why commands sometimes act the way
>> they do in Linux because of this difference. I wish I could remember a
>> particular example right now--perhaps others on the list will add some.
>>
>> Scott
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: "Jim Kinney" <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
>> To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!" <ale at ale.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:41:33 AM
>>
>> Subject: [ale] windows to Linux user conversion training guide
>>
>> When I was working at another location, one of the tasks I got to do was
>> to write a training guide to take a windows user and make them a command
>> line junkie in Linux. It was a fun project and the students that used it
>> were enthusiastic about the guide.
>>
>> It's been far too long, but I finally extracted the bulk of that guide and
>> put it up on my site for others to see. Feedback is welcome!
>>
>> It's not complete and due to the removal of much very specific stuff from
>> where it was written it's a bit clunky now. also the migration away from a
>> good but proprietary wiki (Atlassian Confluence) to plain html is less than
>> stellar. I plan to do more from a docbook version for later html publication
>> as soon as I can.
>>
>> the guide is at http://jimkinney.us for now.
>>
>> --
>> --
>> James P. Kinney III
>>
>> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
>> at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
>> It won't fatten the dog.
>> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>>
>> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
>
> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
> at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
> It won't fatten the dog.
> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>
> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
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