[colug-432] the /etc test
Tom Hanlon
tom at functionalmedia.com
Wed Jul 23 15:48:51 EDT 2014
On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 5:21 PM, tom <thomas.w.cranston at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/21/2014 03:34 PM, Rick Troth wrote:
>
> Pronounced "the etsy test".
>
> On 07/21/2014 12:26 PM, Scott Merrill wrote:
>
> I recently learned that someone who I consider to be a competent Linux
> sysadmin had never personally installed Linux. In his professional
> life, that was a task always performed by a different team.
>
>
> Most shocking for me was to find at one shop that "systems programmers" in
> one group did not know programming. To be specific, they did not know the
> primary developmental language of that system. This knowledge was
> historically a requirement. (True, one can go far with Linux and not know C
> from the alphabet. But here was almost like not knowing command entry.)
>
> There's a spectrum of capability ... along several axis. Point taken, Scott.
> There's also a problem of elitism, even snobbery.
> But
> the need to bring people up to speed is real and serious. (Crypto crises are
> just the low hanging fruit for opportunistic journalists. Other forms of
> system security follow closely, and RAS (reliability, availability,
> serviceability) aspects will become critical.)
>
> In job A, I learned about the /etc test.
> In job B, I tried to apply it. Didn't go well.
>
> In job A, the Unix team hired a PhD student who was ostensibly a Unix heavy.
> Guy's working on a doctorate so he's not suffering from lack of basic
> brains, and he'd been *on* the Unix systems for months. But they had to let
> him go after just a week. It was embarrassing and painful. Somehow he passed
> the interview only to fall flat with real work. What happened?
>
> Looking for a sharper edge, someone on that team hit upon "the /etc test".
> The idea was ...
>
> cd /etc
> ls
> "tell me what each of these is used for"
>
>
> It's a Kobayashi Maru. You're going to fail. Something in the range of files
> will be outside your domain of knowledge. But the intent (of the
> interviewers) was to see how far you get. (And maybe also see how you handle
> the unknowns.)
>
> In job B, I was allowed to be part of the interviewing panel. As if
> candidates were not intimidated enough, I threw in the /etc test. Once. We
> hired that candidate, and she was terrific, an excellent engineer/admin. But
> she let us know with certainty (after joining the team) that "the /etc test"
> was a bad idea (in her not so humble opinion).
>
> I've mentioned the /etc test a few times since then.
>
> -- R; <><
>
>
>
>
>
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>
> I'm not system admin material, but am curious:
>
> acpi dictionaries-common iproute2 networks
> selinux
> adduser.conf dkms issue newt
> sensors3.conf
> adjtime dm issue.net
> nsswitch.conf sensors.d
> alternatives dnsmasq.d java-7-openjdk
> obex-data-server services
> anacrontab doc-base kbd openal
> sgml
> apg.conf dpkg kernel opt
> shadow
> apm drirc kernel-img.conf os-release
> shadow-
> apparmor emacs kerneloops.conf pam.conf
> shells
> apparmor.d environment ldap pam.d
> signond.conf
> apport firefox ld.so.cache papersize
> skel
> apt firefox-3.0 ld.so.conf passwd
> sound
> at-spi2 firefox-3.5 ld.so.conf.d passwd-
> speech-dispatcher
> avahi fonts legal pcmcia
> ssh
> bash.bashrc fstab libao.conf perl
> ssl
> bash_completion fstab.d libaudit.conf pki
> subgid
> bash_completion.d fuse.conf libnl-3 pm
> subgid-
> bindresvport.blacklist gai.conf libpaper.d pnm2ppa.conf
> subuid
> blkid.conf gconf libreoffice polkit-1
> subuid-
> blkid.tab gdb lintianrc ppp
> sudoers
> bluetooth ghostscript linuxmint profile
> sudoers.d
> bonobo-activation gimp locale.alias profile.d
> sysctl.conf
> brlapi.key gnome localtime protocols
> sysctl.d
> brltty gnome-settings-daemon logcheck pulse
> systemd
> brltty.conf gnome-vfs-2.0 login.defs purple
> terminfo
> ca-certificates groff logrotate.conf python
> thunderbird
> ca-certificates.conf group logrotate.d python2.7
> timezone
> calendar group- lsb-release python3
> ts.conf
> casper.conf grub.d ltrace.conf python3.4
> ucf.conf
> chatscripts gshadow lvm rc0.d
> udev
> chromium-browser gshadow- magic rc1.d
> udisks2
> colord.conf gtk-2.0 magic.mime rc2.d
> ufw
> ConsoleKit gtk-3.0 mailcap rc3.d
> updatedb.conf
> console-setup hddtemp.db mailcap.order rc4.d
> update-motd.d
> cracklib hdparm.conf manpath.config rc5.d
> UPower
> cron.d host.conf mdm rc6.d
> upstart-xsessions
> cron.daily hostname mime.types rc.local
> upstream-release
> cron.hourly hosts mke2fs.conf rcS.d
> usb_modeswitch.conf
> cron.monthly hosts.allow modprobe.d
> request-key.conf usb_modeswitch.d
> crontab hosts.deny modules
> request-key.d vim
> cron.weekly hp modules-load.d resolvconf
> vtrgb
> cups icedtea-web mono resolv.conf
> wgetrc
> cupshelpers ifplugd mtab rmt
> wildmidi
> dbus-1 init mtab.fuselock rpc
> wodim.conf
> debconf.conf init.d mtools.conf rsyslog.conf
> wpa_supplicant
> debian_version initramfs-tools nanorc rsyslog.d
> X11
> default inputrc ndiswrapper samba
> xdg
> deluser.conf insserv netscsid.conf sane.d
> xml
> depmod.d insserv.conf network securetty
> zsh_command_not_found
> dhcp insserv.conf.d NetworkManager security
>
> How much of the above should an average user know? How about a serious user?
I consider myself average, and off the top of my head.
crontab, password, resolv.conf, network,mtab,cups,
modprobe,rsyslog,samba, init.d,modules,hosts,hostnme,
are some of the content in /etc/ that I recall wrestling with over the years.
--
Tom
>
> This is from a fresh install of LinuxMint 17
>
> I know the feeling about Job A. Human Resources usually hire the person
> that's best at jumping thru hoops. (not me) I knew a lady that ran a Human
> Resources company. She said it was really hard to determine who could
> actually do the job. I usually got the best jobs (in another field) by
> hiring on as a temp, and then the engineer had to have me hired. One time
> after that happened, the woman that ran Human Resources came and told me she
> would never had hired me. I told her that she was incompetent and that if it
> was my company I would fire her.
>
> Tom
>
>
>
>
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>
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