******************** Basic Unix Use By Lord Lawless Phortune 500 Board of Directors ******************** March 8, 1987 ------------- This file is basically a brief introduction and overview for the beginning hacker to the Unix operating system. All information contained herein is accurate to the extent of my knowledge. This file is intended for inform- ational purposes only and the author (Lord Lawless) is in NO way responsible for the use of this file for purposes other than the aforementioned. Part I: What is Unix? ---------------------- Unix is an operating system, so designated because it allows a user to interface with a computer in a way that is (hopefully) easy for the user to learn and use. Unix can be known by other forms, PC-Unix, Xenix, etc., but they all basically are the same (with slight differences this file won't go into) and use the same commands. Unix is a wonderfully simple to use OS once you begin, and while this file will help you I recommend that you find a Unix system somewhere and wander around on it to help yourself to learn. To put this more formally: The UNIX system is a set of programs that include a time-sharing operating system and a set of utility programs. The operating system has two basic parts: 1) The kernel is the program in the UNIX operating system that is responsible for most operating system functions. It schedules and manages all the work done by the computer and maintains the file system. It is always running, and is invisible to users. 2) The shell is the UNIX operating system program responsible for handling all interaction between users and the computer. It includes a powerful command language called "shell language"*. The utility programs (usually called UNIX commands) are executed through the shell, and allow users to communicate with each other, to edit and manipulate files, to write and execute programs in several programming languages, and many other things. Part II: Recognizing a Unix system ------------------------------------- When you connect to a Unix system you will see a message usually like "AT&T Unix: Unauthorized use will be Prosecuted!" or just "Unix System V" or the like. At the least you will see a prompt saying "login:". At this point, if possible, make sure that you are in lowercase, because if the computer det- ects that you are typing in uppercase everything you read after will be in uppercase with lowercase denoted by a \ in front of the word. This is because Unix is case sensitive, so be careful, reading lowercase is much easier than reading all uppercase and slashes. Ok, so here you are at the Unix "login:" prompt. Part III: Logging on --------------------- At this point you must enter your login, and then, if the account ( never more than 14 characters) has one, the password. Now, all Unix systems have default accounts, and unless set by the Root System Operator no passwords. This has been the means of infiltration by many the Unix hacker. There are two types of accounts in a Unix, the "super user" and the "user". The super user has access to almost everything (or everything depending on the system) and the user basically has access to the files he owns and what he can sometimes read. The default super user accounts on a unix are: ROOT MAKEFSYS MOUNTFSYS UMOUNTFSYS CHECKFSYS and sometimes ADMIN SYSADMIN. For passwords to these try things like SYSTEM, SYSMAN, SYSADMIN, ADMINISTRATOR, OPERATOR, SYSOP, etc. The default user-level accounts are: LP DAEMON TROUBLE NUUCP UUCP RJE ADM SYSADM SYNC BIN (Note: These accounts should be entered in lower case , I merely wrote them in upper case for easier reference.) After being on Unix's, I have also seen the following common accounts: USER UNIX GAMES GUEST STUDENT -on school run Unix's. The maximum length of a password is 11 characters. After doing all this you should, with luck, be in! If you couldn't hack anything out, try typing "WHO" at the login: prompt, it may list all the user accounts and you can try them until you find one without a password. Part IV: You're in!!! ---------------------- Congratulate yourself, the hardest part of Unix "hacking" is over. Ok, now that you're in you'll see a prompt which will probably look like "$" for a user account or "#" if you got lucky and got a super user account. (Quick note, to stop a unix process in action try typing ctrl-d or control backspace, these are the end of file/St