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In computing there are two terms which are often confused: encoding and enciphering. One of them, with 'cipher' in its name, usually best refers to something that is cryptographically enciphered which means it was mathematically mangled in a fashion that the result, regardless of the input, is fairly random, patternless nonsense to the un-key-assisted eye. The other term refers to simply changing data from one form to another at is basic level. One type of encoding is 'base64' encoding, which is used through many areas of computing and can be explained much more-simply than most cryptographic cipher functions (in my opinion). This article is to show how, on many levels, Linux Just Does That.

Sometimes I find myself wondering how big an installed RPM's files really are. Use a simple script to do all of the calculating of file sizes, plus see how to recreate the RPM from the system where the package is installed in the latest addition to Linux Just Does That.

Last week I was asked if there was a way to start an application at the command line and later come back to it from somewhere else. Normally in Linux/Unix (*nix) it is possible to 'background' a process and then return to it later on but that's only if you are still in the same session where the process was sent to the background. This is useful to have something run while you do other things but reconnecting to this session cannot be done with just the shell. Thankfully 'screen' is on Linux systems by default (all of them I've used anyway) and as a result, Linux Just Does That.

What do you do when you inadvertently change permissions on a bunch of files/directories in your filesystem without meaning to? How do you recover? What software do I need to buy to repair all the applications in my system?? It's time for the first article in the "Linux Just Does That" series.

Ever wanted a way to monitor your log files for a specific message, and get notified when it occurs?