aptitudeDescription: Ubuntu command-line package manager TO RUN: athena% aptitude install package (to install package along with any dependencies) Many other options exist- see man aptitude for details; the Ubuntu Packages Search page may help with finding packages, their contents and dependencies See also: synaptic Note: You will need to sudo to root with sudo -i before running this application to install packages (on public cluster machines, the sudo password is your Athena password). You can do this on debathena-cluster and debathena-workstation or plain Ubuntu machines, but not the Athena dialups. On public machines in Athena clusters, any packages you install will only be installed temporarily, for the duration of your login session |
blancheDescription: command-line utility for examining and maintaining Moira lists; such lists can have elements of various types, such as users, lists, strings or Kerberos Principals. Please contact Athena accounts at x3-1325 (Email: accounts@mit.edu) or on the Web if you need to have a list set up TO RUN: athena% blanche list -option Some of the most commonly used options are: get information about the list: athena% blanche list -i show list members of all types: athena% blanche list -m add member to the list (if you have permission): athena% blanche list -a member delete member from the list (if you have permission): athena% blanche list -d member There is also a Web interface (MIT only) See also: lastupd, listmaint, mailmaint, moira, rblanche There are Stock Answers for creating and editing Athena mailing lists and groups, how do I administer an Athena (Moira) list or group and how to add or delete yourself from Athena mailing lists |
braseroDescription: records data on CD-R, CD-R/W and DVD drives TO RUN: athena% brasero Select the type of project you want in the window that opens See also: cdrecord Note: Nautilus (the Linux graphical file browser) can burn an iso image file: right-click on the file and select Write to Disk |
cdrecordDescription: records data on CD-R, CD-R/W drives TO RUN: athena% cdrecord file.iso (to burn an iso image file) See also: brasero Note: Nautilus (the Linux graphical file browser) can burn an iso image file: right-click on the file and select Write to Disk |
cleanDescription: removes control characters from text files (will convert DOS-style <CR><LF> newlines to UNIX-style <LF>) TO RUN: athena% add consult athena% clean infile outfile See also: dos2unix, unix2dos |
CrashPlanDescription: network file backup utility for data on local hard drives; replacing TSM backup for workstation backup TO RUN: Install the client locally from here (MIT certificate required) following these instructions See also: TSM backup |
cvsDescription: version control system, operating on hierarchical collections of directories TO RUN: athena% cvs options cvs-command command-options command-args see man cvs for more detailed information See also: git, hg (Mercurial), svn (Subversion) |
dos2unix, unix2dosDescription: utility that converts text file newline format between UNIX and DOS formats. UNIX normally ends lines with the <LF> character, while DOS ends them with <CR><LF> To run: athena% dos2unix file athena% unix2dos file The file is converted "in place", replacing the original See also: clean |
dosemuDescription: application that emulates a DOS computer. Users have access to a virtual D: drive that mounts their home directory, and a virtual E: drive that mounts a CD or DVD in an optical drive. To run: athena% dosemu See also: Mtools Note: to access the E: drive you may need to run commands like the following as root before launching dosemu: mkdir /media/CDROM (if this directory doesn't already exist) ln -s /media/CDROM /media/cdrom0 |
dsgrepDescription: allows searching Discuss meetings for text strings TO RUN: athena% dsgrep options "-e regexpr" meeting See also: discuss |
fs commandsDescription: entry point into a large suite of AFS file system commands. These commands will only work if you apply them to a directory that is within an AFS file system. fs help will list available commands. Some of the more commonly used ones are listed below: TO RUN: look up access permissions on directory directory: athena% fs la directory look up the quota for the AFS volume the current directory is in: athena% fs lq set access permission on directory directory for user user: athena% fs sa directory user acl where user is a username or AFS group name, and acl is an AFS access control list that contains several letters that set various access permissions. Several shorthand values for acl are allowed: read sets read permission, write sets read and write permission, all sets all permissions and none removes all permissions. There are Athena and SIPB online documents explaining AFS in more detail; see also AFS at MIT |
g3dataDescription: utility that captures numeric data values from graphs published in various image formats TO RUN: athena% g3data options imagefile There is a Web site See also: fityk, OpenRefine, ROOT |
gitDescription: fast, scalable distributed version control system with a rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals TO RUN: athena% git [options] command [arguments] There are many local git-* man pages- look below /usr/share/man/man1 to see what these are; see man gittutorial for an introduction; there is much information at the Git home page See also: cvs , hg (Mercurial), svn (Subversion) |
GnuCashDescription: Personal finance manager, similar to Quicken. Used to track income, expenses, investments, etc. There is a GnuCash Web page TO RUN: athena% gnucash & |
gpgDescription: GNU Privacy Guard, tool for signing and encrypting digital files. Usage is complex and there are many options; the UNIX man page will supply a lot of information; see also the documentation site. There is a gpg Web page TO RUN: athena% gpg options file athena% pgpgpg options file (for a wrapper taking pgp command-line options) athena% gpg -h (for a command summary) |
helpquotaDescription: Utility that allows users to examine files stored in AFS lockers (including user's home directories), ranked in various ways, and to optionally compress or delete them with the object of staying within the quota on the locker. Files that are generally considered deletable, such as various kinds of backup or temporary files, can be displayed and deleted selectively TO RUN: athena% add consult athena% helpquota options Note: Running as helpquota -h will print some usage explanations |
hesinfoDescription: Athena-specific interface to portions of the Hesiod database. This database is maintained by Athena Operations staff and contains information about user and filesystem names and ids, groups and various local services as well as resources associated with specific machines. Some typical usage forms are below- see man hesinfo for more TO RUN: athena% hesinfo name filsys (gives file system and local mount point info associated with name (name is an Athena username or locker name) athena% hesinfo name passwd (gives password file entry associated with name (name is an Athena username) athena% hesinfo name cluster (gives version information and printers associated with name (name is a computer name) athena% hesinfo uid uid (gives username associated with uid (uid is a UNIX user id number) See also: lookup |
hfs, xhfsDescription: collection of utilities allowing users to read and write to HFS (Macintosh) formatted media. There also are commands that are analogous to equivalent DOS commands with "h" prepended, i.e hdir, hcopy etc. TO RUN: athena% hfs (for a TTY command-line interface) athena% xhfs & (for a GUI interface) See also: Mtools |
lastupdDescription: queries moira to determine when servers of a particular type have last been updated TO RUN: athena% add consult athena% lastupd servertype |
listmaintDescription: text-based menu-driven application for administering Moira lists; types of operation allowed include getting information about lists and their members, adding and deleting members and adding and deleting lists. Many of these operations involve privileges that must be set by Athena administrators. Please contact Athena accounts at x3-1325 (Email: accounts@mit.edu) if you need to get such privileges or have a list set up. There is also a self-service list creation page TO RUN: athena% listmaint There is also a Web interface (MIT only) See also: blanche, mailmaint, moira There are Stock Answers for creating and editing Athena mailing lists and groups, how do I administer an Athena (Moira) list or group and how to add or delete yourself from Athena mailing lists |
lookupDescription: finds AFS volumes(s) a locker is stored on, or volume a user's home directory is on. This is useful when you need to check if a file system is inaccessible due to servers being down TO RUN: athena% add consult athena% lookup locker athena% lookup username See also: hesinfo, whichlocker |
lsofDescription: lists information about files open for reading or writing on the computer; many options exist- see man page for details TO RUN: athena% lsof options See also: ps |
mailmaintDescription: text-based menu-driven application for examining and manipulating Athena mailing lists; emphasis is on operations Athena end-users are allowed to do themselves (add or remove yourself to/from a list, look up lists you are a member of...) TO RUN: athena% mailmaint See also: blanche, listmaint, moira There are Stock Answers for creating and editing Athena mailing lists and groups, how do I administer an Athena (Moira) list or group and how to add or delete yourself from Athena mailing lists |
hg (Mercurial)Description: lightweight source code management system designed for efficient handling of large distributed objects TO RUN: athena% hg command argument options See man hg for more detailed information; there is much information at the Mercurial home page and online documentation See also: cvs , git, svn (Subversion) |
moiraDescription: general text-based interface to the Moira database. This database contains information about many named entities on Athena, such as usernames, locker names, lists etc. . Access permission is required to view or edit many of the entries TO RUN: athena% moira There is also a Web interface (MIT only) See also: listmaint, blanche, lastupd, mailmaint, stella, xmoira There are Stock Answers for creating and editing Athena mailing lists and groups, how do I administer an Athena (Moira) list or group and how to add or delete yourself from Athena mailing lists |
MtoolsDescription: set of disk file I/O commands similar to DOS ones that allow users on UNIX systems to manipulate files on DOS filesystems (typically on a diskette). ZIP drives are also supported. Wildcarding follows UNIX, not DOS rules Some of the major available commands: mattrib - change MSDOS file attribute flags mbadblocks - tests an MSDOS diskette and marks bad blocks in the FAT mbackup - script that copies a tree, skipping AFS mountpoints mcd - change MSDOS directory mcopy - copy MSDOS files to/from UNIX mdel - delete an MSDOS file mdeltree - delete an MSDOS directory tree (use with caution) mdir - display an MSDOS directory mformat - add an MSDOS filesystem to a low-level formatted diskette mkmanifest - creates a script that aids in restoring UNIX filenames clobbered by MSDOS name restrictions mlabel - make an MSDOS volume label mmd - make an MSDOS subdirectory mmount - mounts an MSDOS disk (Linux only) mmove - moves or renames an existing MSDOS file or directory mrd - remove an MSDOS subdirectory mren - rename an existing MSDOS file mtype - display contents of an MSDOS file mzip - issues ZIP drive-specific commands To run: athena% command file_or_directory |
OpenRefineDescription: web-based application for working with messy data, cleaning it, transforming it from one format into another, extending it with web services and linking it to databases like Freebase TO RUN: athena% add refine athena% refine To quit application, type control-C in the launch terminal There is a home page with links to documentation, tutorials here and here and a Wikipedia article |
pgpDescription: public key encryption package. pgp has many features and you will need to read a considerable amount of documentation before you are able to use it TO RUN: athena% pgp options file There is a quickstart guide |
psDescription: lists information about processes running on the computer; many options exist- see man page for details TO RUN: athena% ps options See also: lsof |
rblancheDescription: Recursively lists all members of a mailing list, specifying members of each sublist; also indicates when users have forwarded their mail using chpobox, and if an account is deactivated. Uses the Moira database limited by permissions you have on respective lists TO RUN: athena% add consult athena% rblanche listname |
recodeDescription: utility that converts files between various character sets and "surfaces" TO RUN: athena% recode options [charset | request file ] Typing info recode and man recode will supply information |
renew, grenewDescription: renews user's Kerberos tickets and AFS tokens, which grant access to Athena services and file systems. These are currently set to expire 10 hours after login by default and you will need to renew them if you need to continue the current login session for longer than this. renew is a command-line utility; grenew runs the same command within a very simple GUI TO RUN: athena% grenew & athena% renew |
sambaDescription: utilities that allow access to SMB/CIFS/DFS file servers (usually Windows file systems). smbclient offers an interface similar to ftp; operations include things like getting files from the server to the local machine (and vice versa), retrieving directory information from the server and so on. Usage is complex, and users should consult the man page for smbclient for details. dfsclient is a locally developed script that wraps around smbclient to make it easier to use; see the README for usage examples TO RUN: athena% add samba athena% dfsclient /profiles/u/username commands (to perform commands on \\win.mit.edu\dfs share for user username) |
saplogonDescription: Java-based client for accessing SAP databases TO RUN: This software can only be run if you are an administrator with access to a current SAP account athena% add sapgui athena% saplogon |
setupDescription: attaches Athena lockers, adds appropriate bin directory to user's path (similar to add command), but in addition automatically executes C-shell syntax commands in a file called .attachrc placed in the top level of the locker (or Bourne-shell syntax commands in .attachrc.bash if you use a Bourne shell or bash) TO RUN: athena% setup lockername Note: To properly use setup, create a file .attachrc or .attachrc.bash and put any initialization commands necessary in it, using syntax appropriate to your shell. These commands will be automatically executed when the setup command is run |
svn (Subversion)Description: version control system offering significant enhancements to older systems like cvs TO RUN: athena% svn command options arguments see man svn for more detailed information. There is also a Subversion home page See also: cvs, git, hg (Mercurial) Note: There is also a release in the svn locker, which is older but may have more MIT-specific configuration |
synapticDescription: Ubuntu GUI package manager TO RUN: athena% synaptic & Many options exist, including the ability to add and remove packages, see which packages are installed and view their contents; the Ubuntu Packages Search page may help with finding packages, their contents and dependencies See also: aptitude Note: You will need to sudo to root with sudo -i before running this application to install packages (on public cluster machines, the sudo password is your Athena password). You can do this on debathena-cluster and debathena-workstation or plain Ubuntu machines, but not the Athena dialups. On public machines in Athena clusters, any packages you install will only be installed temporarily, for the duration of your login session. This application is no longer installed. You can install it on debathena-cluster, debathena-workstation or plain Ubuntu machines but not on the Athena dialups by doing the following: sudo to root and install from the Ubuntu synaptic package by using aptitude |
TSM backupDescription: network file backup utility for data on local hard drives of Athena workstations TO RUN: This software can only be run if you have a TSM account set up first for each machine you use it on. Registration information is here; please specify that it's for an Athena machine in the comment section TSM backup no longer runs from an Athena locker. You need to install it locally following these instructions See also: CrashPlan Note: we are transitioning away from TSM backup on workstations and creation of new accounts will cease in the near future. Please switch to CrashPlan instead |
unitsDescription: interactive utility that converts various physical quantities between different units of measure TO RUN: athena% units |
weatherDescription: weather data retrieval program. weather reports weather conditions and forecasts for over 1100 U.S. cities. See the man page (man weather) for more info TO RUN: athena% weather options identifier athena% zctl add message weather \* (to receive hourly weather Zephyrgrams) There are a number of good Web-based weather services, notably Intellicast |
xephemDescription: graphical astronomical epehmeris: displays positions of celestial objects visible at various times and locations TO RUN: athena% add xephem athena% xephem & Note: Currently unavailable |
xmoiraDescription: utility for managing user's Email forwarding, finger information and default shell TO RUN: From Ubuntu Dash: type MIT Account Settings in Search box From command line: athena% xmoira See also: moira |
zap-firefox-certsDescription: utility for deleting expired or damaged firefox browser certificates and passwords. Please make sure to exit from any browser instances you are running before using this utility TO RUN: athena% add infoagents athena% zap-firefox-certs See also: firefox Note: You can get a new certificate here |
Zip utilitiesDescription: file compression/decompression programs for single files and directory trees, using the zip compression format. zip and unzip are compatible with pkzip and pkunzip on PCs and create archives of directory trees. gzip and gunzip operate on single files. gzip is often used in conjunction with tar to make compressed archives of directory trees on UNIX systems TO RUN: athena% gzip file athena% gunzip file.gz athena% bzip2 file athena% bunzip2 file.bz2 athena% zip archive_name directory/* athena% unzip archive_name.zip Note: bzip2 is a new compression protocol that operates essentially like gzip, but generally achieves higher compression ratios |