this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (4 children)

You might wanna backup your dotfiles somewhere remote too. I literally lost dotfiles that I'd been building up for years because I couldn't remember the password to my Linux machine after coming back from vacation. Funny enough though, a couple hours after nuking my OS I magically remember my password.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Unless you disk was encrypted, you could have booted up a live distro and back up the files you needed (or even overwrite the shadow file to get a new password)

[–] mvirts 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And maybe could still get them with testdisk 😁

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I really did try so many forensic and recovery tools after remembering my password but with no luck 😂

[–] mvirts 2 points 1 year ago

I'm glad you tried! Stories of needless data loss really get to me 😹

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

In the late 90s I taught an intro course for folks who wanted to run *nix boxen (Solaris, IIRC). On the afternoon of the last day I had them swap places after lunch and gain root access to each others' machines. It was partly for root passwd recovery and other maintenance tasks, but also to demonstrate that physical access to the box was a serious issue.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

After two years of typing in the same boot pass on my same laptop at my same job I woke up one day and couldn't remember it. Almost died trying. Right as I was reaching out to my admin it came to me.

[–] ExcessiveAardvark 5 points 1 year ago

Put your dotfiles in git (or source control of your choice)- massages it easier to propagate improvements across machines!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oof. Yeah, I once forgot my LastPass password literally less than 30 seconds after entering it on another device. Muscle memory versus active memory kind of thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

i couldn't recite my most-used passwords if i tried. i would need to 'air type' them out while doing so.