Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin

Posted by Soulskill on from the no-tolerance-for-stupidity-and-epic-beards dept.

snydeq writes "Deep End's Paul Venezia offers a field guide to understanding your resident Unix veteran, laying out the nine traits common to this grizzled, hardcore set. From not using sudo, to wielding regular expressions like weapons, to generally assuming the problem resides with whomever is asking the question, each trait is key to 'spotting these rare, beautiful creatures in the wild,' Venezia writes. 'If some of these traits seem anti-social or difficult to understand from a lay perspective, that's because they are. Where others may see intractable, overly difficult methods, we see enlightenment, borne from years of learning, experience, and overall, logic.'"

9 of 592 comments (clear)

  1. And neck beards by theillien · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't forget the neck beards.

  2. RegEx? by Mr.+Sketch · · Score: 5, Funny

    wielding regular expressions like weapons

    Reminds me of:

    Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems.
    - Jamie Zawinski

    --
    Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
  3. Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin #10 by mgichoga · · Score: 5, Funny

    Real Unix admins would be reading this post in lynx.

    1. Re:Common Traits of the Veteran Unix Admin #10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Real Unix admins wouldn't be reading this in lynx - they would be discussing it in alt.comp.slashdot

  4. Missing trait number 10. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny

    We also throw a nickel at the rookie Windows sys admins and tell them, "Here's a nickel. Get a real operating system, kid."

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Missing trait number 10. by Zancarius · · Score: 1, Funny

      We also throw a nickel at the rookie Windows sys admins and tell them, "Here's a nickel. Get a real operating system, kid."

      Weird. I read that as:

      We also throw a wookie at the Windows sys admins and tell them, "Careful, kid, he'll tear your arm off if he catches you using the GUI."

      --
      He who has no .plan has small finger. ~ Confucius on UNIX
  5. Re:vim? really? by c0lo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Butterflies - and no, emacs is not an option, unless you code the command yourself and store the code in your deepest vault.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  6. Re:vim? really? by scdeimos · · Score: 4, Funny

    Damn programmers and their butterflies, the bane of a real sys admin.

  7. Re:spigot groks unix by Shikaku · · Score: 4, Funny

    http://bash.org/?659196

    Unix admins know Klingon.