[Discuss] Dropping obsolete commands (Linux Pocket Guide)

[slitt at troubleshooters.com (Steve Litt)]

On Mon, 9 Nov 2015 17:19:42 -0500
Daniel Barrett <dbarrett at blazemonger.com> wrote:

> 
> While writing the third edition of my book, "Linux Pocket Guide"
> (O'Reilly), which focuses on Linux commands that are the most useful
> to know, I am considering dropping some topics that were in the
> previous edition. I welcome any opinions on whether the following
> commands are still widely useful enough to keep in the book.
> 
> 1. dump and restore
> 
> I grew up with these commands, but personally haven't used them in
> well over a decade. What do you think?

I've never used them in my 17 year Linux usage.

> 
> 2. finger and chfn
> 
> Likewise. Does anybody make use of finger information anymore, whether
> on a single host or multiple?

I've never used them in my 17 year Linux usage. Never heard of chfn.

> 
> 3. telnet
> 
> I'm planning to mention telnet only for its utility in hitting
> arbitrary ports (telnet myhost 80), and to drop all discussion of
> remote logins with telnet, since it's largely been replaced by
> ssh. (And maybe have a footnote about kerberized telnet being OK for
> logins.)  Agree/disagree?

To the extent that telnet is a diagnostic tool, you must keep it.
Non-diagnostic use of telnet is circa 1995 and shouldn't be mentioned
because nobody should ever use it.

> 
> 4. dnsdomainname, nisdomainname, ypdomainname
> 
> These are just links to /bin/hostname for convenience and I never run
> them. Do you?

I never heard of them before.

> 
> 5. write and talk
> 
> More commands I grew up with, but I suspect these have been completely
> obsoleted by instant messaging. (Though I always liked "banner wake up
> | write joe". :-)) Any reason to keep them?

I've never heard of them. I thought the way to send messages to
consoles was the wall command.
> 
> 6. Usenet
> 
> The 2nd edition still covered slrn, but personally haven't run a
> newsreader in years.

I have buddies who use Usenet. I'd think twice about dropping it.

I've never used Usenet in my life.

SteveT

Steve Litt 
November 2015 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques
     of the Successful Technologist
http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques