Linux optimize

Dig for more data in the /proc directory




Other lesser-known files in /proc include:

  • /proc/loadavg shows the system load average


# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 47
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 2202.909




There is a lot of information in /proc that can be found by those willing to look. A number of front-ends exist to help parse the information -- tools like ps, top, and free, among many others provide more human-readable information, but to really find out what a program is doing, the authoritative resource is the /proc directory.

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It shows the installed memory onboard and the current utilisation status


Tried this on Ubuntu 7.04 and get "permission denied" even when signed in with sudo. Any ideas?


Speaking for 8.04, root's password isn't random, it's just locked. "sudo passwd root" should take care of that, if you're so inclined. Of course, there's always booting to recovery mode, which is runevel 1, where you can set root's password. However, "sudo cat /proc/cpuinfo" works fine for me on 8.04, as does "sudo -s" and then running around the system as root.


Sudo doesn't necessarily give all the same permissions as root. Check the /etc/sudoers file. You'll see root permissions and your user's listed in there. If the user isn't the same as root, you can elevate it by making your entry read the same as root's. Easier to just log in as root (in the terminal) and play with it there, less typing...

Larry the Security Guy
Larry the Security Guy

The good people at Ubuntu have disabled the root account, preventing it from being used to log in. They've also set the password to something random and do not provide it to the user. The sudo command expects the user's password, not root, but then allows the user to perform (apparently not all) root functions. I haven't used Ubuntu for some time, but I believe there is a way to enable the root account, set the password and then do a proper su.


Another way is - 1. Open a terminal, 2. type "sudo passwd root" (do not use quotes) 3. Enter normal user password 4. Enter new password for root. 5. login as su.....


1 - Log in with "normal" user and password. 2 - At the CLI enter: sudo -s -H 3 - At the password prompt enter the "normal" user password again. 4 - You are now logged in as root. You can set a root password with the: passwd command as usual.