Set Up Unmanaged VPS (4 Newbies) – Part 7: Edit bashrc for User-Friendly Linux, plus System Updates

The bashrc file is where we create aliases to shortcut those long CLI commands, plus functions to improve usability. In this tutorial, as well as setting locale, performing a software index update & a Linux upgrade, let’s configure it.

From the initial how-to guides in this series Set Up Unmanaged VPS (4 Newbies) .. The VPS Bible, we’ve got a basic Linux distribution to work with and dead easy, secure terminal access to it, from our local Windows PC.

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Now, it’s time for a little house-keeping, adding some trim to create a more user-friendly Command Line Interface, and to update our core system and locale settings.

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Log into the CLI, using your regular user name, and we’ll crack on…

Using bashrc to Create a User-friendly Terminal/Command Line Interface

Like I said, the bashrc file makes life easier and workflow faster. Let’s take a peek:-

[text]nano ~/.bashrc[/text]

What you can do with this file is so cool. For instance, to open bashrc, instead of having to type nano ~/.bashrc, think how much easier it is to type an alias, like ebrc. Hey, let’s do that.

At the bottom of the file, type:-

[text]
###My Aliases
#open bashrc
alias ebrc=”nano ~/.bashrc”
[/text]

And close the file. To activate changes, after editing the bashrc file you type this command:-

[text]source ~/.bashrc[/text]

Now type:-

[text]ebrc[/text]

OK. That was a basic example, but you get the picture. Pretty powerful. With the bashrc file open, let’s add a few more aliases, and a little functionality. You can just leave in the descriptive references because they’re commented and Linux ignores them. Copy and paste this lot:-

[text]
###My Aliases

#open bashrc
alias ebrc=”nano ~/bashrc”
#update software source index
alias update=”sudo aptitude update”
#Ubuntu version detail
alias ver=”cat /etc/lsb-release”
#safe upgrade Linux OS
alias upgrade=”sudo aptitude safe-upgrade”
#full upgrade Linux OS
alias fupgrade=”sudo aptitude full-upgrade”
#install [software_name]
alias install=”sudo aptitude install”
#remove [software_name]
alias remove=”sudo aptitude remove”
#RAM and SWAP detail in MBs
alias free=”free -m”
#detail list of current dir
alias ll=”ls -la”
#reload Nginx web svr
alias n2r=”sudo /etc/init.d/nginx stop && sleep 2 && sudo /etc/init.d/nginx start”

###My Functions

#add color & formatting to CLI
export PS1=”[e[32;1m]u[e[0m][e[32m]@h[e[36m]w [e[33m]$ [e[0m]”
[/text]

Of course, you can play around with all the above, to suit you. After saving the file, don’t forget:-

[text]source ~/.bashrc[/text]

Set System Locale

Type this, replacing the country code as appropriate. Ie, for the UK, swap en_US for en_GB.

[text]
sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
sudo /usr/sbin/update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
[/text]

Update the Software Index & Upgrade Linux

Using some of the aliases from above, let’s bring our system up-to-date. If you didn’t bother with the aliases, you can find the regular commands in the alias section above.

First, we’ll get the latest software repository indexes:-

[text]update[/text]

Then, a safe system upgrade:-

[text]upgrade[/text]

…this is kinda like Windows Update. It may take some minutes.

Last, a full upgrade:-

[text]fupgrade[/text]

At last, we have a lean ‘n mean virtual private Linux machine that is ready to be built into what we want, the fastest darned server in the world wide west.

Can’t Wait?

In Part 8: Build Essential, PHP5 & MySQL, Geared for Platforms like WordPress it’s pretty clear what we’re gonna be doing. Then we’ll test a web page, add domain email functionality, add Nginx (did I say that was a sexy minx of a web server?) and generally get way too excited.

But hey, for me it’s beer o’clock, so just read the index…

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