The Librarian of the Unseen University
had unilaterally decided to aid comprehension
by producing an Orang-utan/Human Dictionary.
He'd been working on it for three months.
It wasn't easy. He'd got as far as `Oook.'
(Terry Pratchett, ``Men At Arms'')
This is a short list of word definitions for concepts relating to Linux and system administration. The page references are to the first or most important place where the word is used.
)
Software that does something useful. The results of using an
application program is what the computer was bought for.
See also system program, operating system.
)
The methods and data structures that an operating
system uses to keep track of files on a disk or partition;
the way the files are organized on the disk. Also used about
a partition or disk that is used to store the files
or the type of the filesystem.
)
Part of an operating system that implements the interaction with
hardware and the sharing of resources. See also system program.
)
Software that shares a computer system's resources (processor,
memory, disk space, network bandwidth, and so on) between
users and the application programs they run. Controls access
to the system to provide security. See also kernel, system program,
application program.
)
The services provided by the kernel to application programs,
and the way in which they are invoked. See section 2 of the
manual pages.
)
Programs that implement high level functionality of an operating
system, i.e., things that aren't directly dependent on the
hardware. May sometimes require special privileges to run
(e.g., for delivering electronic mail), but often just commonly
thought of as part of the system (e.g., a compiler). See also
application program, kernel, operating system.
