Objectives
Topic 1: The Linux Community and a Career in Open Source
1.1 Linux Evolution and Popular Operating Systems (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Knowledge of Linux development and major distributions. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Distributions
- Embedded Systems
- Linux in the Cloud
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
Debian, Ubuntu (LTS)
-
CentOS, openSUSE, Red Hat, SUSE
-
Linux Mint, Scientific Linux
-
Raspberry Pi, Raspbian
-
Android
1.2 Major Open Source Applications (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Awareness of major applications as well as their uses and development. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Desktop applications
- Server applications
- Development languages
- Package management tools and repositories
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, GIMP
-
Nextcloud, ownCloud
-
Apache HTTPD, NGINX, MariaDB, MySQL, NFS, Samba
-
C, Java, JavaScript, Perl, shell, Python, PHP
-
dpkg, apt-get, rpm, yum
1.3 Open Source Software and Licensing (weight: 1)
| Weight | 1 |
| Description | Open communities and licensing Open Source Software for business. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Open source philosophy
- Open source licensing
- Free Software Foundation (FSF), Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
Copyleft, Permissive
-
GPL, BSD, Creative Commons
-
Free Software, Open Source Software, FOSS, FLOSS
-
Open source business models
1.4 ICT Skills and Working in Linux (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Basic Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills and working in Linux. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Desktop skills
- Getting to the command line
- Industry uses of Linux, cloud computing and virtualization
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
Using a browser, privacy concerns, configuration options, searching the web and saving content
-
Terminal and console
-
Password issues
-
Privacy issues and tools
-
Use of common open source applications in presentations and projects
Topic 2: Finding Your Way on a Linux System
2.1 Command Line Basics (weight: 3)
| Weight | 3 |
| Description | Basics of using the Linux command line. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Basic shell
- Command line syntax
- Variables
- Quoting
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
Bash
-
echo
-
history
-
PATH environment variable
-
export
-
type
2.2 Using the Command Line to Get Help (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Running help commands and navigation of the various help systems. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Man pages
- Info pages
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
man
-
info
-
/usr/share/doc/
-
locate
2.3 Using Directories and Listing Files (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Navigation of home and system directories and listing files in various locations. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Files, directories
- Hidden files and directories
- Home directories
- Absolute and relative paths
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
Common options for ls
-
Recursive listings
-
cd
-
. and ..
-
home and ~
2.4 Creating, Moving and Deleting Files (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Create, move and delete files and directories under the home directory. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Files and directories
- Case sensitivity
- Simple globbing
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
mv, cp, rm, touch
-
mkdir, rmdir
Topic 3: The Power of the Command Line
3.1 Archiving Files on the Command Line (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Archiving files in the user home directory. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Files, directories
- Archives, compression
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
tar
-
Common tar options
-
gzip, bzip2, xz
-
zip, unzip
3.2 Searching and Extracting Data from Files (weight: 3)
| Weight | 3 |
| Description | Search and extract data from files in the home directory. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Command line pipes
- I/O redirection
- Basic Regular Expressions using ., [ ], *, and ?
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
grep
-
less
-
cat, head, tail
-
sort
-
cut
-
wc
3.3 Turning Commands into a Script (weight: 4)
| Weight | 4 |
| Description | Turning repetitive commands into simple scripts. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Basic shell scripting
- Awareness of common text editors (vi and nano)
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
#! (shebang)
-
/bin/bash
-
Variables
-
Arguments
-
for loops
-
echo
-
Exit status
Topic 4: The Linux Operating System
4.1 Choosing an Operating System (weight: 1)
| Weight | 1 |
| Description | Knowledge of major operating systems and Linux distributions. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Differences between Windows, OS X and Linux
- Distribution life cycle management
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
GUI versus command line, desktop configuration
-
Maintenance cycles, beta and stable
4.2 Understanding Computer Hardware (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Familiarity with the components that go into building desktop and server computers. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Hardware
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
Motherboards, processors, power supplies, optical drives, peripherals
-
Hard drives, solid state disks and partitions, /dev/sd*
-
Drivers
4.3 Where Data is Stored (weight: 3)
| Weight | 3 |
| Description | Where various types of information are stored on a Linux system. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Programs and configuration
- Processes
- Memory addresses
- System messaging
- Logging
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
ps, top, free
-
syslog, dmesg
-
/etc/, /var/log/
-
/boot/, /proc/, /dev/, /sys/
4.4 Your Computer on the Network (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Querying vital networking configuration and determining the basic requirements for a computer on a Local Area Network (LAN). |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Internet, network, routers
- Querying DNS client configuration
- Querying network configuration
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
route, ip route show
-
ifconfig, ip addr show
-
netstat, ss
-
/etc/resolv.conf, /etc/hosts
-
IPv4, IPv6
-
ping
-
host
Topic 5: Security and File Permissions
5.1 Basic Security and Identifying User Types (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Various types of users on a Linux system. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Root and standard users
- System users
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group
-
id, last, who, w
-
sudo, su
5.2 Creating Users and Groups (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Creating users and groups on a Linux system. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- User and group commands
- User IDs
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group, /etc/skel/
-
useradd, groupadd
-
passwd
5.3 Managing File Permissions and Ownership (weight: 2)
| Weight | 2 |
| Description | Understanding and manipulating file permissions and ownership settings. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- File and directory permissions and ownership
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
-
ls -l, ls -a
-
chmod, chown
5.4 Special Directories and Files (weight: 1)
| Weight | 1 |
| Description | Special directories and files on a Linux system including special permissions. |
Key Knowledge Areas:
- Using temporary files and directories
- Symbolic links
The following is a partial list of the used files, terms and utilities:
- /tmp/, /var/tmp/ and Sticky Bit
- ls -d
- ln -s
Created: 2025-06-11