I have some cryptic looking stuff filling up my /home/me/tmp directory and I haven't a clue what it's about. There's a directory which came out of nowhere called "orbit-me" here's its ls:

bonobo-activation-register.lock* linc-58bd-0-25de9e49b3698= linc-711d-0-12aa283f8baec=
bonobo-activation-server-ior linc-59c9-0-999609e72051= linc-7744-0-1da2f677d69cf=
linc-210f-0-54707e8a800fb= linc-5d94-0-3621f48c552d= linc-9e1-0-6a3a44a6cc359=
linc-3b0b-0-56e73bd579efd= linc-6677-0-6f1142e079db0= linc-9f3-0-5a9a884974d12=
linc-3db7-0-6ac3fddfe24f4= linc-682-0-687d208e3ee7d= linc-c6f-0-116fd6957a915=
linc-4b86-0-543b0de6c4951= linc-685-0-6eb5c0ad29ee2= linc-e61-0-3f2a051b96c03=
linc-547b-0-67707101f3e1f= linc-6cc3-0-66bece062085a=

Any idea what this is about? Anything I need to be concerned about? Is this a problem I need to fix or is this something I can ignore and just delete the directory?

I googled around and haven't found much to help me here.

I tried man orbit, no entry there. Besides, some of those man pages are going swooooosh over this noob's head atm.

Help?

LocoMojo

Orbit is the CORBA implementation that Gnome uses.


CORBA = Common Object Request Broker Architecture
(a network [and hardware] transparent framework for
interprocess and object communication programming).



Cheers,
Tink

Hello Tink,

Thanks for your reply.

Couple of questions...

1. I've only logged into the Gnome environment once since I installed Linux last week to see what it looked like. Since then I have been using KDE so why is Gnome active? Bear in mind that this new directory is a recent phenomenon for me...long after I logged out of Gnome.

2. I see that the cryptic entries are sockets of some sort. Does this mean that Gnome is trying to connect to the internet? I'm asking this because you mentioned, "a network [and hardware] transparent framework for interprocess and object communication programming", and that is leading me to think that something in Gnome is trying to "call home"...looking for updates perhaps? Am I on the right track?

3. Is this a problem for me? Do I need to take any corrective action to stop the directory from filling up with these cryptic entries? What about that .lock file? Does that indicate that a certain process has been locked due to excessive failures or something?

Thanks again Tink!

LocoMojo - just learned that it's NOT a good idea to less /dev/zero Some things are just not meant to be read, I suppose.

You may be using some Gnome app from
within KDE which will then try to fire up the
rest of the communication facilities as well,
e.g. Nauseous instead of Konqueror ...

Not necessarily a "call home" ... as I said, Gnome
uses Orbit for inter-process communications. Thus
an application wanting to print for example would
use sockets...


I didn't look too closely... but I'm by no means a
Gnome-expert ;)


Cheers,
Tink

Tink,

Ahh yeah, it's making sense now. I had forgotten that I've been using "search for files", Gnomes implementation of "find files". I've been using "search for files" because "find files" is broken and I haven't gotten around to figuring that one out yet.

I'll stop using "search for files" and start using "locate" in the shell from now on. Do you suppose it is safe for me to delete the "orbit-me" directory? Do I have to do something to unlock something since I have that .lock file?

Thanks for all your help thus far...I really appreciate it.

LocoMojo - back to my Linux directory exploration - note to self: cd C:\ doesn't work anymore

Edit: oops, ignore that question regarding the .lock file...you've already answered that...sorry.

Theoretically the lock should go away when you
stop using Gnome (or its apps) ... maybe if you
logged out and back in it will be gone? Other than
that it should be safe if you know there's no process
active that would rely on it (hint: use
lsof | grep <lockfile>
to find out whether it's being accessed)...


Cheers,
Tink

Tink,

Thanks again.

I just logged out and in, the files are still there.

I'll just leave it alone for a while and see what happens, especially since I'll stop using any Gnome apps inside KDE.

By the way, bash: lsof: command not found.

LocoMojo

Mandrake sucks ;)

... you should try to find the rpm, I"m sure
it comes with MDK, probably just not installed
by default. It's a very handy tool!



Cheers,
Tink

Tink,

"Mandrake sucks "

Man, don't tell me that! I'm all excited about my new journey through Linux-land and now you got me wondering about Mandrake

You're right, lsof wasn't installed on my system. I just now installed it and indeed, it is a very useful command! I'm surprised that Mandrake didn't include it with the default install. Maybe because it is a root only command?

Or maybe you're right...Mandrake simply sucks

Hee hee, nah...I'll give Mandrake a go for a while and see how that goes. After all, I already think Mandrake blows that other OS on my hard drive away (I know it's a dirty word around here so I won't say it, but it starts with a W and ends with an XP). I do wonder though, what other commands am I missing?

Thanks for all your help Tink...you've certainly made my journey a more enjoyable one today!

LocoMojo

My pleasure mate, and ANY Linux distro has to
be better than that abomination of an operating
system from Redmond (well, some bear such close
resemblance to it that I personally wouldn't touch
them with a stick)....


Cheers,
Tink

Just remember this word:

Slackware

By steering me to Slackware, Tink has made my Linux journey "sweet"....

Hello Chinaman,

Slackware, eh?

Before I downloaded Mandrake last week I wrestled with the distro question for a while.

First I downloaded and burned Knoppix Live to CD because I wasn't sure yet if I wanted to install to the hdd because I thought that maybe Linux would go over my head. I played with Knoppix for a while and found that I liked it so I installed it to my hdd. The install went flawlessly, except it took my webcam to be my sound card so I simply unplugged the webcam and rebooted and Knoppix found my Soundblaster. I tooled around with the hdd install for awhile and found the apt-get update to be a pretty cool and easy way to update my system. However, I soon learned that the hdd install of Knoppix was like getting a dirty mix of stable, unstable, and testing versions of Debian. The unstable stuff scared me off ( I didn't really understand it ) so I looked for another distro and it came down to Mandrake, Slackware, or Fedora. I don't remember why, but I chose Mandrake ( I think I read somewhere that it was the most newbie-friendly distro out there ).

Anyway, I did all this without talking to anyone who would know better. Everyone I know uses Windows and they don't have a clue about Linux so I had to make some decisions on my own. I didn't find this site until a few days ago, I wish I had found it a week ago.

So, you think Slackware would be better for a newbie like me?

So far, I like Mandrake, but I'm finding that there are far less applications in Mandrake than there were with Knoppix ( even though Knoppix is on one CD and Mandrake is on 3 ). I'm struggling with installing this and that application via the package manager in Mandrake because there's this and that lack of dependencies or whathaveyou. I had an easier time with Knoppix updates and installs. I'm also finding that Mandrake wants $$$ to make my life easier. Eighty-nine bucks a year or something like that so I can get more apps, updates, and support?

I'm just venturing into Linux right now...I'm not looking to spend much money nor am I ready to commit to any contracts so that's kind of a bummer with Mandrake right now.

Anyway, I'm rambling now...would you recommend that I try Slackware ( bearing in mind that I'm a complete newbie ), if so, why?

Take care Chinaman,

LocoMojo

Because Slackware is the purest "Unix type" of Linux OS. Slackware complies with the published Linux standards, such as the Linux File System Standard.

There's nothing wrong with using Mandrake, if that's what you prefer (my buddy Tink might disagree), but sooner or later you're probably going to either want to, or need to, know what is actually happening behind those GUIs. That's the #2 reason I've decided to leave M$, and use Linux. The #1 reason is the corrupt and immoral business practices of M$. Read the quote in my sig from Tinkster.

There are commercial distributions, such as Mandrake, SuSE, and RedHat (or whatever new name they pick) that are basically a Linux kernel that the company has modified and patched to run their way. The goal of these distributions is to provide a system that most people can use by simply installing it from a CD, and then just use it. And if something doesn't work, you have those PrinterDrak or whatever GUI installers that are supposed to help you get it going, but when the GUI fails - then you've got to learn what's going on behind the scene, so to speak. That's not so easy to do, but as long as you're running Mandreck, I'd suggest you search LQ for posts by otish1000c, because from what I've seen, he seems to know that distribution really well.

I tried RedHat and Mandrake and they seemed nice for a couple of days, but eventually they were hiding my OS from me behind some GUI. If you just want to try and play with a Linux based OS, you might prefer to use one of them. But I had rather have complete control over my system, and that's what Slackware offers. This is long-term for me - I'm not going back to the darkside, so I need to learn how it works. Slackware affords me that opportunity better than those commercial distros. (This isn't meant to be flame bait for some goober reading this thread - it's just my opinion expressed.) This is why I recommend that you give Slackware a gander. It might take a little longer to get some things installed or configured than with those commercial distros (but not if you find the correct information), but once you get it done you'll know exactly what you did and how you did it. There won't be some cute GUI hiding what's actually happening from you.

Some of us want/need to know how our operating system works. I liken this to owning a car and maintaining it yourself, versus taking it to the dealer and letting them do it. M$ has effectively taken the P out of Personal Computer. Running Slackware has given me back my comp, and allowed me to set it up and configure it to work more efficiently, and customized to the way I want my system to work.

Here's a few links that will help you read, and learn, about Linux and this bright, new world!

http://www.google.com/linux
http://tille.soti.org/training/tldp/
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/index.html
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/

and of course, the link in my sig to Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen's How To Ask Questions... article. It's long, but you'll learn more about how to actually search for problems in your own system, as well as what information to present to get good answers when you post to a mailing list or forum.

NB: My opinion was solicited - everyone is welcome to disagree - this is not flame bait, and I'll not reply to a disagreement with my opinion. We all have them, and they're all valid...