Linux for beginners

This guide should give you enough background with the Linux Ubuntu command line interface to build and execute example projects for PolySync. For a more detailed list of commands, check out this Ubuntu help article.

Opening a Terminal

A terminal allows you to enter system commands directly through a console (terminal) window. On Ubuntu you can open a terminal with the key combination: CTRL+ALT+T. Alternatively, you can open the Dashboard Home, and search for the application: Terminal

Changing Directories

You can determine your directory by running the 'present working directory' command with the alias:

$ pwd
/home/dev/

To change directories, use the alias:

$ cd /usr/local/polysync
$ pwd
/usr/local/polysync/

To list the contents of the the current directory, use the alias:

$ ls
bin/build_res.mkCHANGELOG.txtdb/deps/diagnostics/doc/examples/ include/lib/MakefileREADME.txtrnr_logs/src/utils/

Debugging logs

Ubuntu has a default directory for where running nodes should log their activity and error messages.

You can open the Ubuntu System Log file (syslog) using the text editor of your choice:

gedit /var/log/syslog

You can constantly monitor the logging to the syslog file by opening a terminal and issuing the following command

tail -f /var/log/syslog

Leave the window open while you start and stop PolySync nodes (in another terminal) to see the DEBUG and ERROR messages.