Explore the world of Linux with clear, approachable guides. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to sharpen your skills, you’ll find something to brew your interest here.
I’ve seen my fair share of Linux systems dropping into emergency mode, and it’s usually due to a critical issue during boot. This mode provides a minimal environment for troubleshooting and repair, which can be a lifesaver. One common issue that can lead to emergency mode is a failed mount. In this article, I’ll walk you through how to troubleshoot failed mounts in emergency mode with systemd.
[Read More]I’ve learned the hard way that having a reliable backup system is crucial for any homelab setup. Borg Backup has been my go-to tool for deduplicating backups, and it’s served me well - until I recently encountered a failed repository. This experience taught me some valuable lessons about recovery and prevention.
Before diving into the recovery process, it’s essential to grasp how Borg Backup repositories work. A repository is the central storage location for all your backups, where Borg stores deduplicated data. When you create a repository, Borg initializes it with a unique ID, ensuring data integrity. I’ve seen this go wrong when the repository index gets corrupted, so it’s crucial to understand how it works.
[Read More]I’ve been experimenting with containers for a while now, and Podman has become my go-to tool for managing rootless containers. However, when it comes to networking, things can get complicated quickly. I’ve seen this go wrong when the container’s network stack is isolated from the host’s network stack, making it difficult to troubleshoot issues. In this article, I’ll share my experience with troubleshooting Podman container networking issues, focusing on rootless containers and FirewallD.
[Read More]I’ve encountered my fair share of services that just won’t quit, even after trying to stop them. It’s frustrating, especially when you’re trying to troubleshoot or debug issues. One option that’s been a lifesaver for me is the --no-block option when managing systemd services. In this article, I’ll show you how to use this option to tame those stubborn services and make your Linux workflow more efficient.
I’ve seen this go wrong when working with systemd services: a service restarts repeatedly, causing issues with your system’s stability and performance. The real trick is to understand how to tame this behavior using two key parameters: StartLimitBurst and StartLimitInterval.
These two settings are related and determine how often a systemd service can restart within a given time frame. StartLimitBurst specifies the maximum number of restarts allowed within the StartLimitInterval time period. If the service restarts more times than specified by StartLimitBurst within the StartLimitInterval, it will be placed in a failed state and will not be restarted again.
I’ve had my fair share of system load spikes on my home server over the years. These spikes can be caused by resource-intensive applications, misconfigured services, or even malware. I recall one particularly nasty spike that brought my server to its knees - it was a real wake-up call. Since then, I’ve been exploring ways to manage system load on my Linux home server. In this article, I’ll share my experiences with using nice, ionice, and cgroups to tame these spikes.
I’ve seen this go wrong when you’re trying to remove unnecessary packages from your system - accidentally removing systemd can be a real headache. As of 2026, systemd has become an essential part of many Linux distributions, including Debian, Arch Linux, and OpenSUSE. It’s responsible for managing system services, boot processes, and system states. If you’ve found yourself in this situation, don’t worry, it’s recoverable. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to recover from a failed boot after removing systemd.
[Read More]As someone who’s spent years running a homelab, I’ve learned that managing background tasks can be a real challenge. You’ve got scripts and commands that need to keep running, even after you’ve logged out of your system. In my experience, nohup and systemd have been the two most useful tools for getting this done.
nohup is a simple command that lets you run a process in the background, ignoring the SIGHUP signal that’s sent when the controlling terminal closes. This means you can start a process with nohup, log out, and the process will just keep on running. Here’s an example:
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve run into issues with package managers leaving behind unnecessary files on my Linux systems. This can happen due to incomplete package removals, failed updates, or simply because the package manager didn’t clean up after itself. In my experience, this is more common than you’d think, especially when using less popular packages or experimenting with different distributions.
To start reclaiming disk space, you first need to identify where the unnecessary files are located. A good starting point is to use the find command, which allows you to search for files based on various criteria such as size, modification time, and permissions. For example, to find all files larger than 100MB in the /usr directory, you can use the following command:
As a Linux user, you’re probably familiar with the importance of logs. I’ve seen this go wrong when trying to debug an issue or monitor system performance - duplicate logs can be overwhelming. In this article, we’ll explore how to remove duplicates using uniq, sort, and jq.
Duplicate logs can come from multiple sources: multiple instances of the same service, redundant logging mechanisms, or simple configuration mistakes. The real trick is to identify the cause and develop a strategy for removing duplicates. Don’t bother with trying to manually sift through logs - that’s a surefire way to waste time and miss important trends.
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