9 fortunes for system administrators
![A fortune cat.](/sysadmin/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2019-05/fortune-cat.jpeg?itok=RfzeuLUp)
Good luck: It's something we all could use a little more of as our systems yawn and hiccup, our users grow ornery, and our codebases twist themselves into bigger knots.
At the Linux terminal, the fortune command might shed a little light on your day, whether piped into cowsay or displayed as a message of the day.
If you don't have fortune, on a Red Hat system, you can install the package fortune-mod (it's in EPEL and the default Fedora repos).
I actually use my fortune command every once in a while, often when I need a string of dummy test to try out a string of commands or a weird regular expression. In doing so, I've started a little collection of my favorite few that might apply to sysadmins. Here they are, in no particular order:
-
How many Unix hacks does it take to change a light bulb?
Let's see, can you use a shell script for that or does it need a C program? -
If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.
-
The whole history of computers is rampant with cheerleading at best and bigotry at worst.
-- Larry Wall in <199702111730.JAA28598@wall.org> -
"How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers are for. I only coded it."
(Attributed to Linus Torvalds, somewhere in a posting) -
"I would rather spend 10 hours reading someone else's source code than 10 minutes listening to Musak waiting for technical support which isn't."
(By Dr. Greg Wettstein, Roger Maris Cancer Center) -
The easiest way to get the root password is to become system admin.
-- Unknown source -
The good thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from.
-- Andrew S. Tanenbaum -
Make it idiot-proof, and someone will breed a better idiot.
-- Oliver Elphick -
I am a computer. I am dumber than any human and smarter than any administrator.
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Jason Baker
Red Hat Certified Engineer. Linux desktop enthusiast. Map/geospatial nerd. Raspberry Pi tinkerer. Data analysis and visualization geek. Occasional Pythonista. More about me