Edit: The awk link no longer works. The open beta links no longer work.
Originally posted July 13, 2010 on AIXchange
I wish someone would set up a wiki site that would serve as a repository of people’s favorite administrative ksh scripts. I mean, we all have tools and scripts and nifty .profile setups, why don’t we have a better mechanism for sharing them? Is there really that much intellectual capital that goes into setting up prompts and getting hostnames to show up at the top of an xterm? Is the handy alias and script that you use daily really a matter of national security?
For instance, I stumbled across this post on enumerating columns for awk.
While I don’t have a column command, and the formatting isn’t right for an alias to work in ksh, this is the sort of thing I’m talking about — people sharing tips, tricks, scripts and whatnot this way.
Each shop has its own script for taking a mksysb. Everyone uses their own crontab entries to manage their systems. More mature and seasoned administrators have more mature scripts. Over time their flaws and bugs have been cleaned up, and the scripts have been enhanced. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all share in this knowledge?
Actually, if you send your scripts to me, I’ll happily post them. I’ve posted scripts in the past. Just provide the original version and note the modifications and improvements that have been made along the way.
I know. Some will argue that Company X spent the time and money to develop these scripts. It’s proprietary information that shouldn’t be handed to strangers. Still, I have to believe that users of a proprietary operating system have room to share information and knowledge. If the open-source crowd can make this sort of thing work, why can’t we?
We already share plenty of freely available information. For instance, the valuable technical doccumentation in IBM Redbooks is there for the taking. And more and more blogs and forums are sprouting up where people can get information and ask for help. While we’re at it, shouldn’t we be able to find some quality tools as well?
Maybe someone smarter than me can figure out a way to fill this void.
Speaking of voids, this one, at least, has been filled. I know I’m not the only one who’s been anxiously waiting for the AIX 7 open beta. Well, the wait is over. The website went live today. Here’s the open beta; here’s the open beta forum.
Let me know what you think of it.