UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I am "retiring" an old unix box and need to erase all sensitive data so that it can not be recovered. Does anyone know a unix command for this?

Yes, there are many utilities available for UNIX systems which will destroy the data on hard drives and make them "unrecoverable". These utilities are not part of the standard distributions and are normally commercial or opensource applications. What OS are you using?

The system is USL Unix System V Release 4.2 Version 7.5.5 for the SPARC family. Thanks!

Have you installed a GCC compiler? If not, please install the lastest GCC compiler? If so, what version and release date?

[Edited by Neo on 11-03-2000 at 12:06 AM]

No, I haven't. Would a regular cc compiler do? If you have the source code, I could try recompiling it cc. I went to the gnu site and saw where I need to download the gcc compiler, but would like to just use the compiler that is already there if possible.

It has been my experience that over the years that in different UNIX environments that the first thing I do, on a new platform, is to install the latest GCC compiler. GCC is a cross platform compiler and opens your world to myriad utilities. <BR>

It it my strong suggestion that you install the GCC compiler on at least one of your platforms so you can compile executables specific to your environment and architecture easily. Any search for code that I would do to would be in GCC archives, BTW.

I've worked in big HP shops, Sun shops, etc. in all those shops, I've always installed a GCC compiler very quickly. If you can't do it on a production platform, the next best thing is to install on a development platform in the lab.