some scripts that help make linux more bearable (see also Plan 9 from User Space)

apt
a simpler interface to Debian's package system. why should i remember which commands use apt-get and which use apt-cache? 
	#!/bin/sh
	
	case "$@" in
	0)
		echo 'usage: apt verb ...' 1>&2
		exit 1
		;;
	esac
	
	case "$1" in
	update|upgrade|install|remove|source|build-dep|dist-upgrade|\
	dselect-upgrade|clean|autoclean|check)
		exec apt-get "$@"
		;;
	add|gencaches|showpkg|showsrc|stats|dump|dumpavail|unmet|\
	search|show|depends|rdepends|pkgnames|dotty|xvcg|policy)
		exec apt-cache "$@"
		;;
	*)
		echo verb $1 not known for apt-get or apt-cache
		exit 1
		;;
	esac

autoessid
cycle through a list of wireless ids to find preferred one. 
	#!/bin/sh
	
	PATH=/sbin:$PATH; export PATH
	eth=${1:-eth0}
	
	echo -n Guessing ESSID...
	for i in MIT Harvard 'Stata Center' any
	do
		iwconfig $eth essid "$i"
		sleep 2
		if ! iwconfig $eth | egrep 'Access Point: (44:44:44:44:44:44|00:00:00:00:00:00)' >/dev/null
		then
			iwconfig $eth | grep ESSID | awk '{print $4}' | 
				sed 's/ESSID://; s/"//g'
			exit 0
		fi
		echo -n not $i...
	done
	
	echo any

invoked in ifup via /etc/network/interfaces, as in: 

	auto eth0
	iface eth0 inet dhcp
		# wireless-* options are implemented by the wireless-tools package
		pre-up /home/rsc/bin/autoessid
		wireless-mode managed
core files
put your core files in /core/$user instead of littering the file system 
	mkdir /core
	mkdir /core/root
	mkdir /core/rsc
	ln -s 0 /core/root
	ln -s 1000 /core/rsc
and then run the command setcorename: 
	#!/bin/sh
	case "`uname`" in
	Linux)
		echo /core/%u/%t.%p.%n >/proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
		;;
	*)
		echo 1>&2 do not know how to set core pattern on `uname`
		exit 1
	esac

finally, run the script at boot time by creating /etc/init.d/local: 

	#!/bin/sh
	N=/etc/init.d/local
	case "$1" in
	start)
		setcorename
		;;
	stop|reload|restart|force-reload)
		;;
	*)
		echo "Usage: $N {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2
		exit 1
		;;
	esac
	exit 0
and then ln -s ../init.d/local /etc/rc2.d/S99local