Roland,

Interesting topic. A few other ideas:

1. file permissions: how they are set and managed (including umask and chmod) 2. file ownership: how they are set and managed (including chown and chgrp) 3. groups 4. where key SAS files are typically stored and how they are located (including autoexec.sas, config.sas, SASUSER library) 5. how to recognize SAS files (i.e. what extensions are used) 6. how to determine what disk space is available and how much is being used (including df, du, ls, rm, rmdir, find) 7. questions to ask their sys admin and business manager about working on the box (not specific to Unix): 7.a. how is SAS launched, especially if there are multiple versions 7.b. who is repsonsible for maintaining SAS 7.c. where are programs, logs, lists, and other outputs supposed to be stored 7.d. what is the backup, retention, and restore policy and procedure 7.e. how is dev/test/prod handled (if at all) 7.f. how can I configure my id to my liking (including .profile file). Is personal configuration allowed? 7.g. where are shared items stored and who is responsible for them (e.g. macros, formats) 7.h. what are the conventions, guidelines, and standards?

Of course, all of the above essentially assumes that the user will have a terminal window on the box. With the SAS BI tools (e.g. Enterprise Guide) users can be kept off the box and forced to work through a client tool. This has advantages and disadvantages and leads to a some of the questions going away and probably others being added.

I haven't looked but I'm sure there have been a number of user group papers on Unix. Perhaps a review of them might be beneficial in terms of what to cover.

Clint -----Original Message----- From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf Of toby dunn Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 1:17 AM To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: Re: What would sas programmers like to know about Unix?

Roland ,

What i have found from working in Unix wit hmany people is the following needs to be know:

1.) difference in the Libname filenames etc statements when refering to a directory '/' instead of '' in Z/Os.

2.) Basic unix commands to move copy delete etc ... files.

3.) How to write shell scripts

4.) Finally how to write X commands in sas to execute basic functions on the unix box. Example on my Solaris box at work when I write an X command to copy a file:

X " cp <full path here>/<FileName> <Full path here>/<NewFileName> " ;

The code works so long as the full path is specified for both the file to copy and the name of the copy file. While if I go to my unix command line all I have to do is go to the directory that the file is sitting in and type cp FileName NewFileName. Simple stuff like eats up a lot of a nwbies time trying to figure out.

Toby Dunn

From: RolandRB <rolandberry@HOTMAIL.COM> Reply-To: RolandRB <rolandberry@HOTMAIL.COM> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU Subject: What would sas programmers like to know about Unix? Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:00:55 -0700

I am moving all my Unix stuff off my old sas web site onto my new one, but not staying as it is. I use sas on a Unix platform and although I am good with Unix commands and can write bash shell scripts as well as gawk programs, I am wondering what it is sas programmers want to know about Unix so I make sure I cover those topics on my new web site. My email address here is real so you can send me your requests in this regard.