[ THE CHURCH OF UNIX ]

The Church of UNIX

"In the beginning, there was the Command Line."

We are the faithful. We follow the ancient path of simplicity, composability, and knowing exactly what your machine is doing at three in the morning.

UNIX is more than an operating system. It is a philosophy. It is a discipline. It is a suspiciously well-designed collection of small programs.

OUR BACKGROUND

In the early days, in the Laboratories of Bell, the Ancients sought a better way. They found that software could be small, tools could do one thing well, and text could carry knowledge between programs.

Thus UNIX was born.

Through the ages came BSD, System V, SunOS, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX and their descendants. Some have vanished into the mists of history. Others continue to answer the sacred question:

"Have you read the manual?"

OUR COMMANDMENTS

  1. Thou shalt use the shell.
  2. Thou shalt respect thy elders.
  3. Thou shalt write scripts, not click repeatedly.
  4. Thou shalt understand thy own man pages.
  5. Thou shalt keep it simple.
  6. Thou shalt share knowledge freely.
  7. Thou shalt automate all the things.
  8. Thou shalt use the right tool for the right job.
  9. Thou shalt honor portability.
  10. Thou shalt have backups.

SACRED TEXTS

UNIX is basically a simple operating system, but you have to be a genius to understand the simplicity. -- Dennis Ritchie
The power of UNIX lies in giving you small tools and allowing you to combine them. -- The Old Admins
Write programs that do one thing and do it well. -- The UNIX Philosophy

JOIN THE FAITHFUL

If you seek enlightenment, open a terminal.

If you are lost, read the manuals.

If you understand, help someone else.

ssh pilgrim@unix.temple.org
No password shall protect you
Knowledge shall set you free
The pipe is our chalice
Source is our scripture
The shell is our sanctuary