How can we easily revert the changes made by experiements with unfamiliar commands? [closed]
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
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Sometimes I would like to experiment with some commands which I am unfamiliar with (e.g. xmodmap), and also have the ability to revert the changes very easily without knowing much about the commands yet. Do I need some kind of light-weight virtualization or container (e.g. Docker) or sandbox? I am running Ubuntu 16.04 with LXDE. Thanks.
ubuntu virtual-machine container sandbox
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
closed as too broad by muru, maulinglawns, dr01, Jeff Schaller, G-Man Apr 21 at 4:04
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
Sometimes I would like to experiment with some commands which I am unfamiliar with (e.g. xmodmap), and also have the ability to revert the changes very easily without knowing much about the commands yet. Do I need some kind of light-weight virtualization or container (e.g. Docker) or sandbox? I am running Ubuntu 16.04 with LXDE. Thanks.
ubuntu virtual-machine container sandbox
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
closed as too broad by muru, maulinglawns, dr01, Jeff Schaller, G-Man Apr 21 at 4:04
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
6
If you're not making system-wide changes, you can always experiment as another user and delete the account afterward.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 19 at 22:51
This time why the downvotes, people? The question is a reasonable one even if it is somewhat broad.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:49
@dsstorefile Thanks. Will it work to user a container like Docker for my purpose? Is it an overkill?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:48
@Tim Docker sounds fine.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 20 at 12:51
1
@roaima I don't know, in my opinion this question requires an up and a reopen vote and so I did it. I suggest the same to you.
– peterh
Apr 21 at 15:42
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
Sometimes I would like to experiment with some commands which I am unfamiliar with (e.g. xmodmap), and also have the ability to revert the changes very easily without knowing much about the commands yet. Do I need some kind of light-weight virtualization or container (e.g. Docker) or sandbox? I am running Ubuntu 16.04 with LXDE. Thanks.
ubuntu virtual-machine container sandbox
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
Sometimes I would like to experiment with some commands which I am unfamiliar with (e.g. xmodmap), and also have the ability to revert the changes very easily without knowing much about the commands yet. Do I need some kind of light-weight virtualization or container (e.g. Docker) or sandbox? I am running Ubuntu 16.04 with LXDE. Thanks.
ubuntu virtual-machine container sandbox
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
edited Apr 20 at 12:45
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
asked Apr 19 at 22:42
Tim
22.6k63224401
22.6k63224401
closed as too broad by muru, maulinglawns, dr01, Jeff Schaller, G-Man Apr 21 at 4:04
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
closed as too broad by muru, maulinglawns, dr01, Jeff Schaller, G-Man Apr 21 at 4:04
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
6
If you're not making system-wide changes, you can always experiment as another user and delete the account afterward.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 19 at 22:51
This time why the downvotes, people? The question is a reasonable one even if it is somewhat broad.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:49
@dsstorefile Thanks. Will it work to user a container like Docker for my purpose? Is it an overkill?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:48
@Tim Docker sounds fine.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 20 at 12:51
1
@roaima I don't know, in my opinion this question requires an up and a reopen vote and so I did it. I suggest the same to you.
– peterh
Apr 21 at 15:42
add a comment |Â
6
If you're not making system-wide changes, you can always experiment as another user and delete the account afterward.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 19 at 22:51
This time why the downvotes, people? The question is a reasonable one even if it is somewhat broad.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:49
@dsstorefile Thanks. Will it work to user a container like Docker for my purpose? Is it an overkill?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:48
@Tim Docker sounds fine.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 20 at 12:51
1
@roaima I don't know, in my opinion this question requires an up and a reopen vote and so I did it. I suggest the same to you.
– peterh
Apr 21 at 15:42
6
6
If you're not making system-wide changes, you can always experiment as another user and delete the account afterward.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 19 at 22:51
If you're not making system-wide changes, you can always experiment as another user and delete the account afterward.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 19 at 22:51
This time why the downvotes, people? The question is a reasonable one even if it is somewhat broad.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:49
This time why the downvotes, people? The question is a reasonable one even if it is somewhat broad.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:49
@dsstorefile Thanks. Will it work to user a container like Docker for my purpose? Is it an overkill?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:48
@dsstorefile Thanks. Will it work to user a container like Docker for my purpose? Is it an overkill?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:48
@Tim Docker sounds fine.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 20 at 12:51
@Tim Docker sounds fine.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 20 at 12:51
1
1
@roaima I don't know, in my opinion this question requires an up and a reopen vote and so I did it. I suggest the same to you.
– peterh
Apr 21 at 15:42
@roaima I don't know, in my opinion this question requires an up and a reopen vote and so I did it. I suggest the same to you.
– peterh
Apr 21 at 15:42
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
7
down vote
I suggest you set up a VM in either Virtual Box or VMware Workstation (VMware Player does not support snapshots), snapshot the VM, do your experiments, and then revert to the snapshot whenever you need a "known to be good" operating system environment.
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but doescp -pnot copy the image file?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
You may be interrested in Qubes OS, which enables you to run many Linux containers using one OS template.
For example, we can use Debian template, install required software packages on it and than run the containers (personal, work and experiments).
In this scenario, anything you will do in experiments container, does not affect the template itself, or any other container at all.
In Qubes OS VM Manager you can make snapshots too, just like in VirtualBox.
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
7
down vote
I suggest you set up a VM in either Virtual Box or VMware Workstation (VMware Player does not support snapshots), snapshot the VM, do your experiments, and then revert to the snapshot whenever you need a "known to be good" operating system environment.
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but doescp -pnot copy the image file?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
I suggest you set up a VM in either Virtual Box or VMware Workstation (VMware Player does not support snapshots), snapshot the VM, do your experiments, and then revert to the snapshot whenever you need a "known to be good" operating system environment.
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but doescp -pnot copy the image file?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
add a comment |Â
up vote
7
down vote
up vote
7
down vote
I suggest you set up a VM in either Virtual Box or VMware Workstation (VMware Player does not support snapshots), snapshot the VM, do your experiments, and then revert to the snapshot whenever you need a "known to be good" operating system environment.
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
I suggest you set up a VM in either Virtual Box or VMware Workstation (VMware Player does not support snapshots), snapshot the VM, do your experiments, and then revert to the snapshot whenever you need a "known to be good" operating system environment.
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
answered Apr 20 at 2:57
fpmurphy1
2,231915
2,231915
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but doescp -pnot copy the image file?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
add a comment |Â
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " usingcp -pon the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but doescp -pnot copy the image file?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with using
cp -p on the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
VMware Player doesn't support snapshots, but I assume there would be nothing wrong with using
cp -p on the shutdown guest image files. Other than a doubling of disk space usage, that is.– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:48
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " using
cp -p on the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but does cp -p not copy the image file?– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@roaima Thanks. Do you mean that " using
cp -p on the shutdown guest image files" does not double the disk space usage? I maybe misunderstood, but does cp -p not copy the image file?– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:47
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@Tim since Player won't let you snapshot a guest, you would have to copy the entire guest image to emulate a snapshot. If the image is 20GB then the copy would also be 20GB. Contrast with a true snapshot where the extra disk space required is only that required to store changes made since the snapshot has been taken.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 13:15
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
@roaima. The "image" size largely depends on the disk provisioning method, the number of snapshots, and changes made since snapshotting. If a 20Gb disk is thin-provisioned, the underlying physical file or files will typically be significantly smaller on a new VM.
– fpmurphy1
Apr 21 at 7:37
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
Yes thank you. I'm aware of that. Possibly Tim isn't though.
– roaima
Apr 21 at 7:39
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
You may be interrested in Qubes OS, which enables you to run many Linux containers using one OS template.
For example, we can use Debian template, install required software packages on it and than run the containers (personal, work and experiments).
In this scenario, anything you will do in experiments container, does not affect the template itself, or any other container at all.
In Qubes OS VM Manager you can make snapshots too, just like in VirtualBox.
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
You may be interrested in Qubes OS, which enables you to run many Linux containers using one OS template.
For example, we can use Debian template, install required software packages on it and than run the containers (personal, work and experiments).
In this scenario, anything you will do in experiments container, does not affect the template itself, or any other container at all.
In Qubes OS VM Manager you can make snapshots too, just like in VirtualBox.
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
You may be interrested in Qubes OS, which enables you to run many Linux containers using one OS template.
For example, we can use Debian template, install required software packages on it and than run the containers (personal, work and experiments).
In this scenario, anything you will do in experiments container, does not affect the template itself, or any other container at all.
In Qubes OS VM Manager you can make snapshots too, just like in VirtualBox.
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
You may be interrested in Qubes OS, which enables you to run many Linux containers using one OS template.
For example, we can use Debian template, install required software packages on it and than run the containers (personal, work and experiments).
In this scenario, anything you will do in experiments container, does not affect the template itself, or any other container at all.
In Qubes OS VM Manager you can make snapshots too, just like in VirtualBox.
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
answered Apr 20 at 12:59
TomáÅ¡ Pánik
36918
36918
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
add a comment |Â
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
Thanks. What level of virtualation does Qubes OS belong to? For comparison, Docker belongs to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating-system-level_virtualization
– Tim
Apr 20 at 13:20
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
HVM/KVM on Xen hypervisor. You can find Qubes OS architecture overview here.
– TomáÅ¡ Pánik
Apr 20 at 13:29
add a comment |Â
6
If you're not making system-wide changes, you can always experiment as another user and delete the account afterward.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 19 at 22:51
This time why the downvotes, people? The question is a reasonable one even if it is somewhat broad.
– roaima
Apr 20 at 8:49
@dsstorefile Thanks. Will it work to user a container like Docker for my purpose? Is it an overkill?
– Tim
Apr 20 at 12:48
@Tim Docker sounds fine.
– dsstorefile1
Apr 20 at 12:51
1
@roaima I don't know, in my opinion this question requires an up and a reopen vote and so I did it. I suggest the same to you.
– peterh
Apr 21 at 15:42