Porn Folder
by Jeff
Image text: Eww, gross, you modified link()? How could you enjoy abusing a filesystem like that?
In this comic, Cueball finds what he believes to be a pornography folder on the off-screen character's laptop. The folder is a bit hidden, as is the stereotype of porn folders since no one wants a random person using their computer to find it. However, instead of traditional pornography, which would include videos, photos and etc, this contains just folders and subfolders. After getting to the bottom of the folder tree, it links back up to the main folder again.
The filesystem is called a "hardlinked directory loop" by the offscreen character. A hard link is a static pointer that points from one link or file to the actual data that is on the disk. In this case, the hard link is pointing back up to the main folder which creates a loop. Hard links are not usually used to point to directories, which is why this is described as "so taboo". Soft links or symbolic links are used to link to directories instead. The utilization of the word "hard" is not lost on me as a pun for a filesystem that turns on the offscreen character.
In the image text: In a Linux operating system, link() creates a new link, also known as a hard link (there's the hard link again) to an existing file.
X11
by Jeff
Image text: Thomas Jefferson thought that every law and every constitution should be torn down and rewritten from scratch every nineteen years--which means X is overdue
X11 is (per wikipedia): The X window system (commonly X Window System or X11, based on its current major version being 11) is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a basis for graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and rich input device capability for networked computers.
X11 is usually implemented on Linux operating systems.
Xorg is a server (per wikipedia again): X.Org Server (commonly abbreviated to Xorg Server, XServer or just Xorg[citation needed]) refers to the X server release packages stewarded by the X.Org Foundation, which is hosted by freedesktop.org, and grants public access to the standard X Window releases for the efforts of the free and open source software community.
And the payoff for all that information is xorg.conf is the configuration file for xorg. The xorg.conf file seems like it is basically terrible as the comic tells us that satisfaction with life goes up when Randall does not open xorg.conf. And if the giant xorg.conf manual is any indication, it looks bad.
This image text is true about Thomas Jefferson.
Mac/PC
by Jeff
Image text: It's fun to watch browsers fumblingly recapitulate the history of window management. Someday we'll have xmonad as a Firefox extension.
xmonad referenced in the image text is (according to its website) xmonad is a dynamically tiling X11 window manager that is written and configured in Haskell. In a normal WM, you spend half your time aligning and searching for windows. xmonad makes work easier, by automating this.
Basically, it is a window manager for the linux operating system.
Back to the comic, the statement is very true considering you can use Firefox or Chrome on both a Mac and PC and your experience will be very much the same. With the exception of the PCs vulnerability to viruses and malware, despite the recent outbreak of the MacDefender malware.
This comic is also a reference to the long running commercials where Justin Long plays a cool, sylish and aloof Mac and John Hodgman steals the commercials playing a harried, troubled PC. In the commercials, each would start out by saying "Hi, I'm a Mac" and "And I'm a PC". Here's an example of 15 or so of the commercials if you do not remember.
Manual Override
by Jeff
Image text: I think you mean 'GNU Info Override'.
In this comic, the pilots of the plane type "man override" into their autopilot and instead of getting "manual override" they get the manual page for the override command. "man" is the command that will pull up the manual entry in Linux distributions of which GNU is one.
Basically this is a pun on the word "Manual", which can mean both "by hand" or "instructions".
The image text is an expansion of the phrase "man override". In the GNU Linux distribution, more information are found in the unwieldy GNU info pages. So, they sub "manual" in the second definition above for "GNU Info".
Incident
by Jeff
Image text: He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he's copied on /var/spool/mail/root, so be good for goodness' sake.
This comic, fittingly posted on Christmas Eve in the United States. Christmas being a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th. (Didn't know how granular I should be. I'm sure there are some people who haven't heard of Christmas if they have lived under a rock for their entire life. If so, I'd like to say "Hi, and welcome to the internet.")
In this comic, Cueball is on a Linux computer tried to change his user account from his normal access to the access of a super user by using the command "sudo". Sudo is a famous phrase in xkcd lore, made famous by comic 149. When Cueball is unable to use "sudo" because his account is not authorized, the system says that the incident has been logged.
In the comic, sudo and the system report the incidents to Santa Claus, who in Christmas lore makes a list of who is naughty and who is nice. If you are nice, you get presents, if you are naughy, you get a lump of coal. When sudo reports to Santa that Cueball's account is not authorized, he puts Cueball on the naughty list.
In the image text, which is a parody of the famous Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", /var, /spool, /mail, /root are all folders in a Linux file system.
Guest Week: Bill Amend (FoxTrot)
by Jeff
Image text: Guest comic by Bill Amend of FoxTrot, an inspiration to all us nerdy-physics-majors-turned-cartoonists, of which there are an oddly large number.
The top comic is a reference to this famous xkcd comic. The sudo command in linux allows a user to run as a "super-user", thus allowing them to execute the command they wish.
The next comic is a pun on the word "attractive". The girl thinks he is using it in the fashion that he likes he and is interested in her. He's using it in the gravitational pull way.
The next comic is a reference to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Which, if you read explain xkcd, you should know like the back of your hand.
The third comic, is a play on the sound of the word "aye". Aye is a word used when taking a verbal vote that is used to signify a positive, like yes. Additionally, aye sounds like the letter i. In this case, the mathematician in Congress is voting the square root of -1, which comes out to an imaginary number known as i. And since i sounds the same as "aye", that is how a mathematician votes.
Tech Support
by Jeff
Image text: I recently had someone ask me to go get a computer and turn it on so I could restart it. He refused to move further in the script until I said I had done that.
In this comic, Cueball is having a dream about being on a tech support call with his internet provider.
Cueball, naturally is running Haiku, an open source operating system that is compatible with BeOS. Of course, don't try to go to the haiku website today because the xkcd effect took it down.
Cueball is getting nowhere with the tech support personnel, so he attempts to have the member of the help desk find someone that has the stereotypical look of a geek: Cargo Pants with a subway map on their wall (of their cubicle).
When he finds a person who knows how to fix his problem. She says that the keyword to find a person who knows two programming language is: shibboleet. Shibboleet seems to be a combination of Shibboleth and the word "leet" which is short for "elite" in gamer and online circles.
The word shibboleth originates from Hebrew, and refers to features of language, and particularly to a word whose pronunciation identifies its speaker as being a member or not a member of a particular group. So, if I'm getting this right, if the person pronounces the word correct, they identify themselves as a fellow member of the community.
No word on if this actually works, but I'm sure some xkcd fans will have it implemented in their phone systems within the day.
debian-main
by Jeff
Image text: dpkg: error processing package (--purge): subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit 163: OH_GOD_THEYRE_INSIDE_MY_CLOTHES
Debian main is a repository for packages or applications for the linux distribution Debian. Linux is an operating system as is suggested by the computer in the comic. For packages in debian main, most have "dependencies" which are other packages that need to be installed before the package in question as the word dependency implies.
This comic is an xkcd prank in which the package that the narrator submits to debian main has a dependency that makes locusts come out of the computer and attack. In this case, Cueball gets the locust attack.
In the image text is the error that Cueball might get if he installed the Locust package. Can any of our Linux experts discover more in that image text?
Surgery
by Jeff
Image text: Damn. Not only did he not install it, he sutured a 'Vista-Ready' sticker onto my arm.
This comic is a joke about the advances in Linux hardware/software support. "Eventually" there will be support for all sorts of hardware in Linux. As soon as an independent project picks up the case.
Unfortunately when he asked for a prescription for a free Windows 7 upgrade his insurance denied it.
Supported Features
by Jeff
Image meta text: I hear many of you finally have smooth Flash support, but me and my Intel card are still waiting on a kernel patch somewhere in the pipeline before we can watch Jon Stewart smoothly.
This comic is a reference to Linux builds adding suport and features that will not appeal to the majority of computer and Linux users. This example is full-featured flash support.