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Tutorials › Linux Command Line › Linux Interview Prep

Linux Interview Prep

6 min read Quiz at the end
Linux interview topics: inodes, hard vs soft links, zombie processes, the /proc filesystem, SIGTERM vs SIGKILL, the Linux boot sequence from BIOS to systemd, and troubleshooting disk full and high CPU issues.

Linux Interview Essentials

  • inode — data structure storing file metadata (not name)
  • hard vs soft link — hard shares inode; soft is a pointer
  • zombie process — finished but not reaped by parent
  • orphan process — parent died; adopted by init
  • /proc filesystem — virtual FS exposing kernel data
  • runlevels / targets — system states (multi-user.target)
  • signals — SIGTERM (15) vs SIGKILL (9)
Topic Quiz · 5 questions

Test your understanding before moving on

1. What is an inode?
💡 An inode stores file metadata — not the filename, which is stored in the directory.
2. Hard link vs soft link?
💡 Hard links point to the same inode; symbolic (soft) links point to a path.
3. Which file contains user account info?
💡 /etc/passwd contains user account information (one entry per user).
4. What is the /proc filesystem?
💡 /proc is a virtual filesystem — files in it expose kernel data and process info.
5. What is PID 1?
💡 PID 1 is the init process (systemd on modern distros) — the ancestor of all processes.