Random Linux User Space Assignments (Difficulty Level: Advanced)

If you have completed earlier assignments, and want to move to Advance assignments, here are 10 new assignments designed to challenge you and enhance your understanding of Linux user-space development. These are more generic and curated to test your knowledge from previous assignments.I have added the hints as well, but you can completely ignore them.

1️⃣ Implement a Custom ls Command

Objective: Write a program that lists files in a directory without using the ls command.

Hint:

• Use system calls like opendir(), readdir(), and closedir().

• Display file names in a column format, similar to ls.

• Optionally, implement -l mode to show file sizes and permissions.

2️⃣ Create a Simplified cat Utility

Objective: Build a basic version of cat to display file contents.

Hint:

• Use open(), read(), and write() system calls.

• Handle errors like file not found or insufficient permissions.

• Optionally, support multiple files as arguments (./mycat file1 file2).

3️⃣ Build a Basic Shell

Objective: Create a simple shell that reads and executes user commands.

Hint:

• Use fork() and execvp() to execute commands.

• Implement a loop to continuously read and process user input.

• Optionally, add support for command chaining (&&, ||).

4️⃣ Develop a File Change Monitor Using inotify

Objective: Monitor a directory and print a message when a file is added, modified, or deleted.

Hint:

• Use the inotify API (inotify_init(), inotify_add_watch()).

• Detect and log events like file creation, deletion, and modification.

• Optionally, allow monitoring multiple directories.

5️⃣ Parse /proc Filesystem for System Information

Objective: Extract and display system details like CPU and memory usage.

Hint:

• Read from /proc/cpuinfo and /proc/meminfo.

• Format and display information clearly.

• Optionally, monitor memory usage in real-time with a loop + sleep().

6️⃣ Implement a Simple HTTP Server in C

Objective: Create a basic web server that serves static HTML files.

Hint:

• Use sockets (socket(), bind(), listen(), accept()).

• Respond with HTTP headers + file content when a request is received.

• Optionally, log incoming requests with timestamps.

7️⃣ Design a Custom Memory Allocator

Objective: Implement your own malloc() and free().

Hint:

• Use sbrk() or mmap() to allocate memory.

• Implement a simple linked list to track free and allocated blocks.

• Optionally, add best-fit or first-fit memory allocation strategies.

8️⃣ Implement a Simple File Copy Utility

Objective: Create a program that copies a file from source to destination.

Hint:

• Use open(), read(), write(), and close().

• Read and write in chunks (e.g., 4KB at a time) for efficiency.

• Optionally, display a progress percentage during copying.

9️⃣ Implement a Process Tree Viewer

Objective: Simulate a process tree using fork() and visualize parent-child relationships.

Hint:

• Use fork() to create multiple child processes.

• Use getpid() and getppid() to display process hierarchy.

• Optionally, create a multi-level tree (parent → child → grandchild).

Example output:

Parent [PID 1000]
├── Child [PID 1001]
├── Child [PID 1002]
├── Grandchild [PID 1003]

🔟 Simulate the head and tail Commands

Objective: Create programs that display the first or last N lines of a file.

Hint:

• Read the file line by line using fgets() or getline().

• Count total lines before displaying the last N lines for tail.

• Optionally, support -n option (./head -n 5 file.txt).

Final Thoughts

With this, you're completely ready to move to the Linux kernel space development. To get started on those start reading Linux kernel development by Robert love, till I create assignments on those.