Linux.com continues their Command Line Interface series with a tutorial on "shutdown". Whether you invoke it by the command-line or not, you use it.
Many new Linux users feel uncomfortable about not having a fast-acting, easy-on, easy-off method of ending a runaway computer session, like the one they had with Windows. Something like the three-finger salute which is often used as a panacea for all sorts of ills under Windows. They need the comfort and reassurance that a quick, easy, and graceful exit -- but something short of using the BRS (Big Red Switch) -- can provide. Linux provides a quick and graceful shutdown, too. At least it does from the command line. It's called shutdown. Let's visit the CLI and learn a little more about how to make a graceful exit.
Using shutdown is easy. You only have to learn two important things before you get your blackbelt in shutdown. To learn the first lesson, enter the following at the command line:
shutdown
That's right, it won't run if you try to run it as a normal user. On my SUSE system, I get an error message which says "command not found" if I'm not in superuser mode. That's because shutdown lives in the /sbin directory, which is not included in my path. But even if I specify the full path name and enter /sbin/shutdown, it still won't run. In that case, SUSE scolds me and says "shutdown: you must be root to do that!" The reason root privileges are required is because shutdown impacts all the users on the system. You're just logging out of your session, you are shutting down your machine and everyone else's sessions as well.
