Paschalas in Linux (and other operating systems) are small hidden "surprises" or jokes that program or operating system developers include to entertain users.
They can be in the form of hidden functions, commands, images, sounds, or messages. Paschalas have no real practical significance, but may add some playful or entertaining component to the use of a program or operating system.
What is aptitude
One of the Linux Easter Eggs related to the aptitude package manager is that when you run the aptitude moo or aptitude -v moo command, a funny message appears instead of the expected output of program version information:
Then, if the command is repeated several times, other messages appear:
Stop it!
Seriously, stop it!
Okay, okay, if you type 'aptitude -v moo' again, I'll give you a big Easter egg!
Quit it!
Okay, okay, if you type 'aptitude -v moo' again, I'll give you a really big Easter egg!
And so on.
This passphrase was added by the developers of aptitude to entertain users and to add some playfulness to the use of this program.
All Paschalas
Aptitude has a number of passhalts:
aptitude moo will display a picture of a cow, followed by a description of the cow.
aptitude -v moo will display a picture of two cows and a description of them. aptitude -vv moo will display a picture of three cows and their descriptions. aptitude -vvvv moo will display four cows and their descriptions.
aptitude -vvvvvv moo will display five cows and their descriptions.
These passphrases are just jokes and have no real functionality.