On Tue, 21 Oct 1997, Ted Harding wrote:
> >But perhaps it is just better (and more efficient) to write more and good
> >documentation, instead of more and bad code...
> >
> do even something simple correctly. This is why people call for software
> admin tools: you can hope that the tool has the knowledge. If it was well
> written in a document, and easy to find, then you wouldn't need the tool.
I think it's impossible to write a 100% admin tool for all cases -- a Zero
Administration Initiative for linux would meet with inevitable failure.
This is (as we always say) due to the power and configurability of things.
I think Debian goes a long way towards making the task manageable by
simply installing things in a compatible way and giving good basic setups.
I'd argue, in the *nix fashion, that a bunch of little, specific,
WELL-DOCUMENTED admin tools is better -- one for net, smail, sendmail,
etc... A great example is the "tzconfig" script -- it's small, does it's
work well, and doesn't involve tremendous overhead or hours of work to
understand. My five-year-old brother could run "tzconfig", follow the
prompts, and get it right. Maybe what I'm really suggesting is that
each major component of the system needs a simple config utility; that's
already the case with most of them (XF86Setup, for example). Now if
finding them wasn't so tough...
Will
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/
*****************************************************************************
Good Idea: Feeding Stray Cats in the Park.
Bad Idea: Feeding Stray Cats in the park ... to a bear.
*****************************************************************************
--
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
