Benjamin Scott wrote:
>
> I have a theory about "do it for you" tools: Such software is written
> under the assumption that the software is smarter than the person using it.
> When that assumption becomes false, the software breaks down.
>
> Ironic and irreverent, yes, but there is a grain of truth there: If the
> user knows enough to "outsmart" the software, they will likely do something
> to the system the software cannot handle. Otherwise, they would use the
> software.
-----------------------------
I would add: a "do it for you tool" MUST be designed to do the whole job,
and really do it for you. Otherwise the poor user ends up having to go
around the tool "for just this one little tweak"... and then the environment
the tool "thought" it could count on is no longer guaranteed, the mess which
results can be more confusing and harder to fix than if the user had been
told about the config files to begin with, Linux gets another "hard to use"
rap, and so on.
A complete tool is very hard to design. Ensuring its competence requires
a LOT of testing. Most of the "wrappering" efforts by Linux packagers have
fallen short.(*)
FWIW, I was just reading a Libranet advisory on SWAT. The gist: "SWAT is
very GUI, but back up your config file before using it." Which, unfortunately,
exactly matches my experience. At first it looked like SWAT would be the
ideal way to learn about something new and complex, like Samba configuration.
After starting over twice, reloading the default configuration file, I finally
gained control - and the truth finally glimmered. Just starting out with the
configuration file would have been quicker - and a whole lot less frustrating.
(Note that I don't necessarily like it that this seems to be the answer.)
Bill
(*) Does anyone know of a GUI setup tool which really does the whole job?
Kernel configuration comes close, I think - but of course that's just setting
up the configuration; BUILDING the kernel is another matter.
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