Linux-Misc Digest #754, Volume #21 Fri, 10 Sep 99 17:13:09 EDT
Contents:
Re: Authentication Failed - Xfree86-3.3.5 (root)
Re: HTML editor for Linux (Donal K. Fellows)
Re: Linux boot hang (Bob Tennent)
Re: Figure Out The MS Source Code Yourself (Dave Newton)
Re: Authentication Failed - Xfree86-3.3.5 (Mike Brown)
Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie (K. Bjarnason)
Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie (K. Bjarnason)
Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Apache ~ user directories? (Wayne Power)
Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie (K. Bjarnason)
Re: Using a rescue disk, Re: deleted lilo, now stuck (Ed Kemo)
Re: Amiga, QNX, Linux and Revolution (Andrew Thomas)
Re: Red Hat 6 and /etc/issue ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Figure Out The MS Source Code Yourself (Chris J/#6)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (root)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Authentication Failed - Xfree86-3.3.5
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 15:06:39 GMT
How does one find the "fixes" referred to at the end of this message?
On 9 Sep 1999 12:09:04 -0500, Hal Burgiss <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>On Wed, 08 Sep 1999 21:18:33 -0700, Mike Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> I have a Redhat 5.2 system (2.0.36) that I have tried to upgrade to the
>>latest XFree86-3.3.5 from XFree86-3.3.3 The installation of the rpm's
>>went well but when I try to start X as a normal user (startx) I get the
>>follow error:
>>
>>Authentication Failed. Cannot start X server.
>>Perhaps you do not have console ownership?
>>
>>I can start it as root and it comes up ok, but as a normal user no go.
>>I see that it has put an .Xautority file in my root but it is not clear
>>to me why I can not get XFree86-3.3.5 to start when 3.3.3 had no
>>problem. Looked through the some docs but haven't seen anything about
>>this as a normal setup procedure. Any help would greatly be
>>appreciated.
>>
>
>There is a PAM related bug in packages for 4.x and 5.x. There are
>supposed to be fixes posted later today by RH.
>
>
>--
>Hal B
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>--
> Linux helps those who help themselves
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Donal K. Fellows)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: HTML editor for Linux
Date: 10 Sep 1999 15:09:26 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Rene Grothmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I am looking for an HTML editor for Linux. Should do the following
> (those are personal preferences, please no flames):
> * WYSIWYG (I already have a good source editor)
FYI, WYSIWYG is incompatible with HTML. What about people browsing
your page from a site with a much higher screen resolution? Or a much
lower screen resolution? Of from a text-mode browser like Lynx? Or
from a system that doesn't support visual output at all (e.g. one used
by a blind person?) And what about if someone decides to print your
page out, hmm?
If you want WYSIWYG, go for a PDF...
Donal.
--
Donal K. Fellows http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~fellowsd/ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-- The small advantage of not having California being part of my country would
be overweighed by having California as a heavily-armed rabid weasel on our
borders. -- David Parsons <o r c @ p e l l . p o r t l a n d . o r . u s>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bob Tennent)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,redhat.general
Subject: Re: Linux boot hang
Date: 10 Sep 1999 19:49:44 GMT
Reply-To: rdt(a)cs.queensu.ca
On Fri, 10 Sep 1999 19:41:04 +0100, Douglas Cowan wrote:
>In redhat 6 when the system is booting up, just after the "Setting quotas"
>message (or words to that effect) the bootup seems to cease. I can hit
>Ctrl+C and it will continue though.
>
>I found that the problem seems to be the "clock" and "hwclock" programs.
>When I try to run either program while logged in, the machine just hangs
>until I hit Ctrl+C. This shouldn't happen -- what can be simpler than
>reading the BIOS clock!?
>
Perhaps the binary has become corrupted. Do rpm -qf /sbin/hwclock
to find out which package installs it and re-install that package
(or at least verify it using rpm -V).
Bob T.
------------------------------
From: Dave Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: Figure Out The MS Source Code Yourself
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 19:43:43 GMT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] took the lawyer's side and said:
> You havent read the digital millennium copyright act. It provides
> for criminal penalties if you even interfere with the normal
> functioning of the software as determined by the copyright holder.
Putting a law on the books doesn't mean anyone _cares_ about that law.
I'll reverse-engineer as much as I want. If I sell something based on
directly-lifted code, I would expect to be procescuted, otherwise I
expect to be left alone.
It's like radar detectors-once them radar beamies are in my airspace,
as far as I'm concerned, they're mine.
Dave
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
------------------------------
From: Mike Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.setup
Subject: Re: Authentication Failed - Xfree86-3.3.5
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 12:16:21 -0700
==============================================
For an immediate fix, please do the following:
edit /etc/pam.d/xserver, and remove this line:
auth sufficient /lib/security/pam_rootok.so
now change the line that says:
auth required /lib/security/pam_console.so
to read:
auth required /lib/security/pam_permit.so
Unfortunately, some of the new 6.0 features crept into these RPMs while
they were being built. This should solve the problems. Updated RPMs
will hopefully be available later today for 5.x and 4.x systems.
Preston Brown Systems Engineer
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Red Hat, Inc.
===============================================
Mike
------------------------------
From: K. Bjarnason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 06:42:31 -0700
In article <7r8st5$ng6$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
> K. Bjarnason ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> : Silly me; I thought Linux was being touted (by the hypsters, at least)
> : as the Windows Killer - the latest and greatest desktop OS for the
> : masses, the one that'll wipe MS out (or at least give them some
> : competition).
>
> So the way to be better than something is to be exactly the same then?
> Is that what you are saying?
Not at all.
*Why* is a GUI preferred to a CLI for most end users? Because it's
easier to use. Aha! We have hit on a key concept here: ease of use.
If, in fact, a GUI is the way to go, let's make a _better_ GUI.
Is Windows perfect? Hardly. However, how many applications in the
Windows world require that the end user _ever_ see a command line, or
_ever_ manually edit a configuration file? About 1 per cent, and those
mostly aimed at the non-typical user, setting up things such as mail
servers, web servers and the like?
Now compare that to Linux. Tell me I can download, install and use even
50% of the applications I find out there, and do all my typical system
things such as backups, *without* ever seeing a command line.
Last I heard, Linux _was_ improving in this arena, what with several new
GUI interfaces coming down the pipe - but last I heard, it was far from
there yet.
Why did Windows win out from DOS? Back when Windows started becoming
popular, most folks didn't have the system resources to do anything
significant in terms of multi-tasking, so that wasn't it. Better
interface, easier installation and configuration of devices, these were
the key features - that is to say, ease-of-use.
When Linux is as easy to use for the typical non-technical end-user, it
will be a contender for the Windows killer. Until then, it will remain
a server and hobbyist tool.
OS/2 seems to have suffered much the same fate. Its interface was
different from Windows, but no harder to use. It happily kept grungy
details away from the user where possible, and generally offered GUI-
based controls for configuring things. It's main failing, AFAICT, was a
lack of application support. Linux doesn't have that shortcoming, but
it does fall short of Windows in terms of end-user-friendly apps, unless
things have radically changed in the last year or two since last I used
it.
------------------------------
From: K. Bjarnason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 07:05:23 -0700
[snips]
In article <7r80f5$efv$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
> K. Bjarnason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >Newsgroups? Whatever for? If an install has failed, call the vendor
> >back, demand a working version. If he can't provide it, post the fact
> >that he's an incompetent to those newsgroups. Why you should have to
> >fix *his* problems, I don't know.
>
> Have you ever actually *tried* this with MS?
Umm - yes, actually. It's called "tech support". True, MS's tech
support has a nasty tendency to 1) charge and 2) keep you on hold a long
time, but they do generally get the answers, at least in my experience,
if in fact it's their problem.
There are other options, too. Case in point. I work with one tool
which is the leading tool of its kind. Unfortunately, for our needs, it
has more than a few shortcomings - and more than its share of bugs.
Since I was willing to expend the effort to document all the bugs I
found and all the shortcomings I discovered, and actually help the
company overcome those, I've earned myself a few benefits.
So far, from this company, I've been flown out - at their expense - to a
meeting with their top staff (CTO, development head, tech support head),
I've become a pre-beta site, they're now wanting the application I
developed using their tool as a testbed for the new version, to see
whether the new version can cope with it.
And you know what? This was because I demanded a working version,
demonstrated why and how it wasn't working, and happily pointed out the
rank incompetency of the design and development staff - on the company's
own news server no less.
Take MSI - the Microsoft Installer for Win2K - as an example, if you
like. Beta users found many shortcomings to it, notably in terms of
missing features. MS was informed. Voila - a new version coming down
the pipe with many of those user-requested features implemented, and
user-described bugs fixed.
> I recently had another Win98
> box that wouldn't see anything on the network --- after having done so before.
> Oh well, the solution turned out to be moving the PCI network card from
> one PCI slot to another, which caused Win98 to find "new hardware" (sic!),
> and reinstall the driver (which was "working normally" before...). Suddenly
> the network appeared. I wonder how long it will last this time. But hey,
> at least this machine can handle the PCI NE2000 without dropping half of
> all incoming packets --- unlike the other machine I recently had to deal
> with, which could only be fixed by downgrading to an ISA NE2000.
>
> Do you really think calling up MS demanding a "working version" of Win98
> would do me any good?
I'd be willing to bet that if: 1) You could document the actual problem
in a useful manner, and 2) it was an actual problem of MS's, that they'd
soon have a bugfix out, yes.
No, they're not perfect - but they do, in fact, respond to the end user.
They have to; that's how they stay in business. Perhaps you've heard of
"service packs"? Generally those include any number of bugfixes. Do
you think MS finds all those bugs on their own? I'd very seriously
doubt it.
> And the packet loss problem is not all that uncommon,
> it seems, if one is to believe Deja. Quite a few people report similar problems
> with PCI NE2000 cards, yet I wasn't able to find a solution there.
Can't find a solution on Deja? But weren't you the one suggesting that
newsgroups are the way to solve things? :)
Drop MS an e-mail documenting the problem. Also make sure to check the
knowledge base first. While you're at it, since MS doesn't make your
network card, check with the vendor, see if they have a more recent
driver. After the e-mail to MS (include some other folk's comments,
since you seem to be saying it's a common problem) see if they don't
respond.
And, in all fairness, accept that they may _not_ fix it any time soon.
Any company doing serious development has to prioritize issues. Packet
loss, while annoying to you and me and anyone trying to run servers, is
ultimately not a fatal or even major problem to the majority of users,
whereas a kernel bug causing resource losses and eventual system
instability simply by leaving the system running, would be.
This is the one thing that really bugs me about the anti-MS crowd; there
seems to be a mindset of "If they can't fix _my_ problem, and
_immediately_, then they don't fix problems at all."
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 19:19:47 GMT
K. Bjarnason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
>> Repeat after me: A CD is not a vinyl record. A CD is not a vinyl record.
>> A CD is not a vinyl record.
>Nope; and the former is more user-friendly than the latter. Smaller,
>easier to store, less prone to sound degradation from scratching.
>> Repeat after me: Linux is not Windows. Linux is not Windows. Linux is not
>> Windows.
>And the former is...
. more user friendly than the latter.
>Oh, yeah, *that's* why it's going to take over. Missed that point, did
>you?
Nope. I just don't equate "user friendly" with "provides a convenient GUI
to completely mess up your system beyond repair".
When Windows works, it is nice for people like my mom. Unfortunately, when
it keels over (which seems to happen way too often and way too easily),
people like my mom are lost. My mom has been cut off from her email for
two months now because her harddisk filled up. That alone wasn't too bad ---
I could talk her through deleting quite a bit of stuff over the telephone.
But somehow the autoexec.bat had disappeared (and no, we didn't delete it,
it was gone before we even started). Which means that AOL no longer works.
And there is no way for me to fix it, even if I knew what was wrong (my
mom just happens to live about 10,000 miles away). I arranged for some
service technician to have a look at it, but that didn't fix it, either.
If AOL had its software out for linux, my mom would be running linux,
believe me. Just as my girlfriend did her diploma thesis in LaTeX, and
had considerably less problems than anyone trying to use Word for it.
Bernie
--
Never make a defense or apology before you are accused
Charles I
King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625
In a letter on 3 September 1636
------------------------------
From: Wayne Power <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Apache ~ user directories?
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 15:45:07 -0400
Allin Cottrell wrote:
> "Daniel P. Gelinske" wrote:
>
> > I am having the same problems myself... I did the 'grep public-html
> > httpd.conf' and nothing came up.
>
> Try looking for "UserDir" in httpd.conf. In my setup I have
>
> UserDir www-home
grep public-html httpd.conf
grep public_html httpd.conf
grep UserDir httpd.conf
...all come up empty here, but the user directory stuff works fine.
http://host/~user/ serves up ~user/public_html/ if the directory
exists and permissions are correct.
> and files in a subdirectory named "www-home" of each user's
> home directory are then available for browsing.
www-home is as good a name as any if you want to change it.
> Note that permissions must be right. Users' home directories
> should be mode 711, and their html subdirectories mode 755.
If the users's html directory is referenced through a symbolic link
(ie. /home -> /some/place/else), you may have to use .htaccess to
allow Apache to follow symbolic links.
--wmp
------------------------------
From: K. Bjarnason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: General Rant from a Linux Newbie
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 08:20:27 -0700
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] says...
> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451
>
> On Mon, 6 Sep 1999 14:16:04 -0700, K. Bjarnason
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> >[snips]
> >
> >In article <7r16ji$ec7$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >says...
> >> K. Bjarnason ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> >> : > tar -C / -xzvf foo.tar.gz
> >>
> >> : Now, now, let's not be silly. Compare this to a typical Win9x
> >> : distribution. (Speaking here of installable end-user apps, not data
> >> : files, etc.)
> >>
> >> I suppose you're not talking about downloading and compiling source, then?
> >
> >I'm playing end-user here; of course not. :)
> >
> >
> >> You know, if you had a clue about any of this, you'd realize that it is
> >> usually source that is packaged in tarballs.
> >
> >Golly gee, like I didn't know that. I also happen to know that out of
> >the times I've downloaded apps for Linux that weren't part of the
> >distribution package they usually came as... source.
> >
> >> Debian and RedHat have
> >> developed some nice package management systems for installing compiled
> >> applications. If a user is scared of decompressing and untar'ing a file,
> >> how do you think he'll feel about compiling it? He'd best stick with
> >> packages.
> >
> >Indeed. Now, of the package systems available, which is the standard
> >one? Or even three?
>
> --- START INSERT ---
>
> On Mon, 6 Sep 1999 11:40:37 -0700, K. Bjarnason
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> >The two major ways of distributing Win9* native apps is to either stuff
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> >them into ZIP files or to packagae them as self-extracting EXE files.
>
> --- END INSERT ---
>
> and you haven't even covered the "minor" ways of distributing apps.
>
> People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
I notice you failed to include the one - or even three - standardized
methods Linux uses. No, not Debian or whatever other distro - *Linux*.
With Windows, as long as I know two methods, I can install the vast
majority of my applications, regardless of what Windows box I'm sitting
at. Now, for Linux, show me the two methods I can use - regardless of
the Linux box or distro - to accomplish the same feat.
Hmm... someone said "glass houses"?
> You mean you have to download first with Windows? My that sounds hard. How
> would you do that then? Does it support re-getting the file when the link
> dies?
Depends on the client, doesn't it?
> How do you know which version of DirectX your download requires?
If an application requires a version of Direct X, the web page you
downloaded it from - or its readme, if you're doing it locally - will
tell you.
> How do you
> know that it doesn't need IE4 which you have sworn will not touch your
> machine?
IE4? Funny; can't recall _ever_ seeing an app which required IE4. Then
again, if the app requires IE4, and you don't want IE4, then don't use
the app. Gee, that wasn't too hard, was it?
Oh, you need that app? Fine; quit whining. If you need the app, then
your personal disklike of IE4 isn't really relevant, is it?
> Hard to use, fragile and crap - the Microsoft Windows Experience.
Easy to use, rock-solid (at least the NT flavours) and fun - the Windows
experience.
Yes, I know, it doesn't like the sort of $1.99 hardware people who can
only afford a free OS will typically throw at it; then again, if you're
worried about stability, you shouldn't be trying to run on crap
hardware. Get a real machine.
That, by the way, is serious advice, not some pointless jab. I've seen
a few - very few - unstable NT installs, and so far, they're almost
exclusively due to crap hardware. Given decent - and we're not talking
top-of-the-line here, just in proper working order - equipment, and NT
has always, in my experience, run rock-solid.
Yeah, Win9x are somewhat less so - then again, if stability is your
concern, which it is or you wouldn't be whining about "fragile" - then
you're not running Win9x in the first place.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ed Kemo)
Subject: Re: Using a rescue disk, Re: deleted lilo, now stuck
Date: 10 Sep 1999 12:32:32 -0400
cameron: this worked fine , thank you. I found out that the win95 box
is actually linux running dosemu. Unfortunately there is no linux
operating system installed on the drive. Can I just edit lilo.conf
and make it boot dosemu. Also, since I have my boot partition on a win95
box, will that cause confusion once dosemu is loaded?
tia
ed
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.os.qnx,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: Amiga, QNX, Linux and Revolution
From: Andrew Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 18:32:20 GMT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Aram Iskenderian) writes:
> I would like to meet who ever maintains your company's workstations. :-)
> Don't get me wrong I'm not a fan of M$, but this is first time I ever
> heard that enabling Active Desktop lead to formatting a hard drive.
Recently, my BIOS clock got reset (year 2099) for no good reason.
This caused Win98 to start breaking in odd ways. In my attempts to
fix this, mostly by re-installing packages that I thought might have
been corrupted by bad .dlls, things got progressively worse.
Eventually I decided to re-install Win98, WHICH THE DOCUMENTATION
ACTUALLY SUGGESTS! On about the third attempt to re-install, Win98
trashed my entire partition table. This led to all 3 operating
systems on the machine being trashed, and the eventual re-formatting
and re-partitioning of the drive.
Win98 rots. After a period of use, it will eventually become unusable
and you will have to re-install the operating system. It is built
this way, and Microsoft documents it. If you try to re-install an OEM
version of Win98 on a current installation, it will fail. You are
obliged to re-format your hard drive.
The fact that Active Desktop triggers this chain of events is not even
slightly surprising.
=====
Andrew Thomas, President, Cogent Real-Time Systems Inc.
2430 Meadowpine Boulevard, Suite 105, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5N 6S2
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.cogent.ca
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Red Hat 6 and /etc/issue
Date: 10 Sep 1999 20:10:17 GMT
Try editing /etc/redhat-release
This might get you where you want...
"Aaron B. Hockley" wrote:
>
> OK, I am trying to change the message that is diplayed at the login
> prompt, which is the contents of /etc/issue
>
> I can change this file, log out, and when I go to log in the new text
> is displayed.
>
> However, when I reboot, I get the default message back again and it
> has replaced my custom /etc/issue
>
> What's going on?
>
> Aaron
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Chris J/#6)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: Figure Out The MS Source Code Yourself
Date: 10 Sep 1999 18:23:46 +0100
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
bilge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> You havent read the digital millennium copyright act. It provides
> for criminal penalties if you even interfere with the normal
> functioning of the software as determined by the copyright holder.
> Then things take a turn for the worse...
>
> One could construe that applying a patch which is unapproved
> by the vendor as a violation of the copyright, subject to
> criminal penalties, for example. Read it, if you have not.
>
Silly question - which country does this law exist? I'm UK based...is this
a UK issue? Or is it stateside ?
This is certainly an intriguing act - has it been tested in a real case
yet or is it just there waiting for the lawyers to pounce ?
<satire>
Does it also mean that if you modify Windows95 to the point that you
purge out all the crap that isn't needed and afterwards it doesn't
crash, you've breached the act? *grin*
</satire>
Chris...
--
@}-,'-------------------------------------------------- Chris Johnson --'-{@
/ "(it is) crucial that we learn the difference / [EMAIL PROTECTED] \
/ between Sex and Gender. Therein lies the key / \
/ to our freedom" -- LB / www.nccnet.co.uk/~sixie \
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
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