Linux-Misc Digest #626, Volume #25 Wed, 30 Aug 00 21:13:04 EDT
Contents:
Re: Email from Shell/Telnet prompt? (Paul Colquhoun)
Re: Installing Mandrake over Caldera (Jeld The Dark Elf)
Re: Headless X86 Linux system (Peter Mitchell)
Using dd copy image file to make a DOS bootable disk ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Using dd copy image file to make a DOS bootable disk ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: Email from Shell/Telnet prompt? (David Rysdam)
Re: ISP and resolv.conf prob. ("David Ashworth")
Re: Finding files (Jerry L Kreps)
Re: Using dd copy image file to make a DOS bootable disk (Vilmos Soti)
Re: From RedHat to SuSE: A simple question (Jerry L Kreps)
Multi-session CD's without -eject (cdrecord) (Craig Setera)
Re: Netscape Sucks, I need another option. (Christopher Browne)
Re: Linux, XML, and assalting Windows (Christopher Browne)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Colquhoun)
Subject: Re: Email from Shell/Telnet prompt?
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:15:24 GMT
On Wed, 30 Aug 2000 09:24:36 +0100, NoSpam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
|Hi,
|
|Is it possible to send an e-mail from the Shell/Telnet prompt which I can
|put in ".sh" script?
|
|An example would be great?
|
|Is it possible to specify FROM/TO and SUBJECT?
|
|The script is run automatically via cron but it does not confirm the
|successfully running of the script which I would like it to do. As the
|server is shared via an ISP I can not change any settings on the machine
|itself.
Generate the message as you want it to look, with "To:", "From:", &
"Subject:" headers, then a blank line, then the message body.
Then pipe the message into sendmail with the "-t" option, which tells
sendmail to read the destination addresses from the message headers.
cat mesage.file | sendmail -t
--
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Universal Life Church http://andor.dropbear.id.au/~paulcol
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
xenaphobia: The fear of being beaten to a pulp by
a leather-clad, New Zealand woman.
------------------------------
From: Jeld The Dark Elf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux.mandrake,alt.os.linux,alt.os.linux.caldera
Subject: Re: Installing Mandrake over Caldera
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:02:54 GMT
This is really simple. In both cases, you should tell Mandrake to mount
these partitions during install, it is a different question as to
wether you should tell mandrake to format these partitions.
Generally /tmp doesn't contain any useful data ( or at least it
shouldn't ) and you can safely tell Mandrake to format it. As far
as /home goes you should skip the formating of this partition in order
to preserve the data on it ( home directories ) but after the install
is complete I have found that it is better to backup your stuff
somewhere else delete home directories and recreate users with home
directories since there are usually a whole bunch of programs with
versions different from the ones you had which wrote a config file or a
directory that is not completely compatible.
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Martin Racette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Ok guys,
>
> I checked, and the "/home" directory is on another partition, but when
> I'll install Mandrake, should I tell it to mount that partition as
> "/home" or should I wait after the install is completed ?
>
> BTW. I also put "/tmp" on it's own partition, should I mount it as
> well or wait ?
>
> Thank you in advance
>
> Merci a l'avance
>
> Martin
>
>
--
Good Luck.
Jeld the Dark Elf
===========================================================
Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: Peter Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Headless X86 Linux system
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 14:48:54 -0700
My home system has a headless server - to save having a
screen & keyboard cluttering up the living room. The
serial terminal doesn't get the messages from the init
scripts between the kernel loading ramdisk support and the
login prompt. Is there something I can do in inittab or
sysinit which will echo the output to the terminal? Will
removing the video card (EGA) as well as the screen make any
difference?
Any help, comments appreciated.
Peter
* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web
Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Using dd copy image file to make a DOS bootable disk
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:45:44 GMT
We are downloading from the web to linux an image file that contains
DOS boot files as well as some other files. We'd like to use dd to
convert the file to a floppy to make the floppy a DOS bootable disk.
Is this event possible?
dd seems to expand the image file correctly, but the floppy is not
bootable and cannot be accessed by anything other than linux.
Here's the steps we've taken:
1) mkfs.msdos /dev/fd0
2) dd if=disk1.img of=/mnt/floppy
An ls on /mnt/floppy shows all of the exploded files but the floppy
cannot be used to reboot.
OR, is there a way to make a dos bootable disk from linux?
HELP??!!?
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Using dd copy image file to make a DOS bootable disk
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 22:55:16 GMT
We are downloading from the web to linux an image file that contains
DOS boot files as well as some other files. We'd like to use dd to
convert the file to a floppy to make the floppy a DOS bootable disk.
Is this even possible?
dd seems to expand the image file correctly, but the floppy is not
bootable and cannot be accessed by anything other than linux.
Here's the steps we've taken:
1) mkfs.msdos /dev/fd0
2) dd if=disk1.img of=/mnt/floppy
An ls on /mnt/floppy shows all of the exploded files but the floppy
cannot be used to reboot.
OR, is there a way to make a dos bootable disk from linux?
HELP??!!?
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Rysdam)
Subject: Re: Email from Shell/Telnet prompt?
Date: 30 Aug 2000 22:47:38 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE=====
Hash: SHA1
Specifying the "from" address is a little harder. Check out "nbsmtp"
on freshmeat. You can make it do this pretty easily. (I wrote
nbsmtp, I should know.) I'm not going to give details on Usenet,
though, because I don't want my util to become a spam tool. Email me
if you can't figure it out.
And NoSpam Spoke:
>Hi,
>
>Is it possible to send an e-mail from the Shell/Telnet prompt which I can
>put in ".sh" script?
>
>An example would be great?
>
>Is it possible to specify FROM/TO and SUBJECT?
>
>The script is run automatically via cron but it does not confirm the
>successfully running of the script which I would like it to do. As the
>server is shared via an ISP I can not change any settings on the machine
>itself.
>
>Cheers
>
>Paul.
>
>
- --
My public encryption key is available from www.keyserver.net
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE=====
Version: GnuPG v1.0.0 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
iD8DBQE5rY878mkEvJSZJO8RAm6rAJ9KJSwtwWHvb/rix4tBg1oOgaI3GgCgjrqw
CzFneGepKIFU4p++zrlQ8WA=
=pmQx
=====END PGP SIGNATURE=====
------------------------------
From: "David Ashworth" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: ISP and resolv.conf prob.
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 18:18:59 -0400
In article <8ohl9u$n79$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Recently, just join a second ISP, but everytime I dial through linux,
> the resolv.conf is not automatically updated.
>
> I currently have to change resolv.conf manually. Is there a way to
> update resolv.conf automatically?
If you are not using any other networking you should be able to
use the "usepeerdns" option in /etc/ppp/options without problems.
See the man page for pppd for other options.
Dave.
------------------------------
From: Jerry L Kreps <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Finding files
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 18:38:08 -0500
Dux wrote:
>
> What is the best way to locate files if you don't know their paths.
> Ta.
The command is 'locate <filename or piece of filename>'
Example: locate XEmacs or locate XEm
Both will find XEmacs and anything else similar and show the complete
path. The more characters the fewer files will be listed. An exact
match gives the file only, unless that file name is part of a larger
file name.
The locate command uses a databases which can be updated, while logged
in as root, by issuing the comand 'updatedb'. Cron will usually do this
once a day anyway.
JLK
------------------------------
Subject: Re: Using dd copy image file to make a DOS bootable disk
From: Vilmos Soti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 23:49:02 GMT
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> We are downloading from the web to linux an image file that contains
> DOS boot files as well as some other files. We'd like to use dd to
> convert the file to a floppy to make the floppy a DOS bootable disk.
>
> Is this event possible?
>
> dd seems to expand the image file correctly, but the floppy is not
> bootable and cannot be accessed by anything other than linux.
>
> 1) mkfs.msdos /dev/fd0
> 2) dd if=disk1.img of=/mnt/floppy
Oh, just do either of the following stuff:
dd if=image_file of=/dev/fd0
cat image_file > /dev/fd0
Of course, it blindly copies the image to the floppy. You have to
make sure that the floppy is defect free.
Vilmos
------------------------------
From: Jerry L Kreps <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: From RedHat to SuSE: A simple question
Date: Wed, 30 Aug 2000 18:57:13 -0500
Monte Milanuk wrote:
>
> Ok, I feel I have to comment on this one! ;) I made the RedHat -->
> SuSE transistion right about the time SuSE 6.0 came out, primarily for
> a) sound support ala OSS, and KDE. I have purchased every version since
> (6.1,2,3,4), and have largely been satisfied w/ the overall
> performance. I have tinkered w/ the various Mandrake and RedHat
> versions in the same time period, as well as a little meddling w/
> Slackware (I started on it around v.3.0, years ago), Debian, Corel, and
> TurboLinux. By far the most I have messed w/ a non-SuSE distro recently
> would be Mandrake. And I would have to say that w/ the exception of
> Mandrake, there wasn't a noticeable performance difference btwn _any_ of
> the ones I tried. And again, w/ the exception of Mandrake, I never
> noticed a significant difference in stability. Granted, Mandrake is
> somewhat more bleeding edge, especially w/ their last few versions being
> a marked departure from their original 'follow-the-leader(redhat)'
> stance.
>
> I'd be interested in what you base these claims that SuSE is 'by far the
> most stable RPM-based distro out there...'
Sly made those claims but I'd pretty much agree that compared to RH
(5.0-6.2),
which I've tested, SuSE (5.3-6.3) is much faster and more stable. Part
of my
speed comes from the fact that I recompile the SuSE kernel to i586
optimization
kill services I never use. Also, another BIG factor in the stability of
ANY
Linux box is how well the X-window driver is setup to match the video
card and
monitor combination. I have a Sony VAIO P166 with 64MB RAM and a 128MB
swapfile.
I run KDE 1.1a with KDevelop for a dev tool. (I'm learning how to use
the
QT toolkit).
Sly's comment about the SuSE mailing list being one of the best, if not
THE bestm
Linux support forums around is a fair statement. The list is very civil
and
friendly to both gurus and newbies, and SuSE's tech staff is always
watching.
Many of the questions are from folks using other distros but no one
complains
and help is offered anyway. It is a find example of the 'Linux
Community'. I've
been off the list for about 3 or 4 months now. After learning a lot and
then
helping as much as I could I decided to try other distros, just for
grins.
Mandrake 7.1 is going on another machine after Labor Day, but SuSE 7.0
is
going on this machine when it is released here in the USA. I'm going to
backup my data and certain apps (SANE 1.0, BibleTime, Quanta, Moneydance
and
a few others, then I am going to reformat all three drives and put on
the
journaling system. Then the latest of everything is going back on. I
may
wait until KDE 2.0 goes public before I do, though.
JLK
> and especially how you
> decided that it is 'quite a lot faster than RH & Mandrake...' since
> Mandrake is Pentium-optimized, and SuSE (just like RedHat) is
> i386-optimized, plus any custom/expert install of Mandrake offers the
> option of turning on hard drive optimization, which granted, is easily
> done on just about any linux distro. On my box, that boosts the test
> speed from 3.8Mb/s to 19.7Mb/s. So how in the heck is SuSE any faster?
>
> Please keep in mind that I am not trying to bash SuSE here, I am just
> trying to present a reality check. I recently switched over from SuSE
> 6.4 to RedHat 6.2 GPL, at least for a while, w/ a copy of KRUD on the
> way. When 7.0 comes out, I'll probably wait and get a GPL copy of it,
> test it out, and maybe I'll go back, maybe I won't. SuSE's mailing list
> support is bar none the best I've seen yet. I'm just getting tired of
> every time a new kernel comes out, anyone who uses OSS for their sound
> is hosed -- either upgrade and have no sound, or pay for a new version
> of OSS on your own. Not completely SuSE's fault, but one of a few
> annoyances. Probably a large part of why SuSE has heavily funded parts
> of Alsa, and use it in 7.0.
>
> Oh, and by the way, as far as transistion from RedHat to SuSE, the
> runlevels are different, as well. I believe, in RedHat, runlevel 2 is
> multi-user non-networked, runlevel 3 is multi-user networked, and
> runlevel 5 is multi-user networked w/ X. In SuSE, runlevel 2 is
> multi-user networked, and runlevel 3 is multi-user networked w/ X
>
> Jerry L Kreps wrote:
> >
> > Sylvain Demers wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I've just decided to drop RedHat for SuSE. I am extremely impressed with
> > > the robustness of SuSE. It is by far the most stable RPM-based disto out
> > > there, and quite a lot faster than RH & Mandrake in many regards. My
> > > only problem now is to figure out where is what (I've been using RH and
> > > Mandrake almost exculively for the last year and a half or so), since
> > > SuSE is quite different than RH as far as configuration files goes.
> > >
> > > Can someone tell me what is the equivalent (if any) of the /etc/rc.local
> > > file under SuSE? I used to add some commands in rc.local under Redhat,
> > > but I can't find where to put them under SuSE. I'm seriously considering
> > > buying the new 7.0 box set, since a book would really come handy. I'm
> > > currently using the eval copy I got from the Net.
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance
> > >
> > > Sylvain
> >
> > Welcome to SuSE! I made the same journey you are on during the fall of
> > 1998. I have never been disappointed with a SuSE distro. When 7.0
> > comes out I plan to go the PRO route.
> >
> > In general, you should read chapter 17 of the SuSE manual. You can
> > download a PostScript of an English version from the SuSE webstite if
> > you don't have a paper copy. It will detail the SuSE boot sequence and
> > the order in which files are consulted or run.
> >
> > ~/.bashrc is where you put your local env and var settings (The file
> > '.profile' is in your
> > home dir but it is used by SuSE and you are admonished to put your
> > settings in .bashrc)
> > jerry@JLKreps:~ > locate bashrc
> > /etc/skel/.bashrc
> > /home/jerry/.bashrc
> > /home/june/.bashrc
> >
> > If you are going to install special device drivers, set cron stuff,
> > etc., then boot.local is the file.
> > jerry@JLKreps:~ > locate boot.local
> > /sbin/init.d/boot.local
> >
> > I find that YaST and KPackage (KDE) as root are my two most important
> > install programs. I do the occasional tar and manual setting stuff,
> > when I have to, but I prefer the two above.
> >
> > What YaST does is put your entries into a file called /etc/rc.config.
> > Then, when you exit YaST, /sbin/SuSEconfig is fired and it reads
> > rc.config and calls a variety of perl scripts to do the actual work,
> > feeding to them the parameters taken from rc.config. If you change
> > rc.config manually then you should envoke /sbin/SuSEconfig manually to
> > make sure your changes take place. This allows you to change your
> > system without having to reboot it. Chapter 17 decribes the vars in
> > rc.config.
> >
> > You will be in for a pleasent ride with SuSE. I leave my machine on,
> > connected to the internet 24/7 for weeks at a time, shuting it down only
> > when lightening is outside. The last hang I had was in the fall of
> > 1998, when I was writing some C++ code and I inadvertantly looped the
> > mouse and keyboard, necessitating a power cycle. (I couldn't telnet in
> > because I am not on a network.) Apps do crash, however, and it is good
> > to know the key strokes on page 419.
> >
> > Have fun!
> > Jerry
------------------------------
From: Craig Setera <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.hardware
Subject: Multi-session CD's without -eject (cdrecord)
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 00:04:42 GMT
I'm interested in using multi-session CD's for doing backups. It
appears from the examples that multi-session uses the -eject option to
cause the CD to be ejected along the way. I'm assuming that this is so
that the OS re-reads the table of contents on the disc.
I'd really like to do this in some way that does not require the disc to
be ejected and reloaded. Can multi-session be achieved without the CD
eject in any way?
Thanks,
Craig
(Remove nospam from address to reply by mail)
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher Browne)
Subject: Re: Netscape Sucks, I need another option.
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 00:18:04 GMT
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when Luc Bergeron would say:
>Gabe wrote:
>> I'm a new Linux user. The best thing about Windows is Internet Explorer,
>> because frankly, Netscape sucks. It's slow, buggy, and doesn't display pages
>> correctly.
>>
>> I need another option besides Lynx. Is there another browser I can use in X
>> that comes highly recommended?
>
>the worst thing about winshit is explorer and the best thing about
>linux is the netscape implementation.
>
>NETSCAPE RULES
Um. I think not. Netscape is probably the flakiest program that
Linux users commonly feel compelled to use.
--
(concatenate 'string "cbbrowne" "@" "ntlug.org")
<http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/webbrowsers.html>
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's
too dark to read. -Groucho Marx
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher Browne)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.text.xml,comp.os.linux.development.system
Subject: Re: Linux, XML, and assalting Windows
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 00:18:19 GMT
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when [EMAIL PROTECTED] would say:
>In article <pb_q5.545915$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> would say:
>> >Sure you could use xml, as long as your install program can write it.
>> >It would equivalent to the registry in WinX or the assorted /etc
>files
>> >(and more) in *x. But these mechanisms work (ugly as they may be in
>> >their own unique ways). Why are you trying to fix the part of
>software
>> >installation & configuration that isn't broken?
>>
>> Indeed.
>>
>> What the world could use is some Better Tools for managing /etc files.
>>
>> For that purpose, I find I very much like cfengine
>> <http://www.iu.hioslo.no/cfengine/>,
>> which provides a rule-oriented system with operators for setting up
>> directory links, modifying text-based config files (which is _very_
>> nice for modifying things like /etc/hosts, /etc/fstab, and such),
>> copying files into place, and Lots Of Other Stuff.
>>
>> There would be _some_ merit to creating an XML or SGML DTD to describe
>> cfengine rules, thereby allowing cfengine configuration files to be
>> managed using the fabled "generic XML editing tools," and validated
>> before being dropped into place to give at least some _limited_
>> guarantees of good behaviour.
>>
>> That would essentially amount to things like:
>>
>> <filestatusrules>
>> <filestatusrule>
>> <filename> /etc/printcap </filename>
>> <mode> 644 </mode>
>> <owner> root </owner>
>> <action> fixplain </action>
>> </filestatusrule>
>> <!-- replacing "/etc/printcap m=644 o=root action=fixplain" -->
>> <filestatusrule>
>> <filename> /usr/sbin/sendmail </filename>
>> <mode> 755 </mode>
>> <owner> root </owner>
>> <action> fixplain </action>
>> </filestatusrule>
>> <!-- replacing "/usr/sbin/sendmail m=755 o=root action=fixplain" -
>->
>> </filestatusrules>
>> <editfiles>
>> <editfile>
>> <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list </filename>
>> <appendifnosuchline> deb file:/brownes/knuth/debianstuff unstable
>main
>> </appendifnosuchline>
>> <appendifnosuchline> deb http://alpha.onshore.com/debian local/
>> </appendifnosuchline>
>> <appendifnosuchline> deb http://hops.harvestroad.com.au/ debian/
>> </appendifnosuchline>
>> </editfile>
>> <editfile>
>> <filename> /etc/hosts </filename>
>> <appendifnosuchline> 192.168.1.5 knuth.brownes.org knuth
>cache
>> </appendifnosuchline>
>> <appendifnosuchline> 192.168.1.1 dantzig.brownes.org dantzig
>> </appendifnosuchline>
>> <appendifnosuchline> 192.168.1.7 godel.brownes.org godel
>> </appendifnosuchline>
>> </editfile>
>> </editfiles>
>>
>> Mind you, the existing cfengine syntax _works_, which means that it
>> would be likely to take some convincing to "force" anyone to move over
>> to using an XML parser for this.
>
>The cfengine does indeed cover much of the ground we need to cover.
>And you have made a very insightful observation in that XML could be
>used to describe in general what a software component requires. But I
>do not think the right approach would be to simply write cfengine
>syntax rules directly into the XML. Instead, why not render the XML
>into cfengine rules?
Of course, what _really_ begs the question is why XML ever comes up in
the first place.
It sounds like what you're trying to do is to design something that
cfengine would be perfectly suited for.
Issues that come up in system configuration include:
- Dealing with resource locking;
- Describing and setting permissions;
- Describing what links should exist, whether those be symbolic links
or references in files (e.g. - having a host identified in
/etc/hosts)
The primary merit of XML is that (despite being considerably _more_
difficult to parse than S-expressions) it is _somewhat_ less difficult
to parse than SGML, and resembles the HTML that only the most
pointy-haired of technical managers are incapable of coping with.
XML buys you the ability to get a "cheap parser."
It does not solve the other problems involved in building complex
systems, which begs the question of why XML need get involved in the
first place.
>What you need to do is simply identify the data structures that will
>need to be referenced by the cfengine. Then use a translator to
>produce the cfengine rules. So, in your example, those constructs such
>as machine names, ip addresses, filenames, etc. that may vary from
>system to system should instead be referenced by a XML variable.
Those constructs are intended to be the _invariants_; the whole point
of the exercise is to establish the IP addresses, hostnames and such.
They are _never_ generic.
What could vary is where the configuration info may be put, and the
cfengine language is designed to provide the ability to describe that
sort of thing.
>These variables represent decision points in how the software
>component should be rendered, and vary from machine to machine, and
>network to network.
>
>The values for these variables can be collected by prompting the user,
>or as supplied by a separate XML description.
By the way, I think you're rather confused about the nature of XML.
It isn't a language that can _have_ "variables." It is a static
language; nothing _can_ vary, so that the notion of "variable" is
pretty nonsensical. There are entities, consisting of elements, which
may have attributes. A Lisp-like perspective would view this as
involving a set of "static bindings."
>The question is, why use XML if I can just write the cfengine rules
>myself?
A good question indeed.
>We have (in the cfengine) the need for the same kind of separation.
>The use of cfengine requires a large scripting base which can define
>the installation and health of a collection of systems on a network.
>The generation of these scripts is the hardest part of the cfengine
>approach. I am not a big user of cfengine, but I am unaware of any
>standard for distributing applications that allows them to simply "drop
>into" cfengine scripts.
There are no common conventions for this, probably primarily because
people haven't seriously thought to use it in this way.
It would be a cool idea [for someone else to implement :-)] to build a
packaging tool that would use cfengine as the installation tool rather
than the random groupings of shell scripts that are often used with
RPM and DPKG. I think this would be _reasonably_ practical, and that
a reasonable design would include several scripts:
a) One cfengine script to move files into place. This would run only
once, and be fairly "hard coded."
b) One, possibly written in something else, to ask the user and/or
system any information that needs to be asked. For a web server,
for instance, this might involve asking what port to accept
requests on, as well as any proxies to pass requests to.
This script would then 'fill in blanks' to generate other scripts.
If you ever want to redesign configuration, you'd rerun this
script.
c) A cfengine script would then be set up to "fix up" the config
files based on the parameters provided by b).
This might involve filling in the HTTP port number, or fixing up
permissions on files/directories, or indicating log rotation
policies, or other such stuff.
This script might be re-run as needed to clean up configuration; it
would be a reasonably good move to rerun this on a regular
[daily/weekly?] basis.
>Do you think it would help if software were defined in XML abstractions
>that could be combined and rendered into cfengine scripts in an
>automated way? Or is there something about cfengine scripts that would
>make this too difficult. In your XML example, the only problem I see
>is that you hard coded IP addresses, machine names, directories, and
>file names, some of which may need to vary if the description were to
>be generalized. Some of the operations are pretty platform dependent,
>but that I think is okay.
I hard coded the IP addresses entirely intentionally; that was the
whole _point_ of the exercise.
As for "defining the software in XML abstractions," that either
doesn't make sense, if we speak in any sort of "complete" sense, or
represents something only _marginally_ useful.
In the approach suggested above, there would be a whole "horde" of
cfengine scripts of the various sorts.
There would be _some_ value in the "second variety" being presented in
a form that would make it easy to rewrite them into a more efficiently
processed form.
Thus, if we had the following sequence of "periodically-run" scripts:
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/apache
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/squid
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/zsh
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/ftpd
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/ftp
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/inetd
/etc/cfengine/packages/daily/cfengine
...
There are two approaches:
a) Have cfengine run through them all individually, or
b) [Somehow, magically] join them together to generate "master.daily",
and have cfengine run once on One Big Script.
If the "daily" things were represented in XML, or S-expressions, or
some other "readily-walkable-tree," it would be straightforward to
walk through them all and assemble that One Big Script in a somewhat
optimized order.
On the other hand, it could be just as easy, and require no
fundamentally new code, to have the main file do:
import:
Hr00:
/etc/cfengine/daily.master
And (daily?) rebuild daily.master via:
"echo 'import:' > /etc/cfengine/daily.master'
"cd /etc/cfengine; ls packages/daily >> /etc/cfengine/daily.master"
XML doesn't forcibly enter into this _at all_.
--
(concatenate 'string "aa454" "@" "freenet.carleton.ca")
<http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
"DTDs are not common knowledge because programming students are not
taught markup. A markup language is not a programming language."
-- Peter Flynn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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