File: TWDT.html

package info (click to toggle)
lg-issue89 1-1
links: PTS
area: main
in suites: sarge
size: 1,804 kB
ctags: 80
sloc: xml: 106; makefile: 34; sh: 34; perl: 1
file content (6499 lines) | stat: -rw-r--r-- 280,001 bytes
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE> Linux Gazette Table of Contents LG #89</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#0000AF"
ALINK="#FF0000" >
<center>
<!-- A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<H1><IMG SRC="../gx/newlogo.jpg" ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" border="0"></H1></A> --> 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<H1><IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/lglogo.png" 
	WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="124" border="0"></H1></A> 
<H2>April 2003, Issue 89 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Published by <I>Linux Journal</I></H2> 

<A HREF="../index.html">Front Page</A> &nbsp;|&nbsp;
<A HREF="../index.html">Back Issues</A> &nbsp;|&nbsp;
<A HREF="../lg_faq.html">FAQ</A> &nbsp;|&nbsp;
<A HREF="../mirrors.html">Mirrors</A> <!-- &nbsp;|&nbsp; --><BR>
<A HREF="../tag-kb.html">The Answer Gang knowledge base</A> (your Linux questions here!) <!-- &nbsp;|&nbsp; --><BR>
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/search.html">Search (www.linuxgazette.com)</A> 
<!-- *** BEGIN mirror site search link *** -->
<!-- &nbsp; <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/search.html">(SITE.COM
mirror)</A> -->
<!-- *** END mirror site search link *** -->

</CENTER>

<HR NOSHADE>
<!--=================================================================-->

<!-- H1><font color="#BB0000">Table of Contents:</font></H1 -->




<!-- *** BEGIN toc *** -->
<UL>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_mail.html">The MailBag</A>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_answer.html">The Answer Gang</A>
<LI> <A HREF="lg_bytes.html">News Bytes</A>, <EM>by Michael Conry</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="bint.html">Laurel and Hardy Try to Write a C Program</A>, <EM>by Stephen Bint</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="collinge.html">HelpDex</A>, <EM>by Shane Collinge</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="danguer.html">Working with XSLT</A>, <EM>by Daniel Guerrero</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="ecol.html">Ecol</A>, <EM>by Javier Malonda</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="gonzales.html">Security Administration with Debian GNU/Linux</A>, <EM>by Jose Salvador Gonzalez Rivera</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="lodato.html">Collaborative Community Linux Extranet for Improved Health</A>, <EM>by Janine M Lodato</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="okopnik.html">Perl One-Liner of the Month: April is the Cruelest Month</A>, <EM>by Ben Okopnik</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="foolish.html">The Foolish Things We Do with Our Computers</A>, <EM>by Mike ("Iron") Orr</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="raghu.html">Exploring Message Queues, part 1</A>, <EM>by Raghu J Menon</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="vinayak.html">Easter Eggs</A>, <EM>by Vinayak Hegde</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="vinayak2.html">The Linux Scheduler</A>, <EM>by Vinayak Hegde</EM>
<LI> <A HREF="ward.html">Cloning workstations with Linux</A>, <EM>by Alan Ward</EM>
</UL>

<!-- *** END toc *** -->




<HR NOSHADE>
<!--=================================================================-->

<H3 ALIGN="center"><EM>Linux Gazette</EM> Staff and The Answer Gang</H3>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<STRONG>Editor:</STRONG> Michael Orr<BR>
<STRONG>Technical Editor:</STRONG> Heather Stern<BR>
<STRONG>Senior Contributing Editor:</STRONG> Jim Dennis<BR>
<STRONG>Contributing Editors:</STRONG>
Ben Okopnik, Dan Wilder, Don Marti
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<HR NOSHADE>
<!--=================================================================-->

<A HREF="TWDT.txt.gz">TWDT 1 (gzipped text file)</A><BR>
<A HREF="TWDT.html">TWDT 2 (HTML file)</A><BR>
are files containing the entire issue: one in text format, one in HTML. 
They are provided 
strictly as a way to save the contents as one file for later printing in
the format of your choice; 
there is no guarantee of working links in the HTML version.
<HR NOSHADE>
<!--=================================================================-->

<center>
<I>Linux Gazette</I><img alt="[tm]" src="../gx/tm.gif">, 
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">http://www.linuxgazette.com/</A><BR> 
This page maintained by the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>,
<A HREF="mailto: gazette@ssc.com"> gazette@ssc.com</A>
<P> 
<H5>Copyright &copy; 1996-2003 Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc.</H5>
</center>

<HR NOSHADE>
<!--=================================================================-->



<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="/../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD>


<center>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">The Mailbag</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG><BR>
<!-- BEGIN wanted -->

<STRONG>From <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">The Readers of <i>Linux Gazette</I></A></STRONG></BIG>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->
<HR>
<center>
<BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">HELP WANTED : Article Ideas</FONT></STRONG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>Submit comments about articles, or articles themselves (after reading <a href="../faq/author.html">our guidelines</a>) to <A HREF="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">The Editors of <i>Linux Gazette</I></A>, and technical answers and tips about Linux to <A HREF="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">The Answer Gang</A>. 
</STRONG>
</center><HR>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#wanted.1"
	><strong>How to host DNS for websites & for DSL connected satellite offices</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted.2"
	><strong>fetchmail ? sendmail ? or sender ?</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted.3"
	><strong>Router Question</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted.4"
	><strong>Help wanted - ps2 shutdown...</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted.5"
	><strong>Simulating RPM Tool.</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#wanted.6"
	><strong>Internet providers in USA</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted.1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">How to host DNS for websites & for DSL connected satellite offices</FONT></H3>
Mon, 03 Mar 2003 17:12:18 +0200
<BR>Trent Murgatroyd (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=trent@sa-info.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20help%20wanted%20%231">trent from sa-info.com</a>)


<P>
Hi
</P>
<P>
I have tried lots and lots and lots of things to get DNS setup properly, but can only get
it to work intermitently. What I am try to achieve is a fairly small, fairly simple, multi
domain DNS host for a few domains that my company owns, and then a few that we
are/will be hosting in the near(ish) future.
I have some linux boxes RH62/RH7x configured for various tasks like email,
database servers, apache, samba etc.
Some of the DNS authorities are with register.com, some with various ISP's. I can
modify the register.com ones once I have the thing working, and will ask the ISP's to
"hand over" the SOA's as well, but first I have to get the confounded thing to work
properly.
</P>
<P>
I shall describe what I would like, using thumbsuck names and ip's, and would be
VERY happy and appreciative if you could tell me how the config files should look.
</P>
<P>
lets say I own/have howdoesdnswork.com as my main domain, and host some others
like:
</P>

<blockquote><pre>	whywontthiswork.net
	imconfused.co.za
	plshelp.org.za
</pre></blockquote>
<P>
I plan to run (i think i have it working, but can't test properly till DNS works) a virtual
domain mailhost (qmail based) system.
I have a fixed IP/permanent connection for my main(own) domain which is on ip
subnet 99.8.77.0
</P>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>DNS server (primary) is/will_be  99.8.77.13 (using BIND8)
<br>DNS server (secondary) is/will_be 99.8.77.12 (also using BIND8)
<br>Mail server for howdoesdnswork.com (and in fact all above) is  99.8.77.2
<br>Web server (for all above using apache virtualhosting) is on 99.8.77.4
</font></code></blockquote>
<P>
You're probably thinking "Why is someone so clueless even attempting something
like this", but I've gotta start somewhere if I'm ever gonna learn. Pls pardon
my ignorance (&amp; I'll pardon your sniggering 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle"> ).
</P>
<P>
By what I have read, and tried and struggled with, I need zone files for each
domain, each of which contains host info etc.
Here are my attempts, comments etc still included ..... followed by a desperate
request (on my knees, tears running down my face etc) for
assistance/guidance/criticism.
</P>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/wanted/Murgatroyd.dns-configuration-files.txt">Murgatroyd.dns-configuration-files.txt</a></tt></p>
<P>
I would also like to get some info on "mail server splitting" - as in having a local mail
server (proxy) on a DSL connected LAN which forward internet emails to a main
server (mailhost) on a permanent connection, but transmits local mail as local mail,
and then which downloads mail from the "mailhost" to the local "mail proxy" on a
polled interval, but I'm probably pushing my luck here, so I'll post this one another
time..... unless of course...???
I have a working system using micro%$#* but would like to get rid of ALL M$
products as soon as humanly possible.
</P>
<P>
Thanx a stack
Trent
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">For DNS questions there's a great resource called "Ask Mr.DNS" - but he
won't answer generic requests, they'd have to be reachable from the net.
Still, his archives are catalogued by category at
<A HREF="http://www.acmebw.com/cats.htm"
	>http://www.acmebw.com/cats.htm</A>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font color="#000066">This certainly looks like a solvable problem;  if your patience wears
too thin with Micro[snip] and your time too short, you might want to dig
into the Consultants Howto.  While by title you'd think it was "Howto become
a consultant" it's really "Howto find a consultant".  There's lots of 'em,
but you may recognize a few names in those pages...  Check out
<A HREF="http://www.tldp.org"
	>http://www.tldp.org</A>
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted.2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">fetchmail ? sendmail ? or sender ?</FONT></H3>
Wed, 5 Mar 2003 09:17:58 +0100
<BR>Chris de Boer (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=chris.deboer@rioned.org&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20help%20wanted%20%232">chris.deboer from rioned.org</a>)


<P>
Hi
</P>
<P>
I hope this is a legitimate question:
At faked.org a person subscribes to <A HREF="mailto:Info@fake.nl"
	>Info@fake.nl</A>
with his e-mailadress <A HREF="mailto:special.person@faked.org"
	>special.person@faked.org</A>
Okay, fetchmail collects the e-mails and sendmail
distributes them on a linuxserver.
What is weird: the sender sends to himself . . .
in pine one sees:
From: <A HREF="mailto:Info@fake.nl"
	>Info@fake.nl</A>
To: <A HREF="mailto:Info@fake.nl"
	>Info@fake.nl</A>
</P>
<P>
Now I would not deliver such an e-mail . . . .
But linux is politer and sends it to the local person of last resort.
</P>
<P>
I cannot but forward the e-mail to <A HREF="mailto:special-person@faked.org"
	>special-person@faked.org</A>
I do not want to mess myself with the sendmail and fetchmail configurations
as they do perfectly what they should do with normal e-mails.
</P>
<P>
For your information I have put here-under what Outlook Express shows
One blames me for not delivering the e-mail in the normal way . . .
(Help !)
</P>
<P>
In outlook express one sees:
</P>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/wanted/Chris-de-Boer.headers-oe.txt">Chris-de-Boer.headers-oe.txt</a></tt></p>

<!-- end 2 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted.3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Router Question</FONT></H3>
Wed, 5 Mar 2003 14:41:02 -0500
<BR>K Seshadri (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=seshadribpl@hotmail.com&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20help%20wanted%20%233">seshadribpl from hotmail.com</a>)



<blockquote><font color="#000066">This is a multi-part message in MIME format.  I had extra fun snipping
the bulky HTML attachment into shreds small enough to wheelbarrow off in
a tilted over greater-than symbol.  Clipping the equals marks off the
line ends was gravy.
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>
<P>
Hi,
</P>
<P>
Excellent material on this site !!!
</P>
<P>
I have a small problem. I have two subnets: 192.149.1.0/24 and
192.168.52.0/24. I want all the hosts on one to see the others on the
other subnet. In other words, I want to have <EM>NO BLOCKING</EM> of any
service from either side.
</P>
<P>
I have been able to make the 168 network hosts see and access the 149
hosts. From the 149 subnet I can ping a host on the other subnet, but I
can't, for example, see a PC's shared directories. Security is not an
issue as they are both internal networks.
</P>
<P>
I am running Coyote Linux on a floppy.
</P>
<P>
Any help will be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
</P>
<P>
Sesh
</P>

<!-- end 3 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted.4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Help wanted - ps2 shutdown...</FONT></H3>
Sun, 16 Mar 2003 15:58:48 +0000 (GMT)
<BR>Ruben Hansen (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=&cc=gbyte@mail.dk&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20help%20wanted%20%234">gbyte from mail.dk</a>)
<BR>Response by corncob Pipe 

<P><STRONG>
Hi...
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I had simular problem, the other way around...
The BIOS have a function for ps2 keyboard and mouse
power-up, check that it is set for your needs... The
problem is that it doesn't work with all
os-shutdowns 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/unsmily.gif" ALT=":(" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
Don't know how that come...
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Ruben Hansen alias GbyTe
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I assume you mean for APM features in the BIOS. I
wonder if perhaps, this is BIOS specific somehow. I
know that almost all BIOS's are "standard" in terms of
options, but you never know......
</P>
<P>
Thanks, Ruben!
</P>

<!-- end 4 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted.5"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Simulating RPM Tool.</FONT></H3>
Fri, 21 Mar 2003 15:09:37 +0000 (GMT)
<BR>Suresh Babu G (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=&cc=gsureshbabu@siptech.co.in&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20help%20wanted%20%235">gsureshbabu from siptech.co.in</a>)
<BR>Response by corncob Pipe 

<P><STRONG>
Hi
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hello,
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I got a lot of useful answers from this
group for my previous
question  [TAG] RPM -Installing Packages.Thanks a
lot to Thomas
,Ben,Breen,David and  Rick.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
&lt;blushing&gt;...you're welcome.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Actually i'm trying (to simulate the RPM
Tool
functionalities using C ) to  develop a Java
Packager Tool for handling
*. rpm files in a Solaris Box. It should support
packaging operations
like Install , Query, Verify,Erase etc.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Sounds good.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
As a first task , I'm tring to simulate the
RPM Query option ,
to query installed packages.If we query an
uninstalled package ,it
should say it's uninstalled.It should generate
package infos. as we get
in : rpm -qi &lt;file&gt;. Also to query the listof files
, pre &amp; post
installation scripts , list of dependencies, list of
dependencies
covered and not covered.I don't know how to use
&lt;rpmdb.h&gt; file for
generating these informations.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Hmmm, from my limited knowledge I think that you can
just query the RPM database directly without going via
&lt;rpmdb.h&gt;
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Can anybody (in this
group) help me in
this regard?
</STRONG></P>
<P>
Which part are you implementing in Java (I got 93/100
for that last semester 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">???
</P>
<P><STRONG>
Any other suggestions that would help me to
procede in this
project?
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Sounds like an interesting project.  Readers, if any of you have done
the same, or seen a project with this in progress, let us know!
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 5 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="wanted.6"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Internet providers in USA</FONT></H3>
Tue, 25 Mar 2003 10:44:06 +0100
<BR>Konqi (<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com?cc=matthi@gmx.li&subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20help%20wanted%20%236">the <em>LG</em> Answer Gang</a>)


<P><STRONG>
Hi all,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I know that this list is called "linux-questions-only" and therefore I have
to prove that it is indeed a linux question! So: I want to travel to the USA
with my <EM>linux</EM> laptop and need some reliable internet access via modem or
ISDN (is ISDN available there and which standard is used then).
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
In Germany we have something called "Internet by call" where you call a number
and pay via telephone bill, you don't have to register and don't have to pay
in advance.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
What are the options to get a linux laptop on the net in the USA? Since some
of you guys are living there, you may answer the question. A quick glance on
google results has only shown me some Calling Card providers where you buy
"points" and then use the web until they are empty. AOL (since it's not
linux-compatible) and T-Online global access (since I'm not a customer) are
no option.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
"If liberty means anything at all,
it means the right to tell people
what they do not want to hear."
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
George Orwell
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">Heh, normally I snip sig blocks, but this seems particularly apt to the
BitKeeper related mail a little later on this page.
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Tux] 
You can do what I do, since I travel a lot: use AT&amp;T. It's $20/month,
and they have dial-up numbers pretty much everywhere; AFAIK, more so
than any other service. The only caveat is, no outgoing SMTP - you have
to use their mail servers to push your stuff out. For most people,
that's not a problem; I just find it to be an annoyance. Easy fix: set
up one conffile for a smarthost and one for a local MTA and swap them as
necessary. For extra ease of use, don't run in daemon mode - just invoke
the MTA per-message (and an occasional cron job in case anything gets
stuck in the pipe.)
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Swirl] 
You know, if I faced that situation, I'd rsync or scp my outgoing mail
over to my own MTA.  That's what Andrew Tridgell does.  (For that
matter, I usually just ssh over to my MTA box anyway, where I have mutt
perpetually running under GNU screen, interacting directly with the
local mail sppol.)  They don't block port 22 (ssh), do they?  That would
be a deal-breaker.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Tux] 
You know, I just got a shell account with &lt;freeshell.org&gt;; that is an
<EM>excellent</EM> idea. I'd really like the ability to keep 'Fcc's on my
laptop, but I can always pull down the files.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Swirl] 
Entrusting outbound mail to AT&amp;T's smarthost seems an unjustifiable
compromise, in any event.  Not acceptable.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
[Tux] 
Parallels my own attitude; however, I didn't have the means to
support it until now.
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">These are interesting thoughts, but quite untrue to their nature, the
Gang didn't answer the question as offered.  If you know of a purely
by-the-call internet provider in the United States, or you happen to
be one, chime in, and we'll see that you get noticed.  At the moment the
very closest I can think of is some internet coffee shops have taken to
selling daypasses into their wireless hookup, or sell hourly time while
you enjoy the coffee, and hotels in urban areas are starting to offer
high speed access, also paid by the day.  You'd need a wireless or
ethernet card respectively.  Europeans please note that the phone system
in the US rarely offers direct-plug ISDN - that's considered a business
class data line around here.
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>

<!-- end 6 -->
<HR>
<center>
<BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">GENERAL MAIL</FONT></STRONG></BIG>
<BR>
</center><HR>
<UL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<li><A HREF="#mailbag.1"
	><strong>Escaping from BitKeeper...</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag.2"
	><strong>wordsmithing in Gibberish</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag.3"
	><strong>SCO Sues IBM</strong></a>
<li><A HREF="#mailbag.4"
	><strong>Thanks</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</UL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag.1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Escaping from BitKeeper...</FONT></H3>
Thu, 27 Mar 2003 13:18:13 +0100
<BR>Ben Margolin (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20mailbag%20%231">ben from prince.org</a>)
<BR>Response by The Scissors 

<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
I read your 'Greeting' in the latest LinuxGazette online and found it
interesting, and correct. The last company I worked for
actually switched from cvs, to BitKeeper, for all the cool features.
Very long story short, after one year of us debugging their
product, paying tens of thousands of $ for the privilege, and never
having Larry McVoy stop being a pain in the ass, we dumped
them and went back to cvs, and all was well (after they threatened to
sue us, etc... at the time we definitely had superior lawyers,
and they knew they had no case--but why even threaten? Leaves a bad
taste.) Afterward, we missed changesets a bit, but not as
much as you might think. And we got so much better performance for
"simple things", that it made up for it, in our minds.
Oh, and we could save the tens of 000s of $, which was in-line with our
whole philosophy, anyhow.
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
My. I've no idea why large enough corporations think being a poor
sport would keep them customers who are on the verge of flying the coop.
One would think the other way happens more often - attempts to lure one
back and all.
</P>
<P><STRONG>
"Large enough corporations" I suppose -- BitMover is/was only a handful
of folks.  I felt they were very deceptive about the quality of their
code (which did improve during the year we spent with it, but should have
been that way to start with), and were obviously trying to exploit Linux
(by convincing Linus to use BK), as a marketing tool. I don't believe LM
has ever contributed to an opensource project, if that tells you something.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
My own experiences of these systems have been with the bits only and not
so much which the personailities that drive them.  I'm all for people
having pride in their work... but a little respect around the naighborhood
here pays us all back best.
</P>
<P>
(Search <EM>Linux Gazette</EM> back archives on the title
<a href="../issue64/lg_answer64.html#tag/greeting">"The Coin of the Realm"</a>
for an interesting editorial on that. Issue 65, I think.)
</P>

<blockquote><font color="#000066">It was issue 64 actually.  OpenProjects has become
<A HREF="http://www.freenode.net"
	>http://www.freenode.net</A> and if you enjoyed the concept, you might be
interested in reading ESR's two papers that came after
<a href="http://catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/">"The Cathedral and the Bazaar"</a>
...
<a href="http://catb.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/">"Homesteading the Neosphere"</a>
and
<a href="http://catb.org/~esr/writings/magic-cauldron/">"The Magic Cauldron"</a>
... since he explores the anthropologic concepts of "gift culture" and other
modes of economics in more academic detail.
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
It's too bad BitMover (the company) isn't nearly as cool as well as
BitKeeper, the product, is. I told Linus in email (not sure if
he ever even read it) way back when that, be careful, Larry is not
really a "plays well with others" kind of guy. (This is probably
the understatement of the week, but I'm in a charitable mood.)
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
Heh.  Linus has been known to declare himself "not a nice guy" on
occasion too.  I've always found him gentlemanly, but I wasn't toe to
toe with him on the right or wrong ways to implement a deeply integral
kernel function, either.
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
Your comments were right-on, and interesting to read. I don't usually
visit the site but maybe I'll try to do so more in the future.
(And if you're curious, my current shop is all-windows, that's what I
inherited... trying to slowly turn things towards opensource
solutions, but it's quite the effort. I thought switching from SourceSafe
would be hard, but it turns out they don't even use that!! Wow.
We're going to use cvs hosted on linux, with the excellent and free
TortoiseCVS windows clients.)
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG><FONT COLOR="#000066"><EM>
Ben Margolin
</EM></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P>
I'm glad you enjoyed my mangled thoughts on it all.  Your response goes
to show that one of the lessons of open source remains the ability to
vote with our feet, ultimately enforced by the right to just plain re-do
it ourself.
</P>
<P>
Let us know if there's any good stuff you'd like to see in our pages!
</P>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag.2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">wordsmithing in Gibberish</FONT></H3>
Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:34:28 -0800
<BR>Raj Shekhar (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20mailbag%20%232">lunatech3007 from yahoo.com</a>)
<BR>Response by Tuxedo T. Herring 

<P><STRONG>
This is with reference to " Perl One-Liner of the Month: The Case of
the Evil Spambots" which was published in th LG#86. I especially
enjoyed you defination of Gibberish.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Here is something I found in my fortune files. I am pretty sure
wordsmithing in the Marketroid language is done using this
procedure.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I wouldn't be surprised at all... Of course now I've just got to turn it
into a Perl script.
</P>
<p align="center">See attached <tt><a href="misc/mailbag/gibberish.pl.txt">gibberish.pl.txt</a></tt></p>
<P>
<em>There's</em> something to convince your boss that Perl is the language of
choice... 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</P>
<P>
Thanks for writing, Raj - hope you're enjoying the articles!
-- Tux
</P>
<P><DL><DT>
Here's a related link
<DD><A HREF="http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html"
	>http://dack.com/web/bullshit.html</A>
</DL></P>
<P>
-- Jimmy O'Regan
</P>
<P>
Extra cool. I loved the reader's comments. -- Tux
</P>

<!-- end 2 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag.3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">SCO Sues IBM</FONT></H3>
Fri, 7 Mar 2003 01:59:41 -0500
<BR>Paul M Foster (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20mailbag%20%233">paulf from quillandmouse.com</a>)
<BR>Response by  


<blockquote><font color="#000066">This looked interesting enough to toss the clipping in.  Maybe we should
have stuffed it in News Bytes, but the air compressor wasn't in at
press time.  The "groups of linux users everywhere" is a list of LUGs
and service also hosted at SSC.
 -- The Scissors</font></blockquote>
<P>
Some of you may have seen the recent story by ESR on NewsForge about SCO
suing IBM for billions over IBM's "disclosure" of SCO intellectual
property to the "free software" community.
</P>
<P>
In a nutshell, SCO bought the Unix source and related IP from Novell in
1995. <A HREF="http://www.caldera.com/">Caldera</A> (which was never much of an "open source" company)
recently became SCO, and since then, they have been looking high and low
for who they could sue over their IP. A rumour surfaced a while back
that they had retained David Bois to sue people, which they promptly
denied. Now, guess who's leading the charge against IBM? Yep. SCO has
become openly hostile to the Open Source community, and this looks like
the desperate effort of a dying company to grab money by suing people
rather than making a better product. IBM has the deepest pockets, so
they get sued first.
</P>
<P>
Anyway, the whole point of this is that I recently received a package of
SCO Linux software for distribution to my LUG. You may have received
such a package as well. If so, I would encourage you to send it back to
SCO with a note explaining (lucidly) why. I don't know that it will
ultimately do any good, but maybe it will get their attention.
</P>

<p>Paul M. Foster
<br>President
<br>Suncoast Linux Users Group (SLUG)
</p>

<!-- end 3 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<P> <A NAME="mailbag.4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A> <P>
<H3><IMG ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="" SRC="../gx/envelope.gif">
<FONT COLOR="navy">Thanks</FONT></H3>
Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:14:43 +0000
<BR>Stephen Bint (<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com?subject=%20Re%3A%20%5BLG%2089%5D%20mailbag%20%234">mr_bint from hotmail.com</a>)


<P><STRONG>
I am sorry if this message is in HTML format; Hotmail doesn't give a plain
text option, so I don't know what it's doing.
</STRONG></P>
<P>
I believe you need to see:  <A HREF="http://expita.com/nomime.html#hotmail"
	>http://expita.com/nomime.html#hotmail</A>
-- Swirl
</P>
<P><STRONG>
I enjoyed reading the letters page. It reflected the range of responses I
received quite well. Just for your information, over 500 of your readers
downloaded my library during February.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Stephen
</STRONG></P>
<P>
On behalf of our missing Editor Gal, thanks, Stephen!  It's good to know
we snipped it just right.  Loyal readers, I've also snipped the ensuing
fragmented discussion about the nature of languages that sprung up among
TAG ... you'll probably see something of that in a later issue. -- The
Scissors.
</P>

<!-- end 4 -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>This page edited and maintained by the Editors of <I>Linux Gazette</I><br>HTML script maintained by <A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of Starshine Technical Services, <A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2003
<br>Copying license <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<H3>Contents:</H3>
<dl>
<dt><a href="#tag/greeting"
	><strong>&para;: Greetings From The Editorial Scissors</strong></A></dl>

<DL>
<!-- index_text begins -->
<dt><A HREF="#tag.1"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Some juicy rants from the Answer Guy</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag.2"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>which journaling fs for laptop? --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag.2"
	><strong>The Journey to Journaling</strong></a>
<br>pack your fs' diary seperately
<dt><A HREF="#tag.3"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	></a>kpppconfig --or--
<dd><A HREF="#tag.3"
	><strong>Networking in an Alternate Universe</strong></a>
<dt><A HREF="#tag.4"
	><img src="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" height="28" width="50"
	  alt="(?)" border="0"
	><strong>Not Quite The Answer Gang - Bios</strong></a>
<!-- index_text ends -->
</DL>
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag/greeting"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/hbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(&para;) " border="0"
	>Greetings from The Editorial Scissors</H3>
<!-- begin hgreeting -->

<p>
  What a week. I looked high and low and all over the offices.  Those 
  editors have gone and left me here to deal with everything on my own.
  Luckily I have quite a bit of practice at the grindstone and
  keeping my wits sharp.
</p>

<p>
  I thought I was being a shear genius when it occurred to me to check
  the back room and see if the Answer Gang was in there.  This is their
  column, after all.  I'm sure they'd lend me a hand.  I can snip right
  through this thing.
</p>

<p>
  Imagine my surprise when there just aren't any <b>people</b> to be found 
  around here at all.  They must be off at a conference or something.  I
  can't even find Ben's dark glasses.   
</p>

<p>Ok.
  fine.  I can do it.  I'm the Editor's Scissors and I've seen all of the 
  good stuff that have ended up in /dev/cuttingroom as the great stuff makes
  it to print.    I raided the loose bits on the desk (I made nice use of 
  this old SCSI adaptor for that!) and I've rounded up a few buddies to make
  up for the missing Answer Gang.  I do believe you'll recognize a few of 
  these characters.  To introduce any that you don't recognize, I've (as per 
  the editing guidelines) included their bios.
</p>

<p>
  For extra credit, if you can solve the mystery of who all these figures
  are standing in for, feel free to 
  <a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">send our staff a note</a>.  
  I'm sure when they've stopped fooling around they'll see I've done a 
  fair job.
</p>

<p>
  Hoping to be back in the editor's hands next month... have a great one,
  readers!
</p>

<!-- end hgreeting -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag.1"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 1 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
        height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
        >Some juicy rants from The Answer Guy</H3>

<p align="right"><strong>Snippings Provided By The Wizard's Hat
</strong></p>

<p><strong>From Billy a.k.a. CustomerMarket
</strong></p>
 
<p><strong><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        >Hi All</strong></p>

<p><strong>
I  am trying to configure my two computers With Linux and Windows 2000 
into network. I am using DSL modem and router.
I would really appreciate if somebody can spare a few ideas because I am 
on verge of breaking my head.
(Not literally thou)
</strong></p>
 
<p><strong>Thank you all
<br>Billy</strong></p>

<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
        HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
        > [Wizard Hat]
 Okay.  You install and configure Linux and connect it to your network.
 Then you install MS Windows 2000 on the other computer and connect it
 to your network.  
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 I'm going to make a wild ass guess that your DSL modem/router is doing 
 IP Masquerading (a particular form of NAT, network address translation)
 and it problem offers DHCP services on it's "inner" (or LAN, <em>local</em>
 area network) interface --- leasing out a set of RFC1918 "reserved"
 addresses (192.168.x.*, 10.* or 172.16.*.* through 172.31.*.*).  So, 
 you can probably configure both computers to just get their networking
 information from the router dynamically (automatically).  
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 The exact details of configuring your router, and W2K for this are
 beyond our purview.  Talk to  your ISP or refer to the router's
 documentation for the former.  Call Microsoft or find a
 Microsoft-centric support forum for the latter.
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 The precise details of configuring Linux to use DHCP depend on which
 distribution you use.  In general the installation programs for
 mainstream distributions will offer this option in some sort of dialog
 box or at some sort of prompt.  That's the easiest way of doing it
 (easiest meanining: "requiring the least explanation in this e-mail").
 You haven't said what distribution you're running, so I couldn't offer
 more specific suggestions without having to write a book.
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 This all seems pretty obvious.  I suspect that you  have some other
 needs in mind.  However, we haven't installed the telepathy protocol
 daemons in our little brains yet.  So we can't hazard a guess as to 
 what you mean by 'configure.' 
</blockQuote><blockQuote>
 
 I might gues that you want to do file sharing between the two: read
 a book on Samba to let Linux export/share some of it's disk space
 (filesystems and directories) to the MS Win2K system and perhaps looks
 for a chapter or so on smbfs for Linux to "mount" (access) shares <em>from</em>
 the W2k system (i.e. to go the other way).
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 I might guess that you want to access your Linux system, particular
 it's command line interface from your Windows desktop system.  In that
 case download and install Putty (the best free ssh client, I would say
 the best ssh client all around, for MS Windows).  That will allow you
 to "ssh" into your Linux system (open command prompt windows to
 administer it and run programs there from.  You might even want to 
 remotely access graphical Linux programs from the Windows box (or vice
 versa).  In that case you'd probably want to look into VNC (virtual
 network computing --- actually a rather silly name).  VNC clients and
 servers run under Linux (and other forms of UNIX) and MS windows, and 
 there is a Java client that can even run from a web browser.  
</blockQuote><blockQuote>
 
 There are numerous other ways to do each of these, BTW. You could
 install NFS clients on the Windows side for filesharing (those were all 
 commercial last I heard). You could use the MS Windows telnet clients
 and install and configure the deprecated (as in "insecure, use at your
 own peril) telnet service (daemon) on the Linux side for character mode
 (terminal and command line) access.  And you could get X servers for MS
 Windows --- most are commercial, and/or you could run rdesktop for Linux 
 to access the MS Windows "Terminal Server" features (however the
 Terminal Services are an expensive add-on for Windows, as far as I
 know).  In other words, Samba/smbfs, Putty/ssh, and VNC represent a set
 of services that provide file, command, and remote graphical support
 between the two systems using only free software and well known
 software at both ends.
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 I <em>might</em> provide more details on how these packages could be used.
 However, each of these is just a shot in the dark at what you <em>might</em>
 be looking for.  So I've spend enough time on the question.
</blockQuote><blockQuote>

 Here are a few URLs you can use to read more about these packages:
</blockQuote><blockQuote>
<ul>
 	<li> Samba:       <a href="http://www.samba.org/">http://www.samba.org/</a>
	<li> OpenSSH:     <a href="http://www.openssh.org/">http://www.openssh.org/</a>
	    (Both of the preceding packages are included with every major
		 mainstream Linux distribution by default.  SSH is often 
		 installed and configured automatically these days --- just
		 check the appropriate box during your Linux installation, Samba
		 may require somewhat more manual configuration).
	<li> Putty:       <a href="http://people.nl.linux.org/~bjs/putty/download.html">http://people.nl.linux.org/~bjs/putty/download.html</a>
	    (SSH client for MS Windows can be installed by just dropping
		 one .EXE file into any directory -- optionally on your PATH.
		 --- other optional components are similarly easy to install)
	<li> Cygwin:     <a href="http://cygwin.com/">http://cygwin.com/ 
	    (Environment to support UNIX and Linux software, compiled and
		 running natively under MS Windows.  I mention it here primarily
		 because they have a list of packages that have already been
		 ported --- ssh clients and servers in particular.  Note: the 
		 level of integration and interoperation between the Cygwin
		 environment and the rest of MS Windows can be frustratingly 
		 rudimentary.  It can be confusing and the Cygwin environment
		 can feel like an isolated subsystem of the Windows box; almost 
		 like being on a different machine at times).
	<li> VNC:         <a href="http://www.realvnc.com/">http://www.realvnc.com/</a>
	    (Included with many distributions, but usually not installed by
		 default.  You have to install and configure it manually).
	<li> TightVNC:    <a href="http://www.tightvnc.com/">http://www.tightvnc.com/</a>
	    (An enhanced version of VNC, also free under the GPL.  Might 
		 be better on the MS Windows side as client and server for the
		 Win2K box)
	<li> rdesktop:    <a href="http://www.rdesktop.org/">http://www.rdesktop.org/</a>
	    (A client for the MS Windows RDP (remote desktop protocol),
		 which is apparently derived from the Citrix ICA protocol.
		 The client runs on Linux or UNIX.  Might require special MS 
		 Windows softare or licensing on the server side).
</ul></blockQuote>

 Please note: anything I say about MS Windows is likely to be wrong.  I
 haven't used MS Windows regularly for almost 10 years.  At the last couple
 of places where I worked or contracted that put MS Windows systems on
 my desk (to access Exchange for <em>their</em> e-mail and groupware/sheduler
 functions)  I found that I barely used them --- e-mail, browser, and
 PuTTY were as much as I ever used on any of them.  I'm almost exclusively 
 a UNIX/Linux administrator and programmer, so I deeply lost touch with 
 the whole Microsoft based universe.
</blockQuote>

<!--              . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              -->
<HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center">


<p><em>
This was posted in the open forums attached to "Langa Letter" -- one of
the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/">InformationWeek</a> regular 
columns.  The Answer Guy's actual reply is what's sitting here in my 
clippings-box;  the column which he is replying to was 
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a 
href="http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030124S0013"
   >Fred Langa / Langa Letter: Linux Has Bugs: Get Over It 
	/ January 23, 2003</a></em></p>

<p>
 Fred's comment about "severity" is, as 
he points out, inherently subjective. 
His numerical analysis is also subject to more issues that he's simply ignoring.
</p><p>

For example the 157+ bug count for RH 7.2 or 7.3 includes fixes for many overlapping products and many which are rarely installed by Linux users -- RH simply includes a lot of optional stuff.  Meanwhile the count for Micrsoft may still be artificially low, since MS is 
known to deliberately minimize the number and severity of their bug reports.  Many of their 30+ reported patches might include multiple fixes and    
descriptions which downplay their signficance.
</p><p>

Fred also, inexcusably, argues that "first availability" of a fix (in source form, sometimes in focused, though public, mailing lists and venues) "doesn't count" as faster.  That is simply jury rigging the semantics to support a prejudiced hypothesis.
</p><p>

Another approach to looking at the severity of bugs is to view the effect of exploits on the 'net as a whole.  
<p></p>

In the history of Linux there have only been a couple of widespread worms (episodes where a bug's exploit was automated in a self-propagating fashion).  Ramen, Lion and Adore are the
three which come to mind.  
</p><p>

Subjectively the impact of these were
minimal.  The aggregate traffic generated by them was imperceptable on
the global Internet scale.  Note that
the number of Linux web, DNS and mail servers had already surpassed MS Windows servers by this time --- so the comparison is not numerically outrageous.
</p><p>

Compare these to Code Red, Nimba, and the most recent MS SQL injection worms.  The number of hosts compromised, and the    
effect on the global Internet have been significant.
</p><p>

I simply don't have the raw data available to make any quantitative assertions about this.  However, the 
qualitative evidence is obvious and irrefutable.  The bugs in MS systems <b>seem</b> to be more severe than comparable bugs on Linux systems.
</p><p>

If a researcher were really interested in a rigorous comparison, one could gather the statistics from various perspectives --- concurrently trying to support and refute this hypothesis.
</p><p>

Fred is right, of course, that Linux has
many bugs --- far too many.  However, he
then extends this argument too far.  He uses some fairly shoddy anecdotal numbers, performs trivial arithmetic on them and tries to pass this off as analysis to conclude that there is no difference between MS XP security (and that of their other OSes) and Linux' (Red Hat).
</p><p>

I won't pass my comments off as anything but anecdotal.  I won't look up some "Google" numbers to assign to them and try to pass them off as statistical analysis.
</p><p>

I will assert that Linux <b>is</b> different.  That bugs in core Linux system components are fewer, less severe, fixed faster, and are (for the
skilled professional) easier to apply across an enterprise (and more robust)  than security issues in Microsoft based systems.
</p><p>

The fact that numerous differences in these to OSes make statistical comparison non-trivial doesn't justify
the claim that there is no difference.
</p><p>

Further anecdotal observations show that the various Linux distributions and   
open source programming teams have done more than simply patch bugs as they were found.  Many of the CERT advisories in Linux and elsewhere (on the LWN pages, for example: http://www.lwn.net/ ) are the result of proactive code auditing by   
Connectiva, Gentoo, S.u.S.E., IBM and
The MetaL group at Stanford, among many others.  In addition many of these projects are signficantly restructuring their code, their whole subsystems, in order to eliminate whole classes of bugs and to minimize the impact of many others.  For instance the classic problems of BIND (named, the DNS server) running as root and having access to the server's whole filesystem used to be mitigated by   gurus by patching and reconfiguring it to run "chroot" (locked into a subdirectory tree) and with root privileges dropped after initial TCP/port binding (before interacting with foreign data).  These mitigations are now part of the default design and installation of BIND 9.x. Linux and other UNIX installations used to enable a large number of services (including rsh/rlogin and telnet) by default.  These services are now deprecated, and mainstream distributions disable most or all network services by default <b>and present dire warnings</b> in their various enabling dialog boxes and UI!
s).
before allowing users to enable them.</p><p> 

These changes are not panacea.  However,   
they are significant in that they hold out the promise of reducing the number and severity of future bugs, and they artificially inflate recent statistics
(since the majority of this work as been  
over the last two or three years).
</p><p>

Fred will undoubtedly dismiss these comments as being more "rabid advocation" by a self-admitted Linux enthusiast.  He may even point to MS'
own widely touted "trustworthy computing" PR campaign as evidence of a
parallel effort on "the other side of the Gates."  However this message isn't
really written to him.
</p><p>

It's written to those who want to make things better.
</p><p>

The real difference between security in MS and in Linux is qualitative rather than quantitative.  With Linux every user and administrator is empowered to help themselves.  Every one of us can, and many more of us should, accept a greater responsibility for our systems and their  
integrity and security.  Linux users (including corporations, governments and other organizations) can find and fix bugs and can participate in a global 
community effort to eliminate them and
improve these systems for everyone.
</p><p>

Let's not get wrapped up in blind enthusiasm and open source patriotism.  But let us not fall prey the the claim that there is no difference.  There is a difference and each one of us can be a part of making that difference.
</p><p>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag.2"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 2 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>The Journey to Journaling</H3>
<H4 ALIGN="center">pack your fs' diary seperately</H4>


<p><strong>From Licht B&uuml;lb 
</strong></p> 
<p></strong></p>
<!-- ::
The Journey to Journaling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
pack your fs' diary seperately
:: -->

<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Dolavimus the platypus, Pretzel, Virtual Beer, Konqi, Tuxedo T. Herring,
 Swirl, corncob Pipe, the Scissors, Amanda the Panda
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
Hi Gang.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm fiddling on my laptop again (almost all things are working) trying to
get s-video out working. In the course of this fiddling I'm raking wildly in
the bios which sometimes screws up the display (and I am still able to login
via ssh) or the machine freezes. Then I have to "push the button" and -
since I was forced to use ext2 (ext3 accesses the hd every 5 secs -&gt;
spindown and therefore power saving impossible) I have to wait quite some
time for the fsck to finish with my 10 GB root system (yeah, now I know why
to have multiple partitions..). So,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
does any of you know a jounaling fs which plays nice with laptops? I googled
a bit, read stuff, but didn't find anything about it. I think I remember
someone here in the TAG saying that reiserfs had some patch to play nice?
Can someone confirm that?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Cheers and TIA
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Dolavimus] 
I've been using rfs on my laptop since new two yrs ago with good results.
Although I haven't done anything in particular to address hd spin down for
power economy.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Amanda] 
I have actually used ext3 with a recently installed <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A> "testing"
distribution. The hdd access can be "reduced" by installing "noflushd".
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
noflushd doesn't work with any j-fs.  It says so on the web page.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Amanda] 
However, I confess that I haven't really had a chance to fully examine
this issue. As regards partitioning the disk the following works well:
<TT>/</TT>, <TT>/usr</TT>, <TT>/boot</TT> as ext2 mounted read-only. Of <TT>/tmp</TT>, <TT>/var</TT> and <TT>/home</TT> which
need to be writable only <TT>/home</TT> really is usually large enough to require
journalling ( and sometimes <TT>/var</TT> ).
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I have tried several things over time: only one root and a small boot, full
monty with all dirs on seperate partitions and some things in between. The
prob with several partition: when you need some large space (naturally) none
is there on a single partition. Across two or more there would be enough...
Disadvantage of only one <TT>/:</TT> you can not unmount anything beforehand if you
know you gonna crash the system now... And a crypto-fs is hard to make then
too.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pretzel] 
I think the very <EM>idea</EM> of a journaling filesystem makes "play[ing] nice"
impossible. Journaling filesystems <EM>have</EM> to access the hard drive on every
write. More accurately, they have to access the journal device each filesystem
write.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Well, it might be necessary for the j-fs to write to it's journal every fs
access, but ext3 writes to hdd <EM>every</EM> 5 secs, regardless of fs access or
not.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pretzel] 
I think most journaling filesystem in Linux have an option for
journaling device which is normally on-disk but can be on any block device, at
least with ext3 and reiserfs. Some non-volatile memory would do nicely, but on
a laptop, I think the chances of being able to do this are almost nil.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I (as a not-knower) would have two ideas: a compact flash card in the pcmcia
slot and  -  RAM! In case of the RAM the journal would then be written to
hdd when also a normal hdd access takes place. True, this would be bad if a
system outage would occur without the journal having been rewritten to disk
but <EM>I</EM> would take these chances...
In case of CF, dunno if you can plug them in straight away or if you need an
adapter, but 16MB are really cheap anmd if you can save some power (-&gt; time)
with it...
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pretzel] 
Doing it in RAM would effectivly make a journaling fs useless. What would be
the point then? That's the same effect as using a non-journaled filesystem.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Well, the journal would get written to disk with the data. If you use
noflushd then writes of the system (logging etc.) get postponed or get
written to RAM and then get written to hdd if a normal write (user
initiated) occurs. So, I dunno exactly how noflushd does this but when it
redirects the writes to ram the journal entries (if they need to be made in
that case) should be written to ram too.
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Scissors] This isn't so much "writtem to RAM" like scribbled in a ramdisk - it's
more like being hidden in the RAM of a caching controller.  That's all
noflushd does, is allow some buffering at the filesystem-driver level.
So if something really does have content for the disk - and yes, that
includes its journals - it's either got to hit the disk eventually, or
you get to bear the risk that something might fail before it does.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>But the whole point of having a journal is to have it still be present
after a reboot event made something which normally isn't volatile space,
lose its cookies.  Having a journal that isn't allowed to do its job
just complicates matters.  Ergo, it shouldn't be put on volatile RAM.
</blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pretzel] 
Another possiblily compiling a kernel with magic sysrq support, if the machice
isn't totally frozen, you could do an emergency Sync/Unmount/Reboot.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
OK, now I have to admit it: HOW THE HECK DOES THIS WORK? I read the stuff in
<TT>/usr/src/linux/docs/</TT> but as much as I gathered Alt-Print d should do
something? It doesn't in my case. I compiled this in (if it's only the Magic
SysRq key in Kernel hacking) some time (not in my current kernel I see now)
but then (I tested it) it didn't work.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pretzel] 
Worked for me. (I say worked because at the moment I don't have it compiled
it.) Try Alt-Sysrq-&lt;magic sysrq command&gt; (all three at the same time.) I don't
remember if it needed all three at once or not. sysrq probably only says
"print screen" on some keyboards.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Yeah, the prob was all at the same time... Now it works.
</STRONG></P>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Scissors] At least part of the confusion is with SysRq - on some keyboards the
SysRq lives as a subfunction on another key.  Thus for such keyboards
you'd also need the extra key that invokes the secondary keycode.  Fn
maybe.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>When it works then you should be able to (for instance) press Z and get
a little help list.  In fact any character that doesn't do something is
supposed to show the little list.  What I'm not clear on is "get outta
sysrq mode"...
</blockquote>
<blockquote>I've sometimes seen a console get into a state where it would respond to
Magic SysRq, but it couldn't get out of that mode anymore.  So I hope
you have some spare virtual consoles, if you are just using it to settle
something simpler than "telinit 6 doesn't work".
</blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pretzel] 
So, in summary: No.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
A No? &lt;shout&gt; I DON'T ACCEPT NO "NO" ! &lt;/shout&gt; (yes, I've been in the
army..) 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</STRONG></P>
<HR width="10%" align="left"><blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Beer] 
Why not plug one of these USB memory sticks and keep the journals there? That
way the immediate access is only required for the USB device and not for the
actual HD.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Cool idea, hadn't thought of this one, although I recently bought one! &lt;me
stupid&gt;
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Beer] 
Which one? I've seem that Sony ads -- but they tell a lot about some strange
cruft with user mangerment and cryptosoftware which suggest custom WinXX
drivers to my suspicious ears.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
The cheapest one I could find. It was 49 Euro, super slim and works like a
charm. I think I will use gpg to encrypt files on the thing and simply put a
win gpg version on the stick too.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Beer] 
If I ask for a drive give me drive and not an encryption device where I can't
trust the encryption anyway....
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
True, true...
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Beer] 
Might still need patches, but if the journal keeping actually
needs only access to the journmal file and is not accessing the HD
where the data are finally going anyway -- It might even work with existing
journal/kernel code.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Then on the other hand you want journaling for some testing period -- why is
power saving durting that time so important? You could always switch back to
unjournaled if power saving is important. ext2/3 in that case would be
easiest as a cleanly unmounted ext3 is mountable as ext2 without problems.
The switching between ext3 and ext2 might be done by boot options I guess.
(can you ask in a init.d script for boot options ?)
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Well, the case is pressing just now in this testing period. I just rebooted
and had a full fsck (with Ctrd-d at the end) just now and I really need a
j-fs NOW. But I like the idea of j-fs's generally so I would like to keep it
after the fiddling too. You are right that ext2|3 would work now but I am a
little bit burnt with that since I had ext3 in the very beginning, installed
the system (a lot) and then wanted to switch to ext2 (with removing the
journal) according to manual. But the ext-tools weren't current at that time
in testing|sid so this broke (!) the fs with FULL reinstall (some bad things
occured at the same time leading to this). But ext2|3 would be an option.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Beer] 
I never tried to completely switch back to ext2 and delete the journals, but
I <EM>did</EM> mount ext3 as ext2 and nothing bad happened.  I made sure they are
clean so.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
On Laptop power save is only a real issue on battery -- then the sudden
crashes should not be that frequent unless you insist of fiddling around in
kernel space on the train.... So for some normal usage running on battery and
ext2 might be sufficient, but when you are on mains power you can switch back
to ext3. There must be a way to make this decission in lilo by some option
which is evaluated in init.d/boot*
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Or check if you are on battery and make the decision based on that. Frequent
sleep/resume inbetween are then not that practical so.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Konqi] 
For those living in Germany: Aldi has an 128 MB USB memory stick for 49.99
Euro next week, I read in an Heise announcement.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
And for those who want to know something about mine:
<A HREF="http://www.computer-cash-carry.de/ccc/index-ns.html"
	>http://www.computer-cash-carry.de/ccc/index-ns.html</A>
see Festplatten IDE, there at the bottom (all german, just for the curious)
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
Any of you guys want to write up an article on what it takes to get one
working, or is it simple enough to describe in a 2-cent tip? I'd be very
curious.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	>
</STRONG></P>

<pre><strong>modprobe sd_mod
modprobe usb-storage
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usbstick
</strong></pre>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
Wow. Mondo cool. I love Linux. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I think that there's a USB memory stick in my near future...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I wonder if what I have
<A HREF="http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/easydisk-memorystick"
	>on my website</a>
is sufficient for a 2-cent tip?  I can re-write it, if it's considered too
half-assed.  Here's the relevant excerpt:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
USB on Linux seems a bit... different, especially since I'm not really
used to devfs-type things.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Beer] 
The only thing I ever tried was a digital camera (Olympus C100 zoom) and it
needed a kernel patch (usb-driver) to be properly recognised. Apart from that
the camera works as a disk as expected.
I mount <TT>/dev/sda1</TT>, it will be rw right on the first mount, no need for
remounting.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
So if you really <EM>have</EM> to go through all this remounting, you can't fdisk
the thing into partitions, etc. It really seems strange.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I do remember that zip-drive "problem" -- the win programs to access it
partition it to use sda4 instead of sda1. So this might all be very specific
to the hardware and drivers used (or used the first time the disk was
partitioned).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
But basically these memory sticks seem to work, then I'll keep my eyes open
for one.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I've been figuring out how best to deal with
it on my laptop, since my wife gave me a 32 MB Easy Disk "memory stick",
a cute little plastic thing on a keychain fob.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I'm still working it out, but it looks like I need the usb-uhci and
usb-storage drivers (impliedly also usbcore), at which point I can do:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>   # mount -o rw,uid=1000,gid=1000 -t vfat /dev/sda /mnt/fob/
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
(where 1000 is my own login account's UID and GID).[1]
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
The bizarre thing is:  That command (or anything like it) always
returns:
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>   mount: block device /dev/sda is write-protected, mounting read-only
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [corncob Pipe] 
I believe that this error is more of a "fail-safe"
than it is an annoyance...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I banged my head up against that problem for a couple of days, and
"fdisk <TT>/dev/sda</TT>" kept insisting...
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Um, my usb stick has a small switch on it's side to make it write-protected.
You don't have by chance missed that one?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
That was part of what I spent some part of a couple of days, looking for.
No, there's no hardware switch.  Moreover, doing a remount entirely via
software <em> _does</em> succeed in making it writeable, following the initial
mount.  If the obstacle were a hardware switch, that would not have
happened.
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>   # fdisk /dev/sda
<br>   You will not be able to write the partition table.
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
...until it finally occurred to me to do...
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><code><font color="#000033"><br>   # mount -o rw,remount /mnt/fob
</font></code></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
Does it? To me, the mount command references
"<TT>/mnt/fob</TT>" (unless of course, "<TT>/mnt/fob</TT>" points to
"<TT>/dev/sda</TT>"???)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
The point is that the <em> _original</em> mount command, which gets re-mounted
here, uses <TT>/dev/sda</TT>, <em> _not</em> <TT>/dev/sda1.</TT>  I'm trying to stress that at
least <em> _some</em> memory sticks must be addressed as if they were SCSI-based
<em>floppy</em> drives.  No partition numbers, you see?  This was non-obvious
point #1.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
What you have done here it to re-mount in in "rw"
mode, yay!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
Um, yes.  That's exactly my point.   The necessity to do so was
non-obvious point #2.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
Notice that the mount command references <TT>/dev/sda</TT>, instead of <TT>/dev/sda1.</TT>
That's the other odd thing:  I kept had no luck until I happened to try
/dev/sda.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
I think this is as a result of the way in which device
files are referenced under Linux
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
Well, where were you when I was trying to mount the device, the first
time?  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-&gt;" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
I'm saying _the point is non-obvious_ because many other instructions
one finds for mounting similar devices tell you otherwise, because
intuition suggests that a memory stick ought to be addressed like a hard
drive, such that it can have multiple partitions, and because it's the
first time in a decade of addressing SCSI devices on Linux that I've
<em>not</em> put a number after <TT>/dev/sda.</TT>
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
Oh, <EM>now</EM> I see what you meant. I mis-interpreted you
the first time.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
My guess is that the Easy Disk is being addressed as if it were a floppy
disk instead of a hard drive partition, which is why it's sda instead of
sda1.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
Hmm, I don't quite follow you here. Why would a HD
partition not utilise "sda1" if told to do so?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I'm not sure what's the nature of your confusion:  Are you willing to
simply take my word for it that addressing <TT>/dev/sda1</TT> on the memory stick
absolutely does not work, and that addressing <TT>/dev/sda</TT> does?  That would
make this conversation a great deal easier.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
Oh, I'm not doubting you one bit, I just mis-read your
sentence, I'm sorry, Rick.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
And I believe you're missing my point:  Because the Easy Disk is (it
seems) classed as functionally the same as a floppy disk, there is no
concept of partitioning, and thus no partition numbers.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
And if
Easy Disk were being addressed as a floppy then it
ought to use "<TT>/dev/fdx</TT>" in this case, surely?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I beg your pardon, but no.  That wouldn't be SCSI then, would it?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
It would, it would.
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Scissors] I seem to recall that normal floppy disks used in an IDE-chain LS-120
bay are still accessed by the fdx mechanism.  However the one around
here lost a pin so I can't check.
</blockquote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I hope you're not under the impression that there aren't all Linux
floppy disks must be addressed as <TT>/dev/fdx?</TT>  SCSI ones are <TT>/dev/sdX</TT>,
and parallel-port ones are <TT>/dev/pfN</TT> .  Neither supports partitioning.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
!
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I have no idea why Linux always mounts it read-only, though.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
Me neither.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I have no clue what it is recognised or attached like, but in my case I have
to use <TT>/dev/sda1</TT>, else it will make trouble.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
Yes, I've heard such reports.  That is why I have concluded that some
USB memory sticks are recognised as quasi-floppies, and some as
quasi-hard disks.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
I guess there are two (or more) controller producers and there comes this
trouble.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
If by "controller" you mean the USB chipset on the motherboard, I very
much doubt that, because the difference seems specific to the add-on USB
storage device, not the USB host.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
No, I didn't mean the host, I meant the usb controller in the sticky. These
need some controller too, don't they?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
They need some sort of USB circuitry, and, to be sure, differences in
such circuitry seem to have caused these differences in mode of
operation between memory sticks.  Whether it's common to call that
circuitry a "USB controller", I am unsure, but such was not my
impression.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> 
Maybe there are even patents involved so that the other producer
had to take a different approach (and maybe this also helped in case of
"booting off floppy -&gt; off usbstick).
Anybody anything about the subject? 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
But there is a strange thing:
sometimes there comes a error message saying that there is (can't rememeber
what) wrong, then I try to mount <TT>/dev/sda</TT>, this will fail, and then I can
mount <TT>/dev/sda1</TT> - So much for deterministics.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Pipe] 
Unless of course this is as a result of
the Kernel's divine intervention??? Va savoir??
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
I'm ultimately less interested in kernel psychoanalysis than in making
it do what I want, thanks.  
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>

<!-- end 1 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag.3"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 3 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" 
	height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
	>Networking in an Alternate Universe</H3>

<p><strong>From Michael Havens 
</strong></p> 

<p align="right"><strong>Answered By  Feather, Tuxedo T. Herring, Wizard's Hat, Swirl, Digital Surfboard, and the Scissors
</strong></p>

<P><STRONG>
Could someone bring kpppconfig to bandersnatch? It won't unpack when I put
Mandrake 9.0 back on my box. If someone would be willing to bring me every
thing to do with kppp it would be even better. kpppconfig is what I know
is missing (via Hans) but there may be more. It would be terrific if that
someone could give me a call and I could getit before Bandersnatch but if
noone is willining to do that then Bandersnatch will work for me
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
Is it a message from Mars? Is it an attempt to mix Klingon with Medu
Neter?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Feather] 
Actually Mars is in San Francisco, the beer there is pretty good, the
food edible and unlike the Bandersnatch below there is no connectivity.
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Scissors] Mars also has an alternate transport landing zone in 
New York. No connectivity there either, but pretty good food at an 
underground colony beneath the red sands.
</blockquote>

<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
Is it a misdirected message?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Feather] 
I can only think that Michael misaddressed this. He is a member of the
Phoenix AZ lug and the bandersnatch is a local bar the part of the lug
meets at monthly.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Not quite sure how he managed to get this so misaddressed.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
Tune in next time when our querent
</blockQuote>

<blockQuote><ol>
<LI>turns off the weird MIME characters by reading the pointer to expita.com
in our knowledgebase.

<LI>(possibly) explaining what the heck he needs in understandable terms,


</ol></blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
(The only "Bandersnatch" I know of is a 58' ferrocement boat about 200
yards away from mine ...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [WizHat] 
A couple years ago there used to be a Bandersnatch Pub in Tempe
Arizona, right near the University.  It was a microbrewery with
a free Internet drop.  I used to go there frequently during the
six months or so that I was "wastin' away in Motorolaville" (working
on a <A HREF="http://www.linuxcare.com/">Linuxcare</A> contract at the Motorola Computer Products division
helping them with their HA-Linux project).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Wow!  Of all the gin joints in the world --- who'da thunk that
three people on this list would all be aware of the same Bandersnatch pub 
in a place like Arizona!  (BTW: Tempe and Phoenix are essentially one 
urban area --- I thought Bandersnatch was in Tempe, but that point is moot).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Feather] 
Right you are Jim. It is in Tempe. The LUG here is known as PLUG
(Phoenix LUG) but they really cover the metro area include Tempe,
Scottsdale, Glendale, etc.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
As a gin joint they have good beer, food is edible and the connectivity
pretty good.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
... (they've even got a cat named Frumious).
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Swirl] 
Does it get the bowsprit mixed with the rudder sometimes?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
&lt;sadly&gt; It wouldn't matter if it did. "the Man at the Helm shall speak
to no one.", so remonstrance is impossible.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
(To those of you who are confused, see Lewis Caroll's "The Hunting of
the Snark" (An Agony, in Eight Fits.) Hint: you're <em> _supposed</em> to be
confused. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Surfboard] 
is <EM>that</EM> where "Fit the First" comes from.  People look at me <EM>so</EM>
weird...
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Tux] 
It was a
bit startling to see someone talking about "bringing $X to
Bandersnatch"; I got Norm converted to Linux a while back, and was
wondering if he was asking for help here. 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)" 
		height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockQuote>

<blockquote><IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
	HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
	> [Scissors] So in conclusion:  Frumious had no problem teleporting 
a copy of kppp wherever it needed to go, the Mandrake was advised to avoid 
the jub jub bird while reconfiguring, and no boojums were harmed in the 
drawing up of this column.  Lewis Carroll is welcome to join the Answer Gang 
at any time, provided he can get away from his mathemagical textbooks.
Other ppp configurators include: xisp, wvdial, debian's "pppconfig" and
a few dockapps.  I believe gkrellm also has simple plugins for this 
feature.
</blockquote>

<!-- end 3 -->
<!--     .~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.~~.     -->
<A NAME="tag.4"><HR WIDTH="75%" ALIGN="center"></A>
<!-- begin 4 -->
<CENTER>
<A HREF="../index.html">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
        WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0" ALIGN="left"></A> 
</CENTER>

<BR CLEAR="all">

<H1 ALIGN="center"><FONT COLOR="maroon">Not Quite The Answer Gang Bios</FONT></H1>

<H4>These are some of the characters I rounded up to answer your TAG questions 
this month.
</H4>

<UL>
<LI> <A HREF="#wizhat">Wizard's Hat</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#cobbpipe">corncob Pipe</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#surfboard">Digital Surfboard</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#beer">Virtual Beer</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#dolavimus">Dolavimus, the platypus</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#swirl">Swirl</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#tux">Tuxedo T. Herring</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#wand">Magic Wand</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#lightbulb">Lightbulb</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#scissors">The Scissors</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#pretzel">Pretzel</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#konqi">Konqi the Dragonet</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#panda">Amanda the Panda</A>
<LI> <A HREF="#feather">Feather</A>
</UL>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="wizhat"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>
The Wizard's Hat is part of the ensemble worn by the wizard cartoon
adorning <em>Linux Gazette</em>'s pages and representing this column 
up until around issue 56 or so.
</p><p>
The Robes and Orb have been enjoying their retirement since we got the 
new template for the site settled in, but the Hat has stayed pretty active,
even if working in the background.  You can bet he knows a lot of stuff -
every time someone says "keep it under your hat" it's just another tidbit 
to file away for later.
</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="cobbpipe"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>Taking up the slack, the Pipe has long been a symbol of introspection
and study.  You'll most often find the Pipe indulging in detangling 
shell commands for less patient souls, and messing around under the hood 
of more complicated system scripts.  During the off time, Pipes have
been known to be taken with a bit of music...</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="surfboard"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>The web surf has been up since ages ago, and this Surfboard has been
here to enjoy it all.  Once just considered a beach bum, now I get paid 
to roam the digital seas, design apps, tame the wild radio waves and
dig the Suncoast.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="beer"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>When the scissors popped into the break room looking for everyone,
this brewski was just enjoying some ginger snaps and some free time.
Knowing that it'll just be a short while until everyone's returned and
it's back to the case, the Beer eagerly chimed in to help out.
</p>
<p>
Beer turned on to Linux around the same time Tux got involved;  they'd
virtually been drinking buddies.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="dolavimus"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>
Dolavimus the platypus adorned t-shirts in the heyday of Linux 1.x,
plugging "Guerilla Linux Development" and delving, or maybe dolaving, 
deep in the code.  Overseeing the TCP/IP stack revamp and seeing a 
new view on the whole modular subsystem are among his finer programming
efforts.
</p><p>
Tux's family resemblance can definitely be seen in the chin.
</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="swirl"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>Inheriting a cheerful red scribble nature from Dolavimus, the Swirl
is a dyed-in-it Debian advocate.  (What a surprise.)  He can be found at 
installfests just about anywhere, and knows quite enough about enough 
architectures, packages, and generally curious stuff about Linux to make 
you dizzy.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="tux"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>Tux was drawn by Larry Ewing using the GIMP.  Satisfying himself 
with herring (pickled or otherwise) and sailing around the world to 
star in photo galleries (see 
<a href="http://old.lwn.net/Gallery/">Linux Weekly News' Penguin Gallery</a> 
among others) have given him a broad perspective, lots of experience,
and an amazing number of cousins.  Tux has also been involved in a large
number of menu setups... you just have to know where to start, and keep 
control in your corner.  It's rumored he is quite popular with the lady 
penguins.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="wand"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>The Magic Wand has been using Linux since the days when it was
considered magic to get Linux working.  He took up with modern day 
distros in the age of Infomagic and is pretty well known these days by 
Mandrake users everywhere.  As handy with the 'file' command as he ever was,
nowadays the Wand prefers programming in an object oriented style.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="lightbulb"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>I'd say I'm pretty bright. My name's a mouthful (Licht B&uuml;lb) so most 
folk just call me Idea which is easier to say.  After I get my own darkness 
lit up, I enjoy passing the clue on to others.  I've been known to pick up 
the laser once in a while to point something out, and of course I'm fond of 
movies.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="scissors"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>The Scissors normally hang out around the Editor's desks trying to make 
sure the goodies that make it in aren't too snippy to <em>Make Linux A Little
More Fun</em>. This time, they're cutting in on behalf of the readers.  
Scissors know that Linux is great stuff, but it's not always a software 
problem that really needs to be solved.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="pretzel"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>Pretzel perked up at the chance to escape the break room for a while,
chime in which a few salty comments, and generally show a crisp new look
on things.  Not everyone understands his twisted point of view, but that's
okay.  Like Pretzel, linux itself comes in all shapes and sizes.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="konqi"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>Konqi certainly knows his graphical environments.  A genuinely helpful
sort who is not inclined to waste words, he can usually be found when you
need him to debug something.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="panda"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p><a href="http://www.windowmaker.org/mascot.html">Amanda the Panda</a>
enjoys a rather different look on the desktop, and a different take on
life than most of us here in the Gang.  It was another AMANDA that went to
MIT, but she still agrees that it's important to keep good backups.</p>

<!--      ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~      -->
<A NAME="feather"><HR WIDTH="40\%" ALIGN="center"></A>

<p>This Feather had mastered the ways of web servers before they really
started painting up the graphics.  Now there's a feather in every cap
and the Feather has emigrated to the sunny lands of the southwest.
In his spare time he has been known to write rather eloquently in the
hands of the Answer Gang.</p>


<!-- end 4 -->
<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
<h5>
<br>Copyright &copy; 2003
<br>Copying license <A HREF="">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->

<SMALL><CENTER><H6 ALIGN="center">HTML script maintained by
        <A HREF="mailto:star@starshine.org">Heather Stern</a> of
        Starshine Technical Services,
       <A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
</H6></SMALL></CENTER>
<HR>

<table border="1"><tbody><tr><td width="200">
<a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<img alt="LINUX GAZETTE" src="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" width="200" height="41" border="0"></a> 
<br clear="all">
<small>...<i>making Linux just a little more fun!</i></small>
</td><td width="380">



<center>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT
COLOR="maroon">News Bytes</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG><BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/authors/conry.html">Michael Conry</A></STRONG></BIG>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



</p><center>
<table cellpadding="7"><tbody><tr><td>
<img src="../gx/bytes.gif" border="1" alt="News Bytes">
</td><td>
<h3>Contents:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="#leg">Legislation and More Legislation</a>
</li><li><a href="#links">Linux Links</a>
</li><li><a href="#conferences">Conferences and Events</a>
</li><li><a href="#general">News in General</a>
</li><li><a href="#distro">Distro News</a>
</li><li><a href="#commercial">Software and Product News</a>
</li></ul>
</td></tr></tbody></table>

<strong>Selected and formatted by  <a href="mailto:michael.conry@softhome.net">Michael Conry</a></strong>
</center>


<p> Submitters, send your News Bytes items in 
<font size="+2"><strong>PLAIN TEXT</strong></font>
format.  Other formats may be rejected without reading.  You have been
warned!  A one- or two-paragraph summary plus URL gets you a better
announcement than an entire press release. Submit items to
<a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">gazette@ssc.com</a>


</p><hr> <p> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->

</p><h3><img alt=" " src="../gx/bolt.gif">
<font color="green">
April 2003 <i>Linux Journal</i>
</font>
</h3>

<img alt="[issue 108 cover image]" src="misc/bytes/lj-cover108.png" width="200" height="268" align="left" hspace="20">

The April issue of <a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/"><i>Linux
Journal</i></a> is on newsstands now.
This issue focuses on Desktop Environment.  Click 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/modules.php?op=modload&amp;name=NS-lj-issues/issue108&amp;file=index">here</a>
to view the table of contents, or 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/subscribe/">here</a> 
to subscribe.

<p>
<font color="green">All articles older than three months are available for
public reading at 
<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php">http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine.php</a></font>.  
Recent articles are available on-line for subscribers only at 
<a href="http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/">http://interactive.linuxjournal.com/</a>.  







<BR CLEAR="all">
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<a name="note"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Note to the Reader</font></H3></center>
Dear Reader,<BR>
The News Bytes you see before you was prepared in mid-March.
As you might expect, some of the news
may not be quite as current as it ought to be, especially regarding the SCO vs
IBM lawsuit which is changing rapidly as we write.  Check with the daily news 
sources for the latest updates.
<BR>
MC
<p>
<a name="leg"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Legislation and More Legislation</font></H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Jon Johansen Will Return to Court
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
It
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29543.html">
has been reported</a>
[<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/">The Register</a>]
that Jon Johansen will have to return to court once more in connection with
his involvement in the creation and distribution of the DeCSS computer
code.  As is well known, the DeCSS code is used to circumvent a primitive
technique used by DVD producers to obstruct users in their enjoyment of the
DVD movies they have purchased.  Norwegian prosecutors argued that to play
a DVD in this manner was a form of theft, similar to cracking somebody's
web server.  Though the ruling was in Johansen's favour, leave for an
appeal has been granted, so the whole business will have to be repeated
once more, probably in the summer.  
<P>
Such is the duration of this case that one wonders if prosecutors are
hoping that when Jon gets older he will lose public sympathy.  As Jon is now
19, headlines like "Norwegian Teen Harassed by DVD STASI" have a limited
shelf-life.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Lexmark and the DMCA
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
Lexmark's attempt to 
ban recycling of ink cartridges
<a href="http://www.lexmark.com/US/press_releases_details/0,1233,NzkzfDE=,00.html">
received an unsettling boost</a>
as an injunction has been issued against the company producing the
environmentally beneficial products.
SCC has 
<a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/29569.html">
hit back</a> by bringing an anti-trust case against Lexmark.
Though the case is far from over, it highlights some disturbing potential
outcomes of the DMCA.  Wired
<a href="http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,57907,00.html">
asked the question</a> (and not rhetorically, this is a
<em>real possibility</em>)
how much more would it cost to maintain your car if manufacturers put
computer chips in all the important components.
<p>
Don't mention it to anybody, but at <em>Linux Gazette</em> we have long
suspected that some users print out articles from time to time:
circumventing the CRT/LCD encryption we use to manage access to our
content.  Though our lawyers are still preparing the brief, it would appear
Lexmark printers are often used in this circumvention scheme... lets get us
some of those DMCA dollars.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Life's Not a Bed of Rosen
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.riaa.org/About-Lead-1.cfm">
Hilary Rosen</a> of the
<a href="http://www.riaa.org/">
RIAA</a> has been commenting on the issue of P2P networks again.  It
seems her son Tristram managed to track down a very rare recording of <a
href="http://www.little-sparrow.co.uk/">Edith Piaf</a> singing
<a href="http://www.kumb.com/articles/challoner002.shtml">
<em>Knees Up Mother Brown</em></a>, a recording that Hilary had been hoping
to find for a very long time.  Though Hilary was initially ecstatic to hear
the tune she had for so long sought, her ecstasy soon turned to agony as it
emerged that Tristram had not taken care to clear up the thorny copyright
issues before downloading and playing the track.
<P>
It was with a heavy heart that Hilary phoned the cops to have Tristram
arrested.
<blockquote>
    "Though it hurts to see my son doing hard time, it is nothing
    compared to the pain he was causing through his criminal actions.  I
    want to set an example for all the parents of America, and the world.
    What my son did was despicable.  Even though I love him, he has to be
    made to pay for terrorising the music industry."
</blockquote>
When pressed further, Ms. Rosen replied by quoting another lyric from her
favourite songstress "Je ne regrette rien".  It is unclear at time of press
whether or not she had arranged permission to use the lyric.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SCO and IBM
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
If you read any internet linux-news sites, you must be aware that SCO, the
company formerly known as Caldera (more or less), have 
<a href="http://www.sco.com/scosource/complaint3.06.03.html">
sued IBM</a>.  This followed several weeks of speculation regarding SCO's
recent hiring of some top legal talent.  There has been much analysis and
discussion of this development, so I am not going to go through the details
of the case.
Linux Weekly News has a 
<a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/24747/">
good overview and discussion</a> of the substance of the claim.  A major
plank in their argument is that IBM used knowledge of UNIX technology it
gained from intellectual property owned by SCO to benefit Linux
development.  This was allegedly an attempt by IBM to kill commercial UNIX
and build-up Linux, though given that there is
<a href="http://www.linuxworld.com/2003/0310.barr-p2.html">
some debate</a> about many of the "facts" on which these claims are based,
a healthy dose of scepticism may be in order.
Doc Searls at
<em>Linux Journal</em> has also
<a href="http://linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6706">
cogently analysed the story</a>,
and says that with this action SCO has finally made clear which side of the
open-source/closed-source divide it truly stands.  I have to say that this
does not entirely surprise me having seen a "partners-presentation" given
by staff from SCO a few months ago in Dublin.
Further discussions can be read
<a href="http://slashdot.org/articles/03/03/14/1359251.shtml?tid=136&tid=130&tid=123">
in the Slashdot thread</a>.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Every Day's a Hollings-day
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Senator 
<a href="http://hollings.senate.gov/issues/2002620C00.html">
Ernest "on the Fritz" Hollings</a>
has proposed an interesting new initiative to improve the working
environment for his fellow politicians.  In Fritz's vision, members of
congress would have the opportunity to attend in any one of a range of
<a href="http://www.disney.com/">
Disney</a> inspired costumes.  Capitol buildings will also be re-worked to
bring them more into line with the spirit-lifting aesthetic popularised at
Disneyland.  Hollings is unapologetically evangelical regarding the
proposal:
<blockquote>
    "Nothing in the world is as magical as a holiday in Disneyland, it is
    the pinnacle of our great civilisation and must surely be the finest
    place to work.  What we are doing is bringing that magic into the every
    day lives of our Senators and Congress-folk.  Now, even a Senator can
    live every day in the joyous glow of Disney magic."
</blockquote>
This initiative is sure to gladden
the hearts of the hard working men and women of the government.  Fritz was
quick to point out that this endeavour would have the additional advantage
of raising the profile of the much loved entertainment conglomerate.
<p>
To facilitate the promotion and introduction of this measure, Ernest is
sub-contracting his job to Michael Eisner, Disney CEO.  Eisner declined to
comment at length.  "It will be business as usual", he purred.
<P>
This is seen as a very progressive manoeuvre by Hollings, and is typical of
the visionary and principled leadership of the man who brought us the
<a href="http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cbdtpa/hollings.s2048.032102.html">
CBDTPA</a>.  Indeed, the CBDTPA itself had an origin rooted in Disney
culture.  Taking inspiration from the Disney slogan "Where the magic comes
to you" this much-misunderstood act was intended to put a little bit of
Disney "magic" into every commonly used electronic device.
<P>
<a name="conferences"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Upcoming conferences and events</font></H3></center>

<P> Listings courtesy <EM>Linux Journal</EM>.  See <EM>LJ</EM>'s
<A HREF="http://www.linuxjournal.com/events.php">Events</A> page for the
latest goings-on.

<p>
<!-- *** BEGIN events table [this line needed by Linux Gazette events.py *** -->

<table cellpadding=5 border=0 width=100%>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux on Wall Street Show & Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 7, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxonwallstreet.com" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxonwallstreet.com</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>AIIM</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 7-9, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.advanstar.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.advanstar.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>FOSE</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 8-10, 2003<BR>Washington, DC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.fose.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.fose.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>MySQL Users Conference & Expo 2003</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 8-10, 2003<BR>San Jose, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.mysql.com/events/uc2003/" target="_blank">
        http://www.mysql.com/events/uc2003/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxFest Northwest 2003</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 26, 2003<BR>Bellingham, WA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxnorthwest.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxnorthwest.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Real World Linux Conference and Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>April 28-30, 2003<BR>Toronto, Ontario<BR>
        <a href="http://www.realworldlinux.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.realworldlinux.com</A><BR>


<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX First International Conference on Mobile Systems,
    Applications, and Services (MobiSys)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>May 5-8, 2003<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>USENIX Annual Technical Conference</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 9-14, 2003<BR>San Antonio, TX<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>CeBIT America</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 18-20, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.cebit-america.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.cebit-america.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>ClusterWorld Conference and Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>June 24-26, 2003<BR>San Jose, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxclustersinstitute.org/Linux-HPC-Revolution"
    target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxclustersinstitute.org/Linux-HPC-Revolution</A><BR>


<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>O'Reilly Open Source Convention</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>July 7-11, 2003<BR>Portland, OR<BR>
        <a href="http://conferences.oreilly.com/" target="_blank">
        http://conferences.oreilly.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>12th USENIX Security Symposium</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 4-8, 2003<BR>Washington, DC<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxWorld Conference & Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>August 5-7, 2003<BR>San Francisco, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxworldexpo.com</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LinuxWorld UK</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>September 3-4, 2003<BR>Birmingham, United Kingdom<BR>
        <a href="http://www.linuxworld2003.co.uk" target="_blank">
        http://www.linuxworld2003.co.uk</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Linux Lunacy</b><BR><i>Brought to you by Linux Journal and
    Geek Cruises!</i><br>
        <td valign=top>September 13-20, 2003<BR>Alaska's Inside Passage<BR>
        <a href="http://www.geekcruises.com/home/ll3_home.html" target="_blank">
        http://www.geekcruises.com/home/ll3_home.html</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>Software Development Conference & Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>September 15-19, 2003<BR>Boston, MA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.sdexpo.com" target="_blank">
        http://www.sdexpo.com</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>PC Expo</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>September 16-18, 2003<BR>New York, NY<BR>
        <a href="http://www.http://www.techxny.com/pcexpo_techxny.cfm"
target="_blank">
        http://www.techxny.com/pcexpo_techxny.cfm</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Canada</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>September 16-18, 2003<BR>Toronto, Ontario<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/canada/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/canada/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>LISA (17th USENIX Systems Administration Conference)</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>October 26-30, 2003<BR>San Diego, CA<BR>
        <a href="http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa03/" target="_blank">
        http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa03/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>HiverCon 2003</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 6-7, 2003<BR>Dublin, Ireland<BR>
        <a href="http://www.hivercon.com/" target="_blank">
        http://www.hivercon.com/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

<tr><td valign=top>
        <b>COMDEX Fall</b><BR>
        <td valign=top>November 17-21, 2003<BR>Las Vegas, NV<BR>
        <a href="http://www.comdex.com/fall2003/" target="_blank">
        http://www.comdex.com/fall2003/</A><BR>

<tr><td colspan=2><HR size=5 width=100% noshade align=center></td></tr>

</table>


<a name="general"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">News in General</font></H3></center>


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Sony, IBM and Butterfly.net Activate Linux-Based Computing Grid
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
Sony,
<a href="http://www.ibm.com">
IBM</a>
and Grid pioneer 
<a href="http://www.butterfly.net">
Butterfly.net</a>
announced the activation of a
Linux-based computing grid that makes it easier and cheaper to run Sony
PlayStation 2 games on the Internet. It is claimed that the massive
"Butterfly Grid"  can support millions of concurrent PlayStation-online
users around the world, with no limit to the number of players who can be
on the Grid at one time.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Film Gimp becomes Cinepaint
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
The Film Gimp team has
<a href="http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net/press/cinepaint.pr.2003.3.1.html">
changed the project name</a>
to
<a href="http://cinepaint.sourceforge.net/">
Cinepaint</a>.
The decision was made during the recent Film Gimp panel discussion in
Los Angeles during the Linux Movies conference track.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Appro HyperBlade
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
The <a href="http://www.appro.com">Appro</a>
HyperBlade B221X cluster is designed for the High-Performance 
Computational (HPC) market and provides a fully integrated Linux cluster
solution for large-scale complex computations.  It achieves high-density
architecture by using commodity x86 components in a single cluster. With
support for up to 80 compute blades, Appro HyperBlade 
architecture doubles the current rack density using 1U servers.


<a name="distro"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Distro News</font></H3></center>

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">CollegeLinux
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
DesktopLinux.com 
<a href="http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT6903717609.html">
interviews Prof. David Costa</a>, Dean of Robert Kennedy
College in Switzerland about his school's 
<a href="http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/03/02/1250212">
recently released</a>
GNU/Linux offering: CollegeLinux.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Debian
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
The
<a href="http://www.debian.org/">
Debian project</a> has announced new licencing terms.  Beginning April 1,
2003, software upgrades will now be on a pay-as-you-go scheme.  This will
initially affect users of Debian mirrors who will have to buy prepaid
blocks of access via the new Debian online store <em>iDebian</em>.
Starting with the next stable release there will also be a pay-per-install
scheme which is expected to be very well subscribed.  Each installation
will have an administrator program <em>DebiWin</em> which will continuously
audit the system and make sure that the user has not innocently installed
twice from a single installation medium.  Uniquely in the default Debian
install, DebiWin is a closed-source application.  This is to maintain the
"unique qualities" of the application.
<P>
Though initial reactions have
been mixed, many users are non-plussed:
<blockquote>
    "...We already pay in blood, sweat and tears installing Debian, so
    what's a few dollars.  You only install it once you know!  What's that,
    you have to pay for upgrades... d'oh!"
</blockquote>
<P>
<hr width="20%" noshade>
<P>
A verbose guide to <a href="http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2949">
updating and compiling Debian kernels</a>.
<P>
<hr width="20%" noshade>
<P>
Anthony Towns is 
<a href="http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce-0303/msg00007.html">
looking for volunteers</a>
to help with Release Manager work for the forthcoming release of Sarge.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Engarde
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Guardian Digital has 
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2003-03-04-004-26-NW-SV-SW">
announced the availability</a>
of the Guardian Digital Secure Mail Suite, which is available with Guardian
Digital's EnGarde Secure Linux v1.5, also released today.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SCO
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.sco.com">
SCO</a>
has announced the availability of a new 
<a href="http://www.sco.com/education/">
education program</a>, updated
Linux, UnixWare and OpenServer courseware, and a new UnitedLinux
certification program.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Slackware
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
In a surprise announcement, the 
<a href="http://slackware.com/">
Slackware</a>
project has announced the removal of any console-based install tools in the
upcoming version 9.0.  Daringly, installation will now be completed using
installation tools running on the
<a href="http://www.3dwm.org/frameset.html">
3DWM</a> platform.  Minimum graphics requirements have not been
announced yet, but if you were saving up for a new card to play Doom 3 with,
you're on the right track.
<P>
<a href="http://www.slackware.com/index.php">
The Slackware Linux Project</a>
has a brief anouncement on their site about their latest release
Slackware 9.0-rc1.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">SuSE
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://www.ximian.com">
Ximian, Inc.</a>, a provider of 
desktop and server Linux solutions, 
and 
<a href="http://www.suse.de/en">
SuSE Linux</a>
have announced a  partnership 
concerning SuSE's corporate business. 
As part of the agreement, SuSE will resell Red Carpet 
Enterprise from Ximian - enabling customers to centrally 
deploy and manage software on servers and desktops running SuSE 
Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server. The companies will also 
offer Ximian Connector software to integrate the popular Ximian 
Evolution groupware suite for Linux with the SuSE Linux 
Openexchange server. In addition, the companies will pursue 
opportunities to collaborate on future Linux desktop offerings 
incorporating Ximian Desktop technology. 

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">UnitedLinux
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
UnitedLinux has announced 
that it has completed certification of UnitedLinux Version 1.0 
with both Oracle9i Database and its database clustering 
technology, Oracle9i Real Application Clusters.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">Yoper
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
Yoper (Your Operating System) 
<a href="http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2003-03-06-009-26-NW-DT-SW">
has released version 1.0</a>
of their distribution.


<a name="commercial"></a>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<center><H3><font color="green">Software and Product News</font></H3></center>


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">XFree86
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
XFree86 version 4.3.0 has been 
<a href="http://xfree86.org/rel430.html">
released</a>.
The new release includes many
new graphics card driver improvements, automatic PS2 mouse protocol
detection, run-time root window resizing, support for
alpha-blended and animated cursors, and an improved font
server.

<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">TextMaker
</FONT>
</H3> 
<P>
<a href="http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/03/11/216204">
TextMaker for Linux beta now available</a>.
TextMaker for Linux is a a word processor that is claimed to read and
write Microsoft Word 6/95/97/2000/XP files
without losing formatting or content.


<P> <hr> <P> 
<!-- =================================================================== -->
<H3><IMG ALT=" "   SRC="../gx/bolt.gif">
<FONT COLOR="green">McObject - MontaVista partnership
</FONT>
</H3> 

<P>
<a href="http://www.mcobject.com/">
McObject</a>,
developer of the
eXtremeDB
small footprint, in-memory
database, has joined with 
MontaVista Software
to offer a GNU/Linux-based
technology combination for
intelligent devices ranging from consumer electronics to carrier-grade
communications gear.
<P>
With eXtremeDB, McObject offers a new type of database to meet the
unique performance requirements and resource constraints of intelligent,
connected devices. With a footprint of 100K or less, eXtremeDB spares
RAM and CPU resources while delivering critical data management
features.
eXtremeDB's ultra-small footprint and exceptional performance enables
device manufacturers to deploy less expensive hardware, providing a key
economic benefit through reduction of BOM (Bill of Material) costs.
Similarly, by choosing MontaVista Linux tools and platforms, companies
gain significant savings over proprietary real-time operating systems
(RTOSes). Together, McObject and MontaVista lower development and
deployment costs, enhancing customers' positioning in the marketplace.


<!-- =================================================================== -->
<!-- =================================================================== -->


<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->

<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>

This page written and maintained by the Editor of the <I>Linux Gazette</I>,<BR>
<A HREF=mailto:gazette@ssc.com>gazette@ssc.com</A><BR>

Copyright &copy; 2003, Michael Conry.
Copying license <A
+HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR>
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April
2003</H5>
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>



<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Laurel and Hardy Try to Write a C Program</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/bint.html">Stephen Bint</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->






<BLOCKQUOTE>
<STRONG>... featuring those Lovable Dolts,  Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.</STRONG><BR>
<A HREF="http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/">(Official L&H site)</A> &nbsp;&nbsp;
<A HREF="http://www.laurelnhardy.co.uk/">(UK tribute page)</A>

<P> This article is a follow-up to the author's
<A HREF="../issue87/bint.html">The Ultimate Editor</A> in January and the
<A HREF="../issue88/lg_mail.html#mailbag.1">Mailbag letters</A> (three of them)
it received in February.
<HR>
</BLOCKQUOTE>

<P>
<EM>Ollie is sitting in front of a terminal. Stan enters, 
carrying a book.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Where have you been?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> I went to the bookstore to get a book like you 
said.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Well, you took your sweet time. We have to get 
this CGI script finished by tomorrow morning. Let's 
see what you've got.

<P>
<EM>Stan hands Ollie the book.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> "A Guide to Programming in C". What is this?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> It's a guide to programming in C, Ollie.

<P>
<EM>Ollie looks at camera - not amused.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> I can see that, you idiot. I thought I told 
you we were going to write it in Perl.

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> But Mr. Bint said...

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Mr. Bint?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> The man at the bookstore. Mr. Bint.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> <EM>[Impatiently]</EM> What did "Mr. Bint" say?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> He said he was all sold out of books about 
Perl, but he had a whole shelf full of books about 
C. He said I was lucky.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> How did he make that out?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> He said C is a better choice for CGI programs. 
He said C is a professional programming language, 
but Perl is a toy language. He said Perl is a jumped 
up scripting language that's gotten ahead of itself.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Oh, he did, did he?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> <EM>[Nods]</EM> Mr. Bint says that though the learning 
curve with C is initially steeper, ultimately there 
is less to learn, because C has fewer rules. He said 
Perl does most things for you and you need to learn 
exactly what it does in every case, to understand what 
your program is doing. He said that's why books about 
C are so thin and books about Perl are so fat.  He says the reason he is sold
out is that Perl books are so fat he can only fit four on a shelf.  Not only
that, but the trucks that deliver them often fail to arrive because their tyres
keep exploding.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Is that a fact?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> <EM>[Nods]</EM> That's what Mr. Bint says. He says that 
Perl has confusing syntax and fails to define function
interfaces correctly, which invites sloppiness.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> And what else does he say?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> He says that C is often made out to be full of 
danger and potential for disaster compared to Perl, 
but in fact, Perl is only proof against a couple of 
common bugs and its lack of readability makes other 
bugs more likely. He says the gcc compiler gives 
good warnings about badly written C, there are tools 
which can check for memory leaks and Lint to check 
for other common errors.

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Mmmph. Mr. Bint recommends Lint, does he?

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> Yes.

<P>
<EM>Ollie looks impatiently at the camera, then at Stan. </EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Well, I suppose we will just have to write it 
in "C"....  "Mr. Bint".  Mmmpph! 

<P>
<EM>Ollie faces keyboard and prepares to type.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> OK, you read the book out to me and I'll type
in the program.

<PRE>
   while( ollie_waits ) {

      Stan_looks_at_book();
      Stan_looks_at_Ollie();
      Stan_looks_panic_stricken();

      if( ollie_looks_around() )
         ollie_waits = false;
      }
</PRE>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Well, what is it now Stanley?
       
<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> <EM>[Blubbering]</EM> I'm sorry Ollie... blubber...
I don't think we can just start straight away...
snivel...I think we have to read the book and 
learn the language first...

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Will you stop sniveling? How hard can it 
be? We'll simply learn the language, then we'll
write the program.

<P>
<EM>Ollie turns to give Stan his full attention.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> OK, tell me what we need to learn about C
before we can start.

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> According to this table of contents...
variable types, user-defined types, typedefs, 
static variables, initialisation vs. assignment, 
constants, statements, binary operators, unary 
operators, arithmetic operators, logical 
operators, bitwise operators, operator precedence,
if, for, switch, while, continue, break, arrays...

<P>
<EM>Ollie looks at camera - not amused.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Stan:</STRONG> multi-dimensional arrays, pointers, pointer 
arithmetic, function pointers, function declaration 
and definition, preprocessor directives and macros, 
printf formats, automatic and allocated memory, 
command-line arguments, recursion...

<P>
<EM>Ollie removes Stan's hat, slaps him round the chops 
with the mouse mat (both sides), carefully replaces
hat. Stan stops reading.</EM>

<P>
<STRONG>Ollie:</STRONG> Well, congratulations Stanley. This is another
fine mess you've gotten me into.

<PRE>
   while( camera_is_running() )
      Stan_blubbers();
</PRE>

<P>
<EM>Fin.</EM>


<!--
<H3>Further Reading (anti-Perl)</H3>

<a 
href="http://groups.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=2969@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov">
Readability suffers slightly...</a> (by Larry Wall)

<P>
<A HREF="http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/text/perl.html">What's Wrong with Perl</A>

<H3>Further Reading (obfuscated C)</H3>

<A HREF="http://www0.us.ioccc.org/2001/cheong.c">A rectangular program</A>

<P>
<A HREF="http://www0.us.ioccc.org/2001/anonymous.c">A program with one-letter #define's</A>
-->



<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
Stephen is a homeless Englishman who lives in a tent in the woods. He eats out
of bins and smokes cigarette butts he finds on the road. Though he once worked
for a short time as a C programmer, he prefers to describe himself as a "keen
amateur".
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Stephen Bint.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">HelpDex</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/collinge.html">Shane Collinge</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->



















<EM>These cartoons are scaled down to minimize horizontal scrolling.
	To see a panel in all its clarity, click on it.</EM>


<P>

<A HREF="misc/collinge/401subscribe.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/401subscribe.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/402youhave.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/402youhave.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/406barrapunto.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/406barrapunto.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/407plugin.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/407plugin.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<HR NOSHADE> <!-- ************************************* -->

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/403refuse.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/403refuse.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/404feud.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/404feud.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/408parrot.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/408parrot.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>
<A HREF="misc/collinge/410wcburger.jpg">
<IMG ALT="[cartoon]" SRC="misc/collinge/410wcburger.jpg" 
	WIDTH="640" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<BR CLEAR="all">

<P>





<P> All HelpDex cartoons are at Shane's web site,
<A HREF="http://www.shanecollinge.com/">www.shanecollinge.com</A>.




















<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
Part computer programmer, part cartoonist, part Mars Bar. At night, he runs
around in a pair of colorful tights fighting criminals. During the day... well,
he just runs around.  He eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's sleepy.
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Shane Collinge.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Working with XSLT</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/danguer.html">Daniel Guerrero</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->





The <b>eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT)</b> is used mostly to transform the <b>XML</b> data to <b>HTML</b> data, but
with XSLT we could transform from XML (or anything which uses the xml namespaces, like RDF) to whatever thing we need, from xml
to plain text. 
</p>
<p>
The <a href="http://www.w3.org">w3</a> defines that XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) consists of three parts:
<b>XSLT</b>, <a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath">XPath</a> (a expression language used by XSLT to access or refer to parts of an XML document), and  the third part is 
<b>XSL Formatting Objects</b>, an XML vocabulary for specifying formatting semantics
</p>
<h3>Meeting XSLT</h3>
<p>
First of all, we need to specify that our XML document will be an XSL stylesheet, and import the XML NameSpace:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
                  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt

...

&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
</pre>
<p>
After that, the principal element which we will use, will be the <code>xsl:template match</code>, which is called when 
the name of a xml node matchs with the value of the <code>xsl:template match</code>:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
                  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;

&lt;xsl:template match="/"&gt; &lt;!-- '/' is taken from XPath and will match with the root element --&gt;
    &lt;!-- do something with the attributes  of the node --&gt;
&lt;/xsl:template&gt;

&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
</pre>
<p>
Inside of the <code>xsl:template match</code>, we could get an attribute of the node with the element: 
<code>xsl:value-of select</code>, and the name of the attribute, lets first make an xml of example with 
some information:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- hello.xml --&gt;

&lt;hello&gt;
   &lt;text&gt;Hello World!&lt;/text&gt;
&lt;/hello&gt;

</pre>

<p>
And this is the xslt which will extract the <code>text</code> of the root element (<code>hello</code>):
</p>

<pre>
&lt;!-- hello.xsl --&gt;
&lt;xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
                  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;

&lt;xsl:template match="/"&gt; 
  &lt;html&gt; 
    &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;title&gt;Extracting &lt;xsl:value-of select="//text"/&gt; &lt;/title&gt;
       &lt;!--  in this case '//text' is: 'hello/text' but because I'm a lazy person... I will short it with XPath  --&gt;
    &lt;/head&gt;
    
    &lt;body&gt;
       &lt;p&gt;
           The &lt;b&gt;text&lt;/b&gt; of the root element is: &lt;b&gt;&lt;xsl:value-of select="//text"/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
       &lt;/p&gt; 
    &lt;/body&gt;
  &lt;/html&gt;
&lt;/xsl:template&gt;

&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
</pre>

<p>
The HTML output is:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- hello.html --&gt;

&lt;html&gt;
   &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"&gt;
   
      &lt;title&gt;Extracting Hello World! &lt;/title&gt;
   &lt;/head&gt;
   &lt;body&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;
         The &lt;b&gt;text&lt;/b&gt; of the root element is: &lt;b&gt;Hello World!&lt;/b&gt;
      &lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</pre>

<h4>Selecting Attributes</h4>
<p>
<code>@att</code> will match with the attribute <code>att</code>. For example:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- hello_style.xml --&gt;

&lt;hello&gt;
   &lt;text color="red"&gt;Hello World!&lt;/text&gt;
&lt;/hello&gt;
</pre>

<p>
And the XSLT:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- hello_style.xsl --&gt;
&lt;xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
                  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;

&lt;xsl:template match="/"&gt; 
  &lt;html&gt; 
    &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;title&gt;Extracting &lt;xsl:value-of select="//text"/&gt; &lt;/title&gt;
    &lt;/head&gt;
    
    &lt;body&gt;
       &lt;p&gt;
           The &lt;b&gt;text&lt;/b&gt; of the root element is: &lt;b&gt;&lt;xsl:value-of select="//text"/&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
           and his &lt;b&gt;color&lt;/b&gt; attribute is: &lt;xsl:value-of select="//text/@color"/&gt;
       &lt;/p&gt; 
    &lt;/body&gt;
  &lt;/html&gt;
&lt;/xsl:template&gt;

&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
</pre>
<p>
The HTML output will be:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;html&gt;
   &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"&gt;
   
      &lt;title&gt;Extracting Hello World! &lt;/title&gt;
   &lt;/head&gt;
   &lt;body&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;
         The &lt;b&gt;text&lt;/b&gt; of the root element is: &lt;b&gt;Hello World!&lt;/b&gt;
         and his &lt;b&gt;color&lt;/b&gt; attribute is: red
      &lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</pre>

<p>
If you are thinking in use this information to, in this case, put in red color the text <i>Hello World!</i>,
yes it's possible, in two forms, making variables and using they in the attributes of the font, for
example, or using the <code>xsl:attribute</code> element.
</p>

<h3>Variables</h3>
<p>
Variables could be used to contain constants or the value of an element. 
</p>
<p>
Assigning constants are simple:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- variables.xsl --&gt;

&lt;xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
                  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;


&lt;xsl:template match="/"&gt; 

&lt;!--  definition of the variable  --&gt;
&lt;xsl:variable name="path"&gt;http://somedomain/tmp/xslt&lt;/xsl:variable&gt; 

  &lt;html&gt; 
    &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;title&gt;Examples of Variables&lt;/title&gt;
  &lt;/head&gt;
    
    &lt;body&gt;
       &lt;p&gt;
           &lt;a href="{$path}/photo.jpg"&gt;Photo of my latest travel&lt;/a&gt;
       &lt;/p&gt; 
    &lt;/body&gt;
  &lt;/html&gt;
&lt;/xsl:template&gt;

&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
</pre>

<p>
The html output:
</p>
<pre>
&lt;html&gt;
   &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"&gt;
   
      &lt;title&gt;Examples of Variables&lt;/title&gt;
   &lt;/head&gt;
   &lt;body&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://somedomain/xslt/photo.jpg"&gt;Photo of my latest travel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</pre>

<p>
You can also get the value of the variable selecting it from the values or attributes of the nodes: 
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- variables_select.xsl --&gt;

&lt;xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
                  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;


&lt;xsl:template match="/"&gt; 
    &lt;html&gt;
       &lt;head&gt;
         &lt;title&gt;Examples of Variables&lt;/title&gt;
        &lt;/head&gt;
       &lt;body&gt;
           &lt;xsl:apply-templates select="//photo"/&gt;
       &lt;/body&gt;
    &lt;/html&gt;
&lt;/xsl:template&gt;

&lt;xsl:template match="photo"&gt; 
    &lt;!--  definition of the variables  --&gt;
    &lt;xsl:variable name="path"&gt;http://somedomain/tmp/xslt&lt;/xsl:variable&gt;  
    &lt;xsl:variable name="photo" select="file"/&gt; 
     &lt;p&gt; 
       &lt;a href="{$path}/{$photo}"&gt;&lt;xsl:value-of select="description"/&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
     &lt;/p&gt;       
&lt;/xsl:template&gt;

&lt;/xsl:stylesheet&gt;
</pre>

<p>
And the xml source (I don't put images of myself, because I don't want to scare you :-) )
</p>
<pre>
&lt;!-- variables_select.xml --&gt;

&lt;album&gt;
   &lt;photo&gt;
      &lt;file&gt;mountains.jpg&lt;/file&gt;
      &lt;description&gt;me at the mountains&lt;/description&gt;
   &lt;/photo&gt;
   
   &lt;photo&gt;
      &lt;file&gt;congress.jpg&lt;/file&gt;
      &lt;description&gt;me at the congress&lt;/description&gt;
   &lt;/photo&gt;
   
    &lt;photo&gt;
      &lt;file&gt;school.jpg&lt;/file&gt;
      &lt;description&gt;me at the school&lt;/description&gt;
   &lt;/photo&gt;        
&lt;/album&gt;
</pre>

<p>
And the html output:
</p>

<pre>
&lt;html&gt;
   &lt;head&gt;
      &lt;meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"&gt;
   
      &lt;title&gt;Examples of Variables&lt;/title&gt;
   &lt;/head&gt;
   &lt;body&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://somedomain/tmp/xslt/mountains.jpg"&gt;me at the mountains&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://somedomain/tmp/xslt/congress.jpg"&gt;me at the congress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://somedomain/tmp/xslt/school.jpg"&gt;me at the school&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;/body&gt;
&lt;/html&gt;
</pre>

<p>
If you note, you will see that the <code>photo</code> element-match is called three times because of
the <code>xsl:apply-templates</code>, every time xslt finds an element that match it, 
is called the <code>xsl:template match</code> that matches it.
</p>

<p>
Ok, so you are impatient to try to make the text in red of the <code>hello_style.xml</code>?, try to do this with
variables, if you can't do it, open this page <a href="misc/danguer/hello_style_variables.xsl">misc/danguer/hello_style_variables.xsl</a>
</p>

<h3></h3>

<h3>Sorting</h3>
<p>
XSLT could sort the processing of xml tags with <code>&lt;xsl:sort select="<i>sort_by_this_attibute</i>"&gt;</code>, this
element must be placed into <code>xsl:apply-templates</code> element, you could sort by an xml element or attribute,
in ascending or descending order, you could also specify the order of the case (if the lower case 
is before than a upper case, or vice versa).
</p>

<p>
I will use the example of the album, and I will add only the sort element:
</p>
<pre>
 &lt;xsl:apply-templates select="//photo"&gt;
	&lt;xsl:sort select="file" order="descending"&gt;
 &lt;/xsl:apply-templates&gt;
</pre>
<p>
This will alter only the order of photos is put in the html, in fact, xslt will order
first all the elements <code>photo</code> of our xml, and it will send to the 
<code>template-match</code> element in that order, that's why the <code>xsl:sort</code>
element must go inside the <code>xsl:apply-templates</code>.
</p>
<p>
The xsl's and html's files are in the examples, you can get it with these links:
</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/sort.xsl">misc/danguer/sort.xsl</a>. Sorting StyleSheet</li>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/sort.html">misc/danguer/sort.html</a>. Sorting HTML Output</li>
</ul>

<h3>if statement</h3>
<p>
There will some cases when you need to put some text if some xml element (or attribute) appears,
or other if doesn't appears, the <code>xsl:if</code> element will do this for you, I will show you
what can do, let's image you have a page with documents (this example is taken from my 'tests' at
TLDP-ES project) and from these documents, you know if the sources were converted to PDF, PS or
HTML format, this information is in you xml, so you can test if the PDF file was generated, and
put a link to it:
</p>
<pre>
     &lt;xsl:if test="format/@pdf = 'yes'"&gt;
	   &lt;a href="{$doc_path}/{$doc_subpath}/{$doc_subpath}.pdf"&gt;PDF&lt;/a&gt;
	 &lt;/xsl:if&gt;
</pre>
<p>
If the pdf attibute of the document is yes, like this example:
</p>
<pre>
   &lt;document&gt;
     &lt;title&gt;Bellatrix Library and Semantic Web&lt;/title&gt;
     &lt;author&gt;Daniel Guerrero&lt;/author&gt;
	 &lt;module&gt;bellatrix&lt;/module&gt;
	 &lt;format pdf="yes" ps="yes" html="yes"/&gt;
   &lt;/document&gt; 
</pre>

<p>
Then it will put a link to the document in the PDF format, if the attribute is 'no' or
whatever value the xml's DTD allow you, then no link will put, if you want to check all 
the xsl and xml documents they are in:
</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/documents.xml">misc/danguer/documents.xml</a>. Documents Info</li>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/documents.xsl">misc/danguer/documents.xsl</a>. Documents StyleSheet</li>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/documents.html">misc/danguer/documents.html</a>. Documents HTML Output</li>
</ul>

<h3>for-each statement</h3>
<p>
If you check the xml document of the below example, you will see, in the first document we have
three authors separated by a comma, obviously a better way to separate the authors will put it
in separated <code>&lt;author&gt;</code> tagas:
</p>
<pre>
   &lt;document&gt;
     &lt;title&gt;Donantonio: bibliographic system for automatic distribuited publication. Specifications of Software Requeriments&lt;/title&gt;
     &lt;author&gt;Ismael Olea&lt;/author&gt;
	 &lt;author&gt;Juan Jose Amor&lt;/author&gt;
	 &lt;author&gt;David Escorial&lt;/author&gt;
	 &lt;module&gt;donantonio&lt;/module&gt;
	 &lt;format pdf="yes" ps="no" html="yes"/&gt;
   &lt;/document&gt;
</pre>
<p>
And you could think to make an <code>xsl:apply-templates</code> and a 
<code>xsl:template match</code> to put every name in a separate row, for example, this could
be done, but if you also could utilice the <code>xsl:for-each</code> statement.
</p>
<pre>
     &lt;xsl:for-each select="author"&gt;
	    &lt;tr&gt;
	       &lt;td&gt;
		      Author: &lt;xsl:apply-templates /&gt;
           &lt;/td&gt;
	    &lt;/tr&gt;
	  &lt;/xsl:for-each&gt;
</pre>
<p>
In this case, the processor will go through all the authors that the document had, and
if you are wondering what template I made to process the authors, I will say there is no
template, the processor will take the <code>apply-templates</code> element like a 'print'
the text of the element selected by the <code>for-each</code> element.
</p>

<h3>choose statement</h3>
<p>
The last xslt element I will show you is the choose element, this works like the popoular
<code>switch</code> of popular languages like C.
</p>
<p>
First you must declare a <code>xsl:choose</code> element, and after, put all the options
in <code>xsl:when</code> elements, if element couldn't satisfy any when, then you could
put an <code>xsl:otherwise</code> element:
</p>
<pre>
  &lt;xsl:variable name="even" select="position() mod 2"/&gt;

  &lt;xsl:choose&gt;
     &lt;xsl:when test="$even = 1"&gt;
          &lt;![CDATA[&lt;table width="100%" bgcolor="#cccccc"&gt;]]&gt;
	 &lt;/xsl:when&gt;
     &lt;xsl:when test="$even = 0"&gt;
	     &lt;![CDATA[&lt;table width="100%" bgcolor="#99b0bf"&gt;]]&gt;
	 &lt;/xsl:when&gt;
     &lt;xsl:otherwise&gt;
        &lt;![CDATA[&lt;table width="100%" bgcolor="#ffffff"&gt;]]&gt;
	 &lt;/xsl:otherwise&gt;
  &lt;/xsl:choose&gt;
</pre>
<p>
The <code>position()</code> returns the number of element processed, in the case of the
documents, the number will increment as many documents you had, in this case, we only want
to know which document is even or odd, so we can put a table of a color for the even
numbers and other for the odd numbers; I put the <code>xsl:otherwise</code> only to illustrate
its use, but actually I think it will never be a table with blank background in our library.
</p>
<p>
If you ask me why I put a <code>CDATA</code> section?, I will answer you, because if I don't
put it, then the processor will ask for his termation tag (<code>&lt;/table&gt;</code>) but
its termination is bottom, so, the termination tag will need also the <code>CDATA</code> section.
</p>
<p>
Once again, I have to short the code, if you want to see all the code, you must see these documents:
</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_choose.xsl">misc/danguer/documents_choose.xsl</a>. Documents StyleSheet</li>
  <li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_choose.html">misc/danguer/documents_choose.html</a>. Documents HTML Output</li>
</ul>

<h2>XSLT Processors</h2>
<h3>Saxon</h3>
<p>
<a href="http://saxon.sourceforge.net">Saxon</a> is a XSLT Processor written in Java, I'm using the version 6.5.2, the following instructions will be for this version,
in others versions you have to check the properly information for running Saxon.
</p>
<h4>Installation</h4>
<p>
After you have downloaded the saxon zip, you must unzip it:
</p>
<pre>
[danguer@perseo xslt]$ unzip saxon6_5_2.zip
</pre>
<p>
After this, you must include the saxon.jar file in you class path, you can pass the path of the jar to java with the <code>-cp path</code> option.
I will put saxon.jar under the dir xslt, you must write to Java the Class you will use; in the case of my saxon version (6.5.2) the Class is:
<code>com.icl.saxon.StyleSheet</code> and also pass as argument the document in xml and the XSLT StyleSheet that you will use. For example:
</p>
<pre>
[danguer@perseo xslt]$ java -cp saxon.jar com.icl.saxon.StyleSheet document.xml tranformation.xsl
</pre>
<p>
This will send the output of the transformation to the standard output, you can send to a file with:
</p>
<pre>
[danguer@perseo xslt]$ java -cp saxon.jar com.icl.saxon.StyleSheet document.xml tranformation.xsl > file_processed.html
</pre>
<p>
For example, we will transform our first example of XSLT with saxon:
</p>
<pre>
[danguer@perseo xslt]$ java -cp saxon.jar com.icl.saxon.StyleSheet cards.xml cards.xsl > cards.html
</pre>
<p>
And as I said, the result of the processing with xslt is:
</p>
<pre>
[danguer@perseo xslt]$ java -cp saxon.jar com.icl.saxon.StyleSheet hello.xml hello.xsl > hello.html
</pre>

<h3>xsltproc</h3>
<p>
xsltproc comes with all the major distributions, the sintaxis it's like the saxon's one:
</p>
<pre>
[danguer@perseo xslt]$ xsltproc hello.xsl hello.xml > hello.html
</pre>

<p>
I know there are others xslt processors, like sablotron, but I haven't used, so, I can't suggest
you ;-).
</p>

<h2>References</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://w3.org/TR/xslt">Technical Report for XSLT from the w3 consortium</a></li>
<li><a href="http://w3.org/TR/xsl">XSL homepage</a></li>
<li><a href="http://saxon.sourceforge.net">Saxon homepage</a></li>
<li>Examples (the 'card' examples, are a example I was written before start this document, and I hope could help you):
    <ul>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/cards.html">misc/danguer/cards.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/cards.xml">misc/danguer/cards.xml</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/cards.xsl">misc/danguer/cards.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello.html">misc/danguer/hello.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello.xml">misc/danguer/hello.xml</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello.xsl">misc/danguer/hello.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello_style.html">misc/danguer/hello_style.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello_style.xml">misc/danguer/hello_style.xml</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello_style.xsl">misc/danguer/hello_style.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello_style_variables.html">misc/danguer/hello_style_variables.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/hello_style_variables.xsl">misc/danguer/hello_style_variables.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/variables.html">misc/danguer/variables.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/variables.xsl">misc/danguer/variables.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/variables_select.html">misc/danguer/variables_select.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/variables_select.xml">misc/danguer/variables_select.xml</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/variables_select.xsl">misc/danguer/variables_select.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/sort.xsl">misc/danguer/sort.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/sort.html">misc/danguer/sort.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents.xml">misc/danguer/documents.xml</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents.xsl">misc/danguer/documents.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents.html">misc/danguer/documents.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_for.html">misc/danguer/documents_for.html</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_for.xml">misc/danguer/documents_for.xml</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_for.xsl">misc/danguer/documents_for.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_choose.xsl">misc/danguer/documents_choose.xsl</a></li>
		<li><a href="misc/danguer/documents_choose.html">misc/danguer/documents_choose.html</a></li>
	</ul>
</li>
</ul>





<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
I'm trying to finish my Bachelor Degree at BUAP in Puebla, Mexico. <!-- I started to
give conferences in my country at the end of 2002.-->  I'm involved with TLPD-ES
project, and they make I learn all about this technologies, now I'm learning
about Semantic Web. 
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Daniel Guerrero.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Ecol</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/malonda.html">Javier Malonda</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->






The Ecol comic strip is written for 
<A HREF="http://escomposlinux.org">escomposlinux.org</A> (ECOL), the web site that
supports, es.comp.os.linux, the Spanish USENET newsgroup for Linux.  The strips
are drawn in Spanish and then translated to English by the author.  Text
commentary on this page is by LG Editor Iron.  Your browser has shrunk the
images to conform to the horizontal size limit for LG articles.  For better
picture quality, click on each cartoon to see it full size.

<P> 
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-special-e.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-special-e.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>

<HR NOSHADE> <!-- ****************************************************** -->

<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-101-e.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-101-e.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<P>
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-101.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-101.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<P>

<HR NOSHADE> <!-- ****************************************************** -->

<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-102-e.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-102-e.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<P>
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-102.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-102.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<P>
<A HREF="misc/ecol/ecol-102-catalan.png"><IMG SRC="misc/ecol/ecol-102-catalan.png" WIDTH="600" HEIGHT="240"></A>
<P>

<HR NOSHADE> <!-- ****************************************************** -->

All Ecol cartoons are at
<A HREF="http://tira.escomposlinux.org/">tira.escomposlinux.org</A> (Spanish),
<A HREF="http://comic.escomposlinux.org/">comic.escomposlinux.org</A> (English) and
<A HREF="http://tira.puntbarra.com/">http://tira.puntbarra.com/</A> (Catalan).
The Catalan version is translated by the people who run the site; only a few
episodes are currently available.

<P> <SMALL>These cartoons are copyright Javier Malonda.  They may be copied, linked
or distributed by any means.  However, you may not distribute modifications.  If 
you link to a cartoon, please <A
HREF="mailto:jmr@escomposlinux.org">notify</A> Javier, who would appreciate 
hearing from you.
</SMALL>






















<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<!-- P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
</em>
<br CLEAR="all" -->
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Javier Malonda.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Security Administration with Debian GNU/Linux</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/gonzales.html">Jose Salvador Gonzalez Rivera</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->








<OL>
<LI> <a
href="#1">Introduction</a>


<LI> <a
href="#2">Installing Debian</a>

<LI> <a
href="#3">Vulnerabilities
Analysis</a>

<LI> <a
href="#4">Security
Administration</a>

<OL>
	<LI> <a
href="#5">Permissions
and Attributes</a>

	<LI> <a
href="#6">Sticky
Bit</a>

	<LI> <a
href="#7">Umask</a>

	<LI> <a
href="#8">Quotas
and Limit</a>

	<LI> <a
href="#9">User
Activities</a>

	<LI> <a
href="#10">Logs
and Services</a>

</OL> </OL> 


<A NAME="1"></A>
<h2>Introduction</h2>

<p>Debian has a package manager (DPKG) that resolves dependency problems
automatically.  It help us to automatically keep up to date programs looking
for new versions on the internet, resolving and completing the files and
libraries dependencies which a package requires, making system administration
easy and keeping us up to date with the new security changes. It also shows
some important and substantial security features: it doesn't have commercial
goals, also doesn't obey mercantile urgencies, It has a good pursuit of errors,
problems are fixed in less than 48 hours and it's priority is to develop a
complete and reliable operating system. </p>

<p><b>Before Installing</b> </p>

<p>From a security and reliability standpoint, it's better to have separate
hard disk partitions for directories that are large, and especially to separate
those which are frequently-changing (/tmp and /var) from those that can be
mounted read-only except when installing software (/usr).  Some people also make
separate partitions for /home and /usr/local.  Separate partitions
mean that if one gets corrupted, the others won't be affected.  It also means
you can mount some partitions (especially /usr and /boot) read-only except when
doing system administration: this decreases the likelihood of corruption or
mistakes dramatically.  Don't do the distribution default, which is
usually to put everything in one partition.  Of course, you can go overboard if
you use too many partitions, and if you don't anticipate your sizes correctly
you may end up with wasted space in some partitions and not enough space in
others.  In that case you'll either have to back up the files and repartition,
or use symbolic links to steal space from another partition.  Both strategies
are undesirable, so think beforehand about how many partitions are appropriate
for this machine, which directories contain irreplaceable data, and leave some
extra space for unexpected additions later.

<h2><a name=2></a>Installing Debian</h2>

<p>The Debian installation, text mode, consists of two phases. The first one
consists of installing the base system and the second one allows us to
configure several details and the installation of additional packages. It is
also necessary to identify those services that the system will offer. It
doesn't make sense to install packages that could open ports and offer
unnecessary services, so we will begin installing just the base system and
after that the services our system will offer. </p>

<h2><a name=3></a>Vulnerability Analysis</h2>

<p>There are some software tools to perform vulnerability verification or
security auditing in our servers; these tools are intended to detect well-known
security problems and also to offer detailed information in how to solve almost
any problem you find. This kind of analysis is also called &quot;ethical
hacking&quot; because we can check the way our servers can be penetrated as an
intruder would do it. Nessus audits insecurity. Its main advantage is that it
is totally modernized with the latest attacks, with the possibility to include
them in plug-ins form. It is available for any UNIX flavor from its Web site:
<A HREF="http://www.nessus.org/">www.nessus.org</A> It is composed of two programs: </p>

<p><b>Nessusd</b> </p>

<p>The server performs the exploration. It should be started with root
privileges and uses the ports 1241 and 3001 to listen to nessus client's
requests. To install it is necessary to type the following command: </p>

<pre># apt-get-install nessusd</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>It
only runs in UNIX and the client should be authenticated by means of a login
and a password that has to be activated in the system with the different
options offered by <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>nessus-adduser</span></code>
command. </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><b>Nessus
Client</b> </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>It
is the client who communicates with <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>nessusd</span></code>. This program has its own
graphical front end for administrative purposes. It's not just for UNIX but for
Windows too. Also one of its tasks is report generation at the end of the
exploration, showing the vulnerabilities found and their possible solutions. To
install it we have to type: </p>

<pre># apt-get install nessus</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><i>Nessus</i>
uses a couple of keys stored in the <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>.nessus.keys</span></code> directory located in
user's HOME. They are used to communicate with <code><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>nessusd</span></code>. </p>

<h2 style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=4></a>Security Administration</h2>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>I
do not want to repeat the HOWTO and manuals information so I will focus on
specific points and situations not considered frequently, the use of limits and
files attributes. </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=5></a><b>Permissions and Attributes</b> </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
Linux permissions and attributes system allows us to restrict file access to
non authorized users. The basic permissions are read (r), writ (w) and execute
(x). </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>To
visualize a directory permission structure we type <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>ls -l</span></code> </p>

<pre>total 44</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 May 27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2000 backups</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 Jul 17 14:36 cache</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>7 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 Jul 17 09:30 lib</pre><pre>drwxrwsr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>staff<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 May 27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2000 local</pre><pre>drwxrwxrwt<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 May 27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2000 lock</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>5 root <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 Jul 17 14:35 log</pre><pre>drwxrwsr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>mail<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 Jun 13<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2001 mail</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>3 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 Jul 17 14:36 run</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>3 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 Jul 17 14:34 spool</pre><pre>drwxr-xr-x<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>5 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>4096 Jul 17 14:35 state</pre><pre>drwxrwxrwt<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4096 May 27<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>2000 tmp</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
permission column has 10 characters divided in 4 groups: </p>

<pre>- rw- rw- r--</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
first part indicates the file type: </p>

<pre>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>common file.</pre><pre>d<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>directory.</pre><pre>l<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>symbolic link.</pre><pre>s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>socket.</pre>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
other characters indicate if the owner, the owner group and all others have
permission to read, write or execute the file. The <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>chmod</span></code> command
is used to change permission with - + = operators to remove, add or to assign
permissions. For example: </p>

<pre>$ chmod +x foo</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>Assigns
to foo execution attributes. To remove execution permission to the group
members we type: </p>

<pre>$ chmod g-r foo</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>Another
way to change the permission schema is by the octal system where each number
represents a place-dependant permission for owner, group or all others. </p>

<pre>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>no permission</pre><pre>1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>execution</pre><pre>2<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>writing</pre><pre>3<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>writing and execution</pre><pre>4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reading</pre><pre>5<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reading and execution</pre><pre>6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reading and writing</pre><pre>7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reading, writing and execution</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>For
example, if we type: </p>

<pre>$ chmod 751 foo</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>We
assign read, write and execute permission to the file owner (7), the group can
read it and to execute it (5) and can be executed by everybody else (1). </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>We
can also modify file attributes with chattr and list them with <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>lsattr</span></code>, this
allows us to increase file and directory security. Attributes can be assigned
in this way: </p>

<pre>A<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not update the atime file attribute allowing to limit the input and output to disk.</pre><pre>a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Open the file only in update mode.</pre><pre>c<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>File compressed automatically.</pre><pre>d<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Marks file so dump program will not touch it</pre><pre>i<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>File can not be erased, renamed, modified or linked.</pre><pre>s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Fills the erased file blocks with zeroes.</pre><pre>S<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Changes in file will be immediately recorded.</pre><pre>u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>File content will be saved when erasing the file.</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>An
example to assign &quot;immutability&quot;, so the file can not be modified,
erased, linked or renamed would be: </p>

<pre>lsattr foo.txt</pre><pre>-------- foo</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>chattr +i foo.txt</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>lsattr foo.txt</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>----i--- foo.txt</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=6></a><b>Sticky bit</b> </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>If
any user has writing permission on a certain directory, he will be able to
erase any file contained in that directory although he is neither the owner nor
has privileges. To assign permissions to a directory so that no user can erase
another user's files we assign the sticky bit with chmod: </p>

<pre>ls -ld temp</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>chmod +t temp</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>ls -ld temp</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=7></a><b>Umask</b> </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>When
we create files or directories they have predetermined permissions, commonly 664
for files and 775 for directory This is done by the umask value. To assign more
restrictive permissions as 666 for files and 777 for directory, it is advisable
to establish the umask value at 077 inside each user's profile in <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>~/.bash_profile</span></code>
</p>

<pre># /etc/profile: system-wide .profile file for the Bourne shell (sh(1))</pre><pre># and Bourne compatible shells (bash(1), ksh(1), ash(1), ...).</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>PATH=&quot;/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games&quot;</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>if [ &quot;$BASH&quot; ]; then</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '</pre><pre>else</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if [ &quot;`id -u`&quot; -eq 0 ]; then</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>PS1='# '</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>else</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>PS1='$ '</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>fi</pre><pre>fi</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>export PATH PS1</pre><pre>umask 022</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=8></a><b>Quotas and Limits</b> </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>Since
Linux is a multi-user operating system, it is possible that several users could
be filling the hard disk or wasting the disk's resources, so a quota disk can
be a good choice. To make this, it is enough to modify the <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>/etc/fstab</span></code>
file adding usrquota, then create two files for the partition: <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>quota.user</span></code> and
<code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>quota.grup</span></code>:
</p>

<pre>touch /home/quota.user</pre><pre>touch /home/quota.group</pre><pre>chmod 660 /home/quota.user</pre><pre>chmod 660 /home/quota.group</pre>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>Then
restart the system and the assigned quota can be modified with edquota. It is
also possible to limit users, i.e. to limit CPU's time usage, the number of
open files, data segment size, etc. For this we use the <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>ulimit</span></code> command,
the commands must be placed in <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New"'>/etc/profile</span></code> and every time a user obtains a shell
those commands are executed. The options are: </p>

<pre>-a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Show current limits</pre><pre>-c<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum core file size</pre><pre>-d<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum process data segment size</pre><pre>-f<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum files created by shell size</pre><pre>-m<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum locked memory size</pre><pre>-s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum stack size</pre><pre>-t<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum CPU time in seconds</pre><pre>-p<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Pipe size</pre><pre>-n<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum opened files number</pre><pre>-u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum process number</pre><pre>-v<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Maximum virtual memory size</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>core file size (blocks)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0</pre><pre>data seg size (kbytes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>unlimited</pre><pre>file size (blocks)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>unlimited</pre><pre>max locked memory (kbytes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>unlimited</pre><pre>max memory size (kbytes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>unlimited</pre><pre>open files<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>1024</pre><pre>pipe size (512 bytes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>8</pre><pre>stack size (kbytes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>8192</pre><pre>cpu time (seconds)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>unlimited</pre><pre>max user processes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>256</pre><pre>virtual memory (kbytes)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>unlimited</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=9></a><b>User Activities</b> </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
user's command record is stored in the <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>~/.bash_history</span></code> file. The user could
consult it with the <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>history</span></code>
command, using the direction keys (up and down). However there are several ways
to avoid this, for example <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Courier New"'>history-c</span></code> command erases the current record. Replacing
the contents of the environment variable <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>HISTFILE</span></code> to null is another way. Yet
another way is to kill the session with <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>kill -9 or kill -9 0</span></code>. </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>In
order to record users behavior there is a tool called <i>snoopy</i> which logs
this activity, however it could be considered a privacy issue, so if you
implement it would be wise to create policies and let users know that all their
activities are registered. It can be installed with <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>apt-get install snoopy</span></code>
At this moment the last version is <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>1.3-3</span></code>. </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>A
way to identify the processes using user's files is by the <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>fuser</span></code> command;
this is very useful in order to know what users have open files that disallow
umounting a certain file system. Another useful command to know the open files
and sockets list is <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>lsof</span></code>.
To identify what process is using a certain socket we can type for example: </p>

<pre>lsoft -i -n -P | grep 80| grep LISTEN</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><a
name=10></a><b>Logs and Services</b> </p>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
<code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>faillog</span></code>
and <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>lastlog</span></code>
files are inside <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>/var/log</span></code>
which register the last successful and failed connections, they will be
analyzed in the intruders' detection section, but they are accessible to
everybody and it is convenient to limit their access with: </p>

<pre>chmod 660 /var/log/faillog</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>And
</p>

<pre>chmod 660 /var/log/lastlog</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
<code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>lilo.conf</span></code>
file is also accessible to all. It has the Linux loader configuration and by
this is why it is advisable to limit its access with: </p>

<pre>chmod 600 /etc/lilo.conf</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>The
<code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>setuid</span></code>
is when a program makes a system call to assign itself a <code><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>UID</span></code> to
identify a process. Programs recorded with setuid can be executed by the owner
or by a process that reaches the appropriate privileges, being able to adopt
the programs owner UID. To determine what files are setuid and setgid we can
carry out a search with: </p>

<pre>$ find / -perm -4000 -print</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>When
installed, every UNIX opens many services but many of them are not necessary,
depending on the kind of server built. For example in my linux box I have the
following services: </p>

<pre>$ netstat -pn -l -A inet</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Active Internet connections (only servers)</pre><pre>Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Foreign Address<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>State<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>PID/Program name</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:22<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>200/sshd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:515<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>193/lpd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:113<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189/inetd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189/inetd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:37<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189/inetd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:13<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189/inetd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:9<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189/inetd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:1024<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>180/rpc.statd</pre><pre>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:111<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>LISTEN<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>116/portmap</pre><pre>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:9<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189/inetd</pre><pre>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:1024<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>180/rpc.statd</pre><pre>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:780<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>180/rpc.statd</pre><pre>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:111<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>116/portmap</pre><pre>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:68<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>112/dhclient-2.2.x</pre><pre>raw<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:1<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>-</pre><pre>raw<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0 0.0.0.0:6<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>0.0.0.0:*<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>-</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>This
shows information such as the protocol type, address and port as well as the
state it is in. With <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>lsof</span></code>
we can obtain more precise and summarized information </p>

<pre>$ lsof -i | grep LISTEN</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>portmap<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>116 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>73<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:sunrpc (LISTEN)</pre><pre>rpc.statd 180 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>5u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>118<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:1024 (LISTEN)</pre><pre>inetd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>4u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>126<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:discard (LISTEN)</pre><pre>inetd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>6u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>128<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:daytime (LISTEN)</pre><pre>inetd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>7u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>129<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:time (LISTEN)</pre><pre>inetd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>8u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>130<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:smtp (LISTEN)</pre><pre>inetd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>189 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>9u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>131<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:auth (LISTEN)</pre><pre>lpd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>193 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>6u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>140<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:printer (LISTEN)</pre><pre>sshd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>200 root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>3u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>IPv4<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>142<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>TCP *:ssh (LISTEN)</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>This
shows us the service, port, proprietor and protocol used. To list the demons
that have <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>inet.d</span></code>
we can revise their configuration file in <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>/etc/inetd.conf</span></code>: </p>

<pre>$ grep -v &quot;^#&quot; /etc/inetd.conf | sort -u</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>daytime<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre><pre>discard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>dgram<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre><pre>discard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre><pre>ident<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>identd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>/usr/sbin/identd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>identd</pre><pre>smtp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>mail<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>/usr/sbin/exim exim -bs</pre><pre>time<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>And
to stop and disable a service, in this case we will disable the time, we have
the command: </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>

<pre>$ update-inetd -disable time</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>and
the file <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>inetd.conf</span></code>
is modified like this: </p>

<p class=MsoNormal style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></p>

<pre>daytime<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre><pre>discard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>dgram<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>udp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre><pre>discard<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"></span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>root<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>internal</pre><pre>ident<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>identd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>/usr/sbin/identd<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>identd</pre><pre>smtp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>stream<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tcp<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>nowait<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>mail<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>/usr/sbin/exim exim -bs</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>To
restart the daemon <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>inetd</span></code>
we can use the command: </p>

<pre>$ /etc/init.d/inetd restart</pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>To
disable unnecessary services, I made the following shell script, remembering
that you can adapt it for your purposes. </p>

<pre>#!/bin/bash</pre><pre># ----------------------------------------------------------------------</pre><pre># Securing configuration files and deactivating unnecessary services</pre><pre># Jose Salvador Gonzalez Rivera jsgr@linuxpuebla.org</pre><pre># ----------------------------------------------------------------------</pre><pre>clear</pre><pre>raiz=0</pre><pre>if [ &quot;$UID&quot; -eq &quot;$raiz&quot; ]</pre><pre> then</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>echo -e &quot;Ok, Inits Shell Script...\n&quot;</pre><pre> else</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>echo -e &quot;You need to be ROOT to run this este script...\a\n&quot;</pre><pre><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>exit</pre><pre>fi</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>echo &quot;Securing Logs...&quot;</pre><pre>chmod 700 /bin/dmesg<span
style='mso-tab-count:3'> </span># Limits the kernel messages</pre><pre>chmod 600 /var/log/messages<span
style='mso-tab-count:2'> </span># Messages to the console</pre><pre>chmod 600 /var/log/lastlog<span
style='mso-tab-count:2'> </span># Register connections</pre><pre>chmod 600 /var/log/faillog<span
style='mso-tab-count:2'> </span># Register failed connections</pre><pre>chmod 600 /var/log/wtmp<span
style='mso-tab-count:3'> </span># Data Input and Output (last)</pre><pre>chmod 600 /var/run/utmp<span
style='mso-tab-count:3'> </span># Logged user data</pre><pre><span
style='mso-tab-count:5'> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span># commands who,w,users,finger</pre><pre>echo &quot;Securing configurations...&quot;</pre><pre>chmod 600 /etc/lilo.conf<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span># Configuration and password for LiLo</pre><pre>chmod 600 /etc/syslog.conf<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span># Syslog configuration</pre><pre>chmod -R 700 /etc/init.d<span
style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span># Init files directory</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>echo &quot;Removing the guilty bit...&quot;</pre><pre>find / -perm -4000 -exec chmod a-s {} \;</pre><pre>find / -perm -2000 -exec chmod a-s {} \;</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>echo &quot;Removing the unnecessary services...&quot;</pre><pre>/etc/init.d/lpd stop</pre><pre>update-rc.d -f lpd remove</pre><pre>/etc/init.d/nfs-common stop</pre><pre>update-rc.d -f nfs-common remove</pre><pre>/etc/init.d/portmap stop</pre><pre>update-rc.d -f portmap remove</pre><pre>update-inetd --disable time</pre><pre>update-inetd --disable daytime</pre><pre>update-inetd --disable discard</pre><pre>update-inetd --disable echo</pre><pre>update-inetd --disable chargen</pre><pre>update-inetd --disable ident</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>echo &quot;Restarting super daemon...\n&quot;</pre><pre>/etc/init.d/inetd restart</pre><pre>cd &amp;&amp; echo -e &quot;Ok, Finishing the Shell Script...\n&quot;</pre><pre><![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><o:p></o:p></pre>

<p style='tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt'>Well,
for all this I use the <code><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>man</span></code>
pages of the programs, I hope this can help people get interested a little bit
more in Linux security, and specifically with Debian. <o:p></o:p></p>












<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
Currently I'm an active member of the Puebla Linux User Group (GULP) in
M&eacute;xico. I frequently participate in events to promove the use of Free
Software and Linux mainly. I accept any questions, comments or suggestions by
email.
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Jose Salvador Gonzalez Rivera.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Collaborative Community Linux Extranet for Improved Health</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/lodato.html">Janine M Lodato</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->

<blockquote>
Abstract: A proposal to architect and offer Linux based low cost and reliable 
collaborative systems to be used by the virtual support communities for all 
applications in support of the community especially in the arenas of distance 
learning and telemedicine.
</blockquote>

What is needed by the population of these communities including
<UL>
<LI>users: members of the community
<LI>professionals in support of the community
<LI>moderators, experts in specific applications
<LI>government
<LI>health care
<LI>teachers, parents, kids
<LI>aged
<LI>ailing
<LI>disabled
</UL>

is a unified, simple, reliable, affordable telecom platform system, 
preferably voice-activated, that lets the user check for caller ID, receive 
short messages, check for incoming and outgoing E-mail, access address books 
for both telephone numbers, URLs and e-mail addresses, and place and end 
telephone calls. All this without using the maddening complexity of Windows.
<P>
These segments of the population are in deep need for telemedicine and 
distance learning applications which could be delivered on Linux based low 
cost, rugged and simple platforms.
<P>
These segments of the population are in deep need for telemedicine and 
Linux based platforms in which all systems: client desktops, client 
laptops, client tablets, embedded sensors, communication nodes, blade 
servers, all run on Linux. One good example is the Yellow Dog Linux software 
from www.terrasoftwaresolutions.com. 
<P>
The end users of the collaborative community extranet systems appreciate the 
higher grade reliability of the hardware on which Yellow Dog Linux runs since 
it is more rugged and reliable than the PC hardware: Yellow Dog Linux runs on 
the same chips Apple OS X runs on: Power G4, iMAC and variations of it. In 
fact any problems with the hardware or with the OS running on it would defeat 
the collaborative community since the users including the professionals and 
the people in need of health services are not that computer-wise so have no 
tolerance for any glitches. 
<P>
Of course we do not need to be purists and we should also use AMD or Intel 
chip based PCs and even servers as long as they run under Linux such as 
Lindows. The competition between AMD and Intel is providing better and more 
cost effective processor chips including hyper-threading which allows 
multitasking: running multiple applications at the same time.
<P>
Many other Linux hardware and software sources are also worthwhile to 
mention:
<UL>
<LI>to lower the cost of the server farm for the community www.eracks.com 
provides blade servers
<LI>to make available any application software www.linuxiso.com offers 
downloadable Linux software distribution
<LI>to learn about Linux www.freshmeat.com provides Linux tutorials
<LI>some telemed applications such as sensors and actuators may  need custom 
hardware from www.penguincomputing.com 
<LI>certain legacy application interfaces may need will need switching between
Linux and Windows using the  www.pogolinux.com offerings 
</UL>
     
One of the most important features for the collaborative community system 
will be the server based voice recognition capability. Everything that is now 
done by typing and text, will be more quickly and easily performed with voice 
recognition.  That is, a voice will identify a caller, read short messages 
aloud, provide e-mail services in both text-to-voice reading of the incoming 
e-mail and voice-to-text for outgoing E-mail, voice access of address books, 
and voice-activated placing and closing out phone calls, search the web, 
collaborate with the mentor, etc.   
<P>
Once the users are able to answer, make and end a call or a web session 
using just their voices, working with the Linux collaborative system will be 
a breeze and seniors will not feel isolated and lonely.  What a boon to 
society voice-activated unified services will be including telephony and web 
services.  
<P>
Whether or not users are at all computer-savvy, e-mail will also be 
extensively applied in the Linux based collaborative community support system 
machine.  It is, after all, a form of communication as is the telephone.  
Of great value to the user would be e-mail and its corresponding address 
book.  As e-mail comes in, messages could be read by way of a text-to-voice 
method.  Also of great value would be a telephone system with its 
corresponding address book and numbers.  Short messaging could be read 
through text-to-voice technology and short messages can be left using 
voice-to-text methodology.
<P>
With the attractive price of a Linux-based unified communication device 
encompassing all the applications mentioned above, users can be connected and 
productive without the need for an expensive Windows system. Anything that 
allows independence for the user is bound to be helpful to every aspect of 
society.
<P>
Of course the professionals in support of the community will also benefit 
from the simplicity of the user interface of the Linux-based client machine: 
desktop or laptop or later even a tablet. Simpler interface makes it quicker 
to use the system as well as voice recognition will make it more convenient 
resulting in higher precision records and faster execution of sessions.
<P>
Even the able-bodied eyes-busy, hands-busy professionals can use it to 
improve their productivity. This low cost virtual community platforms and 
associated Web connectivity could be very useful in many government and 
commercial employment arenas as well reaching out to the individuals who are 
in need of upgrading in skills. 
<P>
Of course there is still work to be done. Applications for the community 
system must be developed or perfected to allow collaboration between the 
health service professionals or social worker professionals and the many 
people in need. Web connected AT oriented software components running on 
Linux client machines connected to Linux servers have to be created such as...
<UL>
<LI>simple and application specific user interface,
<LI>voice based interaction via computer/telephone,
<LI>always on and always available systems,
<LI>a collaborative virtual community systems,
<LI>life function sensors: blood pressure, respiration, retina, etc.
</UL>
In fact voice recognition offers great promise for the future. However, it 
isn't perfect and needs to be improved. One improvement could use lip reading 
to bolster its accuracy. Still another is multi-tonal voice input. Another is 
directional microphones. Every generation of voice recognition software will 
improve as the hardware for Linux gets bigger and stronger. 
<P>
Using such telephone simple systems the professionals can monitor, mentor and 
moderate and even medicate the members of the collaborative community. 
<P>
For a good example: 
<P>
Dealing with students who have learning disabilities, it is 
important to get their attention, to bolster their behavior 
and finally to improve their cognitive productivity.  With 
assistive technology people can prevent further destruction 
of their faculties, improve their quality of life and can even be 
rehabilitated somewhat.  Just the idea of being productive 
adds to a person's self-esteem enormously. 
<P>
Another very important example is the telemedicine capability which can be 
used in preventative fashion to detect some of the early and silent 
conditions of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular conditions.


<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<!-- P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
</em>
<br CLEAR="all" -->
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Janine M Lodato.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Perl One-Liner of the Month: April is the Cruelest Month</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/okopnik.html">Ben Okopnik</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->




<p>- "You know, Frink," said Woomert, lying back on a sun-lit <i>chaise longue</i>, 
"April isn't at all a bad time of year." He took a sip of his orange juice, 
which had been squeezed from late-season Florida Pineapple oranges just a
few moments before and sighed in satisfaction. "Some people complain about
the changeable weather and the need to fill out tax forms, but..." </p>
<p>- "It's not that," Frink grumbled. Clearly, he was on the side of the complainers,
even if the plate of steaming-hot wildflower honey cakes in front of him
looked perfect and smelled heavenly; his class assignment was due the next morning,
and he was feeling irritable. "It's all these stupid jokes and pranks people
play on you. I always feel like I'm on pins and needles and have to watch
out for everybody. April, hah! Can't wait till it passes." </p>
<p>Woomert raised his eyebrows for a moment but gave no answer. Reaching over
to a nearby stand, he picked up his handheld PC and tapped out a few commands. 
</p>
<p>- "Say, I've been thinking about a new JAPH <a href="#1">[1]</a> for myself,
and have just cranked this one out. What do you think of it?" </p>
<p>He pointed his Linux-loaded Compaq <a
 href="http://www.ipaqlinux.com/">iPAQ</a> at Frink's desktop and activated
the infrared transmitter.  The code popped up in a desktop window almost
immediately. </p>
<p> </p>
<pre>
<hr width="100%">{$/=q**}map{print+chr(y*(*(**$]*2+y*)*)*)}split/\./=&gt;&lt;DATA&gt; 
                            __END__
  J -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- P
  u -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  (((((())))).((((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- e
  s -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  ((((((()).((((((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- r
  t -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  ((((()))).((((((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- l
  a -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  (((())))).((((((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- h
  n -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  (((()))))))).(((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- a
  o -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  )).(((((((.(((((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- c
  t -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  (((((().((((((((   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- k
  h -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  ((().(((((((((()   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- e
  e -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-  ))))))).((())).(   -*-*-*-*-*-*-*- r
  r -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- ,<hr width="100%">
</pre>
<b>(Author's note: try running the above script (you can download it as a 
<a href="misc/okopnik/japh.pl.txt">text file</a>) for a clue to what's going on.)
</b>

<P>
- "It's... umm... interesting, Woomert." Frink stared at the code, completely 
lost after the first few characters. "Sorry, I can't see the point of those 
things... anyway, they're hard as heck to create. I've tried lots of times, 
and, well, </p>
<p><pre>print "Just a Perl Hacker,"</pre></p>
<p>seems more than reasonable." </p>
<p>He hesitated with his hands on the keyboard. "Rats. I'm not getting anywhere
with this assignment. They've got us learning a bunch of commands needed
for networking; I've got everything done except the last problem, and I
just don't feel like looking any more of this stuff up. Woomert, what's a
``command which prints the fully-qualified hostname of your machine''? I
can't think of any, and besides, I think the professor is pulling my leg
with this one.  Just the hostname, that's pretty easy: it's in my command
prompt!  I'm not sure about this ``fully-qualified'' stuff, though..." </p>
<p>- "Easy enough." Woomert rolled over on his side, apparently about to fall
asleep in the warm spring sunshine. "It might take a little less typing in
Perl, though. Here's a simple little one-liner for you to try out:" 
<a href="#2">[2]</a></p>
<pre>
<hr width="100%">perl -we'use IO::Handle; $handleHandle = IO::Handle -&gt; new(); 
@arrProprietaryCorporateInformation=split//,",3782%1)"; for $charConfidentialContent 
(@arrProprietaryCorporateInformation){ for ( 0 .. ord( $charConfidentialContent 
) ){ $handleHandle-&gt;format_lines_per_page($_++); } push @arrIntermediateResults, 
chr $handleHandle-&gt;format_lines_per_page() + $=; } $strPreReleaseTemporaryBuffer 
= join "", @arrIntermediateResults; substr( $strPreReleaseTemporaryBuffer, 
8 ) = "\040\055\055\146\161\144\156"; system "$strPreReleaseTemporaryBuffer";'<hr width="100%"> 
</pre>
"Of course, you could make it simpler yet:" <a href="#2">[2]</a></p>
<pre>
<hr width="100%">perl -we'use charnames ":full"; my $hostname_dash_f=sprintf
"\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER H}" . "\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER O}" .
"\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER S}" . "\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER T}" .
"\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER N}" . "\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A}" .
"\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER M}" . "\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER E}" .
" -\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}"; $result_of_hostname_dash_f=`$hostname_dash_f`;
printf "%-.4509834751234239980453413434665809875523143s\n",
$result_of_hostname_dash_f;'<hr width="100%"> 
</pre>
<p>Frink made a whimpering sound of dismay, then suddenly brightened up. </p>
<p>- "Oh - I can probably find it if I just type 'apropos hostname'!... 
OK, there it is - looks like the command is called "hostname". Huh. 'man hostname'
says that the '-f' or the '--fqdn' options can be used
to print the fully qualified hostname... Let's see:" </p>
<pre>frink@Aphrodite:~$ hostname -f
Aphrodite.Olympus </pre>
<p>He typed in and saved the results with obvious satisfaction.<br>
</p>
<p>"All done! Well, that was easy. Woomert, I'm surprised that you couldn't
figure it out." </p>
<p>- "Mmm, yes. Well done, Frink; that was quite clever. Using the standard 
Unix toolkit; who would have thought?... Now that you're finished with your
homework, take a look at your Perl excercises - now, don't look that way!
An hour of good work, and you'll be all done. Before you do that, though,
would you mind getting me another glass of this orange juice? It's quite
good; you might want to try some yourself." </p>
<p>As Frink walked out to the kitchen, Woomert sprang out of his chair and
fired off a rapid volley on the desktop's keyboard: </p>
<pre>x=`echo -e "\240"`;mkdir $x;echo "hostname -f"&gt;$x/perl;chmod +x $x/perl;export PATH=$x:$PATH;clear </pre>
<p>Scant moments later he was again at rest in the sunshine, the very picture
of indolence and clearly too relaxed to have moved in the last hour. Frink,
returning with the juice, passed him a glass. </p>
<p>- "Actually, Woomert, I'd have expected you to be one of those people who
do play pranks on others, at least today. All you've done, though, is lounge
around. I've got to say that I'm a little surprised." </p>
<p>Woomert stretched in a leisurely manner, then nodded in agreement and got
up. Grabbing a light jacket, he walked to the door and opened it. </p>
<p>- "There's something in what you say. I suppose I'll walk over to my friend
Nano Tek's house and see what kind of trouble I can get into. Oh, one last
thing..." </p>
<p>Frink looked up from his keyboard, where he was just about to type his 
first Perl excercise. </p>
<p>"If you don't mind, try something for me. I found that 'hostname' question 
interesting. Try this:" </p>
<pre>perl -we'fqdn' </pre>
<p>Frink shrugged, clearly impatient to get on with his excercises and get
done. </p>
<p>- "All right... Huh. That did it. Why didn't you just tell me that before? 
Is that an internal Perl function?... Say, it seems to have become stuck. 
No matter what I do, it still prints the same thing. What's happening here, 
Woomert?... Woomert?..." </p>
<p>The sound of the street door closing was his only answer. </p>
<p>April was in full swing. <br>
  </p>
<p> </p>
<hr width="100%"><a name="1"></a>[1] A JAPH is yet another way of playing 
with Perl, one made famous by <a
 href="http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/">Randal Schwartz</a>. The idea is
to write some Perl code (preferably illustrating some point or mechanism
- Randal often used JAPHs to underscore what he was explaining in a given
post) to be used as an email signature. When written out to a file with a
Perl shebang and executed (or sometimes run as a command-line script), the
code should output the string "Just a Perl hacker,". Some people leave off
the final comma. <br>
<p><a name="2"></a>[2] Both of these ludicrous monstrosities are, of
course, actual working code. :)
</p>








<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<P> Ben is a Contributing Editor for Linux Gazette and a member of
The Answer Gang.

<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<IMG ALT="picture" SRC="../../gx/2002/tagbio/ben-okopnik.jpg" WIDTH="199"
   HEIGHT="200" ALIGN="left"  HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10">
<em>
Ben was born in Moscow, Russia in 1962. He became interested in
electricity at age six--promptly demonstrating it by sticking a fork into
a socket and starting a fire--and has been falling down technological mineshafts
ever since. He has been working with computers since the Elder Days, when
they had to be built by soldering parts onto printed circuit boards and
programs had to fit into 4k of memory.  He would gladly pay good money to any
psychologist who can cure him of the resulting nightmares.

<p>Ben's subsequent experiences include creating software in nearly a dozen
languages, network and database maintenance during the approach of a hurricane,
and writing articles for publications ranging from sailing magazines to
technological journals. Having recently completed a seven-year
Atlantic/Caribbean cruise under sail, he is currently docked in Baltimore, MD,
where he works as a technical instructor for Sun Microsystems.

<p>Ben has been working with Linux since 1997, and credits it with his complete
loss of interest in waging nuclear warfare on parts of the Pacific Northwest.
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Ben Okopnik.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">The Foolish Things We Do with Our Computers</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/orr.html">Mike ("Iron") Orr</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->

<H2>Out With It, Old Beast!</H2>

By <A HREF="mailto:lunatech3007@yahoo.com">Raj Shekhar</A>

<p>
While assembling my PC I used an unbranded CD- drive
to save some money. After three years of use, misuse
and mostly abuse, the CD- drive has started showing
signs that it has lived well beyond its estimated life
time.

<p>
We got first signs of its age when it refused to
eject. After much exercise with its eject button I was
able to get the CD out. However the drive did not take
this treatment kindly and next time whenever I pushed
the eject button, the drive would come out a little
and then retract back again. To use it, my brother and
I designed an ingenious brute fore algorithm. One of
us would push the button and the other one would grab
hold of the CD drive as soon as a bit of it came out
and then pull it out the rest of the way.

<p>
I am collecting money to buy a new CD drive. Moral of
the story: " Do not push anything beyond its age
limit"

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!--*********************** -->

<H2>Cleaning your CD-ROMs the low tech way</h2>

By <A HREF="mailto:lunatech3007@yahoo.com">Thomas Adam</A>, 
		the <em>LG</em> Weekend Mechanic

<blockquote><em>In a thread seen on the Answer Gang:</em>
	<br><font color="navy">Yes -- 
	you could try cleaning the lens. You can by
	a CD-cleaning pack for about 5 (if you're in the UK).
	</font>
	</blockquote>

<blockquote> [Neil Youngman]
 You could try polishing the CDs as well. I've solved
 similar problems with 
 Pledge (furniture polish) and a duster.
<br>&nbsp;
<br>At your own risk of course.
</blockquote>

<p>
I've heard that putting Cd's in the freezer (-18C)
actually helps too!! No, I'm not joking 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":-)"
                height="24" width="20" align="middle"> 
</P>

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!--*********************** -->

<h2>If it doesn't fit... make it fit!</h2>
By <a href="mailto:publisher@thegreenbayweb.com">Dale A. Raby</a>

<P>
Some time ago, I bought a Gateway 2000 equipped with a P5-90 processor for the princely sum of $35.00.  Not surprisingly, it didn't work.  I purchased a new i430VX motherboard and upgraded the CPU to a blazing fast 166 MHz Pentium.  I scrounged enough memory to make the
beastie run... I believe it has 82 meg now.

<P>
Scrounging a CD ROM drive from another machine, a hard disk drive, floppy drive, modem and video card from other machines, I installed Mandrake Linux 7.0, hooked up a printer, a parallel port Iomega Zip 250 drive and went to work publishing my fledgling webzine.  

<P>
Now, I needed my Zip drive for backups.  Even Linux... at least of that era... wasn't foolproof.  However, as careful as I tried to be, I kept knocking the Zip drive off of the top of the tower where I was keeping
it.  Zip drives do not take well to being dropped.  I tried mounting it on its side on the desk top, but this didn't work either... the third time I spilled iced-tea on it, I looked for another solution.

<P>
There was a spare bay for a drive to be mounted, but the parallel port model wasn't set up for that.  It would fit, and could sit on top of the CD ROM drive.  The problem was the interface cables.  There had to be two of them from the drive; one to the printer, and one to the computer's parallel port, both of them on the outside of the case.  I tried every possible orifice to squeeze the ends of the cables to the outside world... but without success.  They were just too big to fit through any of the usual places where one might connect an internally mounted peripheral.

<P>
I noticed a square metal plate on the back of the case secured by four screws.  Upon removing the plate, I found a grate cut into the metal.  I suppose it was for mounting an extra fan... like that would ever become necessary in those days!  The opening would be big enough except for the grate.  

<P>
No problem.  Coming from the Get a Bigger Hammer school of computer repair, I had just the tool.  

<P>
I went out into the garage, grabbed a heavy duty extension cord and my Milwaukee Sawzall.  For those not familiar, with it, this tool is ordinarily used
to remove unwanted walls from buildings, cut openings into roofs, or saw through automobile frames and the like.  It weighs in around twenty pounds and exudes masculinity from every angle.  OK, so it was
overkill.  

<P>
I put a metal cutting blade in it and made short work of the sheet metal grate.  After vacuuming up all the metal filings and larger chunks of metal that had fallen into the machine, I ran my two interface cables and the power cord into the case and secured them to the Zip drive, looped one back and plugged it into the parallel port, ran the other to the printer, and I was off.

<P>
That machine still works... now with a 20 GB hard disk using a drive controller to bypass the BIOS limitations.  It runs Mandrake Linux 8.0 these days, but has about reached the zenith of its upgradability.  I am using it now as a database computer to catalog the books, DVDs and other collections in my house.  It has served faithfully for some five years now.  

<P>
The Zip drive?  Still in its bay inside the machine with the cables running through the jagged hole in the back of the case.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!--*********************** -->

<h2>Sticky Mouse</h2>

By <a href="mailto:peter.seed@ccur.com">Peter Seed</a>

<p>
I once found a colleague with his mouse on its back, ball compartment open,
poking a tube of superglue into the inside. I naturally asked him what he
was doing.

<P>
"I'm gluing this washer/o-ring thingy back onto the roller - it has slipped
and my mouse only works intermittently".

<P>
I'd never seen such a washer/o-ring thingy, but sure enough, on each of the
rollers, at the point where the ball contacted them was a shiny black ring,
about a millimetre thick and two and a half wide, looking for all the world
like a tiny grommet or o-ring.
He was trying to glue the crud he'd picked up off his desk, polished to a
high sheen by constant movement.

<HR NOSHADE WIDTH="80%"> <!--*********************** -->

<H2>Washing the CPU, and some other dumb things...</h2>

By <a href="milan@e-html.eu.org">Mixitron M. Urosevic</a>

<P>
Here's a 
wicked story about the AMD (en)Duron and its psychotic owner 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
                height="24" width="20" align="middle">.

<P>
Some days ago, I oiled my system fans and, since 'I was there', I decided to 
change the old silver grease on the cpu. I made a rather lame cleaning swoop 
over the cpu removing most of the grease from the chip and spread it over all 
those L-thingies on the cpu-board. Brilliant. I tried to clean the 
grease with alcohol, without any success. My cpu was still internally 
shortcircuited.

<P>
Well, so be it. I took the cpu out and headed for the bathroom. I was just 
about to wet the detergent in order to rub the cpu with it when I remembered 
how silver jewelry is cleaned - with toothpaste. Allright! I rubbed the cpu 
wit the toothpaste (all the time paying attention not to damage the warranty 
sticker that was on the bottom of the cpu 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";]"
                height="24" width="20" align="middle">) 
and slowly washed it with lukewarm water. Perfect.

<P>
Then I saw that a part of the cpu, upper left corner of it (THE cpu - that 
little chip) was missing. It had been broken - probably when I placed the 
cooler on its place the last time (it did take more brute force than usual... 
it involved a screwdriver and a long scratch over the mainboard made by it 
when my hand slipped - oh yeah, the motherboard survived that - hail Abit :) 
) - and now, it had fallen off.

<P>
Facing the unevitable, i dried the cpu with a dry towel (I *broke* it, what 
else could possibly happen to it?) and put it back to its place. The power 
goes on, the system goes up. All is well and operating. I'd love to see Intel 
surviving that 
<IMG SRC="../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";]"
                height="24" width="20" align="middle">) 

<P>
To end the story, let's just say that the cpu is both overclocked and 
undervoltaged. Mainboard is also o-clocked, but that did require some extra 
decivolts...

<P><em>OneRing - a simple frontend for Sauron</em>


<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<IMG ALT="picture" SRC="../../gx/2002/tagbio/iron.jpg" WIDTH="161" HEIGHT="200"
   ALIGN="left"  HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10">
<em>
Mike is the Editor of <I>Linux Gazette</I>.  You can read what he has
to say on the Back Page of each issue.  He has been a Linux enthusiast
since 1991 and a Debian user since 1995.  He is SSC's web technical
coordinator, which means he gets to write a lot of Python scripts.
Non-computer interests include Ska and Oi! music and the international
language Esperanto.  The nickname Iron was given to him in college--short for
Iron Orr, hahaha.
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Mike ("Iron") Orr.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Exploring Message Queues, part 1</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/raghu.html">Raghu J Menon</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->









<p>Message queues are one of the three IPC (Inter Process Communication) 
facilities provided by the UNIX operating system apart from semaphores and 
shared memory. Message queues appeared in an early release of UNIX system V 
release III as a means of passing messages between processes in an asynchronous 
way.</p>
<p>Let us look at what a message queue actually means. In order for two or more 
processes to communicate with each other, one of them places a message in the 
message queue through some message passing module of the operating system. This 
message placed can be read by some other process. However the access to the 
message by the process is preceded by a clause&nbsp; that the queue and the 
process share a common key.</p>

<H2>A short note on the ipcs command</H2>
<p>The ipcs command displays the currently resident ipcs in the 
operating system. Try typing this command at the prompt, you will obtain an 
output similar to this</p>
<p>&nbsp; ------ Shared Memory Segments --------<br>
key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status <br>
<br>
------ Semaphore Arrays --------<br>
key semid owner perms nsems status <br>
<br>
------ Message Queues --------<br>
key msqid owner perms used-bytes messages <br>
<br>
Our interest is in the last one. A short&nbsp; description of each of the fields 
will come in handy as we proceed further,</p>
<ul>
  <li>key-It is the name that we give to the queue when we create it 
using the msgget() function. </li>
  <li>msqid-It is the value returned by the msgget() function call. 
The operating system recognizes the queue by this name. Any manipulations on the 
queue are based on its id. </li>
  <li>owner-It specifies the creator of the queue.</li>
  <li>perms-The octal value indicated in this field are the 
permissions for various users on the queue. You could compare it with permissions 
granted on a file.</li>
  <li>used-bytes-It indicates the number of bytes of the queue 
currently in use.</li>
  <li>messages-This field indicates the number of messages in the 
queue.</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp; </p>

<H2>Creating a Message Queue</H2>
<p>All the IPCs are created using some ipcget() function. Message queues are 
created using the msgget() function. It takes&nbsp; 2 parameters, the key which 
signifies the name given to the queue and a flag variable. The flag variable can 
be either IPC_CREAT or IPC_EXCL. The first of these creates a queue if one does 
not already exist else it simply ignores the parameter. The second forces an 
error message to be flashed onto the screen declaring that a queue by that name 
exists and cloning is unethical in this part of the world. What does the 
function return? Well i suppose you guessed it, it returns the message queue id 
(similar to a file descriptor). 
Now go through the code below and try it on your computer: <a href="misc/raghu/mesg1.c.txt">mesg1.c.</a>  The code 
creates a queue by name 10(This is passed as the first parameter). The key_t data type is nothing but int, do not be confused by it. Now how do you 
ascertain that a queue has indeed been created. Try the following command at 
your prompt i.e.&nbsp; ipcs . This command provides you with data pertaining to 
the IPCs that are living in your system at present. Scan the message queue 
section, you see an entry which has a value of 10(in hex) under the key field 
and a value of 0(usually) under the id field. This entry corresponds to the 
queue that we created above. If you have any doubts regarding that try the 
command before running the program, and see for yourself the difference in the 
output generated.</p>
<p>------ Shared Memory Segments --------<br>
key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status <br>
<br>
------ Semaphore Arrays --------<br>
key semid owner perms nsems status <br>
<br>
------ Message Queues --------<br>
key&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
msqid&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; owner&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; perms&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
used-bytes messages <br>
0x0000000a&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 0&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
root&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 666&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
0&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
0 <br>
<br>
Okay here is an exercise for you, try replacing the flag 
variable with&nbsp; IPC_CREAT | IPC_EXCL, recompile and run the code. The result 
is obvious since a queue by that name already exists we will encounter an error 
message. Another point to be considered is the value returned by the msgget() 
function incase a queue cannot be created, as is the case when a queue by the id 
already exists and we use the IPC_EXCL flag in the call to msgget(). The return&nbsp; 
value in such a case is a negative value. If we want the queue with the id to be 
created we need to remove the one already present with the same id, well just 
type the following at the command prompt ipcrm msg &lt;id-number&gt;.
 </p>

<H2>Queue Permissions</H2>
<p>A queue as created above is more of a church bell that can be rung by anyone. 
What i actually&nbsp; mean is that just as files have permission fields that 
restrict their access and modification by users of the operating system, so do 
queues. To set the permission fields&nbsp; for a message queue uses the flag 
parameter in the msgget() function along with IPC_CREAT and IPC_EXCL. To specify 
the permissions we need to OR IPC_CREAT with the value in octal that signifies 
the permission. Try out the code below: <a href="misc/raghu/mesg.c.txt">mesg.c</a>  There is no difference from the previous 
one except that the second field in the msgget() function has the value 0644 
ORed with it. This queue is created with read-write mode for the owner and read 
only mode for everyone else. Thus we have a queue that is available for every 
user of the system but only granting read permission. A point to be noted in this context is 
that it is meaningless to have execute permission granted as a queue cannot be 
executed only a code can be executed). A read-write permission to all would mean 
to use the value 0666 instead of the one specified above.&nbsp;  </p>

<H2>Where is the queue information stored?</H2>
<p>For every queue that we create, the information is stored in 
the following structure.</p>
<p>The structure has been defined in the file bits/msg.h. For the 
purpose of file inclusion in our programs though we use the file sys/msg.h</p>

<PRE>
/* Structure of record for one message inside the kernel.
The type `struct msg' is opaque. __time_t is of type long int. All the data 
types are defined in types.h header file*/
struct msqid_ds
{
struct ipc_perm msg_perm; /* structure describing operation permission */
__time_t msg_stime; /* time of last msgsnd (see below ) command */
unsigned long int __unused1;
__time_t msg_rtime; /* time of last msgrcv (see below) command */
unsigned long int __unused2;
__time_t msg_ctime; /* time of last change */
unsigned long int __unused3;
unsigned long int __msg_cbytes; /* current number of bytes on queue */
msgqnum_t msg_qnum; /* number of messages currently on queue */
msglen_t msg_qbytes; /* max number of bytes allowed on queue */
__pid_t msg_lspid; /* pid of last msgsnd() */
__pid_t msg_lrpid; /* pid of last msgrcv() */
unsigned long int __unused4;
unsigned long int __unused5;
};
</PRE>

<p>The first element of the structure is another structure which 
has the following declaration in bits/ipc.h,for inclusion purpose we use the 
file sys/ipc.h.

<PRE>
/* Data structure used to pass permission information to IPC operations. */
struct ipc_perm
{
__key_t __key; /* Key. */
__uid_t uid; /* Owner's user ID. */
__gid_t gid; /* Owner's group ID. */
__uid_t cuid; /* Creator's user ID. */
__gid_t cgid; /* Creator's group ID. */
unsigned short int mode; /* Read/write permission. */
unsigned short int __pad1;
unsigned short int __seq; /* Sequence number. */
unsigned short int __pad2;
unsigned long int __unused1;
unsigned long int __unused2;
};
</PRE>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>The ipc_perm is the structure dealing with user,group id's and 
permissions. </p>

<H3>Controlling The Message Queue</H3>
<p>A queue once created can be modified. This implies that the 
creator or an authorized user can change the permissions and characteristics of 
the queue. The function msgctl() is used for carrying out the modifications. The 
function has the following definition.</p>
<p>int msgctl(int msqid, int cmd, struct msqid_ds *queuestat )<br>
<br>
The first parameter msqid&nbsp; is the id of the queue that we intend to modify, 
the value must be one that already exists.</p>
<p>The cmd argument can be any one of the following.</p>
<ul>
  <li>IPC_STAT -- Place information about the status of the queue in 
the data structure pointed to by queuestat. The process must have read 
permission for this call to succeed. This option essentially fills the structure 
that we defined above with the information of the queue with id msqid.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<br>
&nbsp;</li>
  <li>IPC_SET -- Set the owner's user and group ID, the permissions, 
and the size (in number of bytes) of the message queue. A process must have the 
effective user ID of the owner, creator, or superuser for this call to succeed. 
Under this option the user is granted the freedom to modify the fields within 
the structure msqid_ds of the queue with id msqid. But the freedom is limited 
though as the only fields modifiable are msqid_ds.msg_perm.uid, 
msqid_ds.msg_perm.gid, msqid_ds.msg_perm.mode and msg_qbytes. The msqid_ds in 
our case&nbsp; the pointer queuestat , msg_perm has been 
defined as of type struct ipc_perm in the msqid_ds struct which has been 
  explained above.</li>
  <li>&nbsp;IPC_RMID -- Remove the message queue specified by the msqid argument. That needs 
no more explanation.</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
The following c code will illustrate elements within the structure:
<a href="misc/raghu/qinfo.c.txt">qinfo.c</a> The message queue id number is passed 
as a command line argument. This id is that of an already present queue, so 
select one from the output of the ipcs command. The msgctl() function fills in 
the structure pointed to by qstatus which is of type struct msqid_ds. The rest 
of the code just prints various characteristics of the queue. It will be a good 
idea to just compile and run the send.c code given at the end and then running 
the qinfo code.</p>
<p>With all the knowledge that we have gained so far it is time 
we started communicating with the queues, which is what they are used for.</p>

<H3>Sending and Receiving Messages</H3>
<p>In order to send and receive messages the UNIX based operating 
systems provide two functions msgsnd() to send messages and msgrcv() to receive 
messages. The definition of both the functions are as defined below.</p>
<pre>int msgsnd (int msqid, const void *msgp, size_t msgsz,
          int msgflg);

int msgrcv (int msqid, void *msgp, size_t msgsz, long msgtyp,
          int msgflg);</pre>

<P>
Let us first look at the msgsnd() function, it takes 
  4 parameters, the first one is the queue id of an existing queue. The 2 
  argument is the msgp or message pointer that contains the address of the of a 
  structure that holds the message and its type. This structure is described 
  below.

<PRE>
struct message{
    long mtype; //The message type.
    char mesg [MSGSZ];//The message is of length MSGSZ.
};
</PRE>

<p>The 3 parameter MSGSZ is the length of the message sent in 
bytes. The final parameter msgflg specifies the action to be taken if one or 
more of the following are true.</p>
  <ul>
    <li>The number of bytes already in the queue is equal to 
    msg_qbytes. This value is stored in the queue structure msqid_ds.</li>
    <li>The total number of messages on all queues on the system 
    has reached a maximum limit that is imposed by the system.</li>
  </ul>
<p>What are the actions to be taken in each of these cases?</p>
  <ul>
    <li>If (<tt>msgflg 
    &amp; IPC_NOWAIT</tt>) is 
    non-zero, the message will not be sent and the calling process will return 
    immediately. </li>
    <li>If (<tt>msgflg 
    &amp; IPC_NOWAIT</tt>) is 0, 
    the calling process will suspend execution until one of the following 
    occurs: 
    <ul>
      <li>The condition responsible for 
      the suspension no longer exists, in which case the message is sent. 
      </li>
      <li>The message queue identifier
      <tt>msqid</tt> 
      is removed from the system; when this occurs, <tt>
      errno</tt> 
      is set equal to <tt>EIDRM</tt> 
      and -1 is returned. </li>
      <li>The calling process receives a 
      signal that is to be caught; in this case the message is not sent and the 
      calling process resumes execution. </li>
    </ul>
    <p>Upon successful completion, the 
    following actions are taken with respect to the data structure associated 
    with <tt>msqid</tt>:
    
    <ul>
      <li><tt>msg_qnum</tt> 
      is incremented by 1 i.e. the count of number of messages in the queue&nbsp; 
      is incremented by 1.</li>
      <li><tt>msg_lspid</tt> 
      is set equal to the process ID of the calling process. The msg_lspid field 
      contains the pid of the process that last accessed the queue. </li>
      <li><tt>msg_stime</tt> 
      is set equal to the current time. The msg_stime field holds the time the 
      last message was sent to the queue.</li>
    </ul>
    </li>
  </ul>
<p>The above fields are elements of&nbsp; 
the msqid_ds structure. The msgrcv() function has an additional parameter in 
msgtype which is the received message's type as specified by the sending 
process. Only messages with matching priorities will be printed on the screen. 
Further explanation is provided in recv.c. </p>
<p>The ensuing programs will give you a perfect idea of what we 
have been talking till now. The code below presents the idea of message passing 
between 2 processes. send.c is the code that creates a message queue and puts a 
message into it. recv.c reads that message from the queue.</p>
<p><a href="misc/raghu/send.c.txt">send.c</a></p>
<p><a href="misc/raghu/recv.c.txt">recv.c</a></p>
<p>How does send.c work?</p>
<p>The code begins by defining a structure msgbuf that will hold 
the message to be put in the queue. It contains 2 fields as explained earlier, 
the type field mtype and the message that is stored in an array mtext. A queue 
is then created using the msget function with a key value 10 and the flag 
parameter being IPC_CREAT|0666 whereby we give read permission to all users. We 
give a priority of 1 to the message by setting the mtype field as 1. We then 
copy the text &quot;I am in the queue&quot; into the array mtext which is our message 
array. We are ready to send the message to the queue that we just created 
by invoking the msgsnd() function with the IPC_NOWAIT option (check above for 
the explanation of the function). At each stage of a function call we check for 
errors using the perror() function.</p>
<p>&nbsp;Now recv.c.</p>
<p>This is a straightforward code. This code too begins by 
defining a structure that will hold the message obtained from the queue. The 
code proceeds by creating a queue with the key value 10, if it already exists 
then the queue-id is obtained. A point to be noted here is that only those 
processes having the same key value as the one we had created in send.c can 
access the queue. You can draw analogy to&nbsp; two people holding the key for 
the same lock. If one them locks it only he or the other person can open it, no 
one else can (you can of course break it open!). The msgrcv() function then 
acquires the message from the queue into rbuf which is then subsequently printed 
out. The fourth argument in msgrcv() is 1, could you figure out why? As 
explained earlier the program send.c had sent the message with priority 1, in 
order for the message in queue to be displayed on screen when recv.c is run it 
should have matching priority, this explains the reason why 1 is passed as the 
fourth parameter. The fifth parameter msgflag is 0 just ignore it (i say that 
because that is what is done) or you could do it the right way by specifying it 
to be IPC_NOWAIT|MSG_NOERROR , with this flag the receiver ignores the error 
that might be caused due to the inconsistency in the&nbsp; length of the message 
received and the length parameter passed. If the received message is of greater length 
than MSGSZ an error is reported if MSG_NOERROR is not used. Try the ipcs command 
after running&nbsp; send.c and later on running recv.c. The outputs will 
be similar to ones shown below.</p>
<p>After send.c:</p>

<PRE>
------ Shared Memory Segments -------- 
key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status 
------ Semaphore Arrays --------
key semid owner perms nsems status 
------ Message Queues -------- 
key             msqid       owner perms used-bytes messages 
0x0000000a      65536       root  666   19         1 
</PRE>

After recv.c:
<PRE>
------ Shared Memory Segments -------- 
key shmid owner perms bytes nattch status 
------ Semaphore Arrays -------- 
key semid owner perms nsems status 
------Message Queues --------
key           msqid        owner   perms used-bytes messages
0x0000000a    65536        root      666        0            0 
</PRE>
<p>Notice the difference in the fields used-bytes and messages. 
The message filled into the queue 10 by send.c was consumed by recv.c.</p>
<p>A good variation that you might try out is to check the effect 
of negative priority values. Modify send.c by entering into the queue more than 
one message (say 3) with priorities set to 1,2 and 3. Also modify recv.c by 
setting the priority field to -2 and later -3. What happened? By letting the 
priority field to be a negative value say -n the recv.c displays all the 
messages starting from priority 1,2,3.....n. Why do we need it? Well if you set n to be a 
very large number say 1000,we could get the queue emptied. </p>
<p>In future issues we will explore more complex 
applications of message queues.</p>












<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
I am a final year student doing my Btech in Computer Science 
and Engineering at Government Engineering College Trichur, Kerala, India. For me 
knowledge is a ceaseless quest for truth.
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Raghu J Menon.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Easter Eggs</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/vinayak.html">Vinayak Hegde</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->












"Easter eggs"
are small tricks or "hidden features" that are embedded in software by the developer.
They get activated when a certain sequence of keys are pressed or some settings are 
changed. You may have heard of chip designers embedding graffiti and cartoons onto 
the chips. Software developers embed easter eggs into software so that users can have 
fun finding them and playing around with them. Also in most proprietary companies, the 
software is owned by the company with the software developer getting little or no 
credit. Many easter eggs contain a scrolling list of the developers who developed 
the software.  Other easter eggs are embedded just for fun, such as a
flight simulator in a popular spreadsheet software. 
</p>

<p>
Most programmers find it a creative way of communicating with the users of 
the software. It can also be seen as a reward for ardent users of a software who
obviously take pride in the fact that they know subtle nuances of using the software.
The joy comes from the sense of discovery (after you have found a hidden easter egg) 
and making the program to do what it wasn't intended to do. Another view is that 
easter eggs can also be used (by small companies) as marketing tool. Users discover
easter eggs and ask another to check out the program. The user downloads the software 
and finds it really useful for doing his daily work. He then ends up buying the program.
</p>

<p>
Some people are of the view that easter eggs owe their origins to backdoors in software
and are harmful for the security of the program. This is also the view taken by most big 
corporations and software quality assurance departments. They believe that
easter eggs waste memory and CPU time. Also avid gamers might find the concept of 
easter eggs to be similar to cheat-codes in most popular games. Cheat-codes are such a 
rage that most popular games have backdoors (cheat-codes) to help the user cheat and
get an unfair advantage. The amount of easter eggs in open source software is much less
as compared to closed source software. In the article that follows I have presented some
easter eggs which can be found in open source software.
</p>

<h2> Easter Egg # 1 (Hidden Quote in Mozilla)</h2>

<p>
<a href="about:mozilla"> Click here </a> for a surprise if Mozilla (or Galeon) is your browser.  <br>
You might get a different effect if you try this out in another popular browser. 
Mozilla is a strange name you may wonder. Actually Mozilla is a combination of two words
Mosaic and GodZilla. Back in the early days of the world wide web, NCSA's Mosaic was the 
dominant browser. It was at this time, Netscape Inc. came up with the Mozilla browser 
which competed with Mosaic. Hence it was named as "Mosaic Killer" by it's developers. 
The above easter egg should work even with a Galeon. Mozilla and Galeon use a common 
engine called gecko.
</p>

<p>
If you are not reading this using Mozilla (or Galeon). Select <b> text from here... </b>
<br>

<font color=#FFFFFF>
<div>
And the beast shall be made <span>legion</span>.  Its numbers shall
be increased a <span>thousand thousand</span> fold.  The din of a
million keyboards like unto a great <span>storm</span> shall cover
the earth, and the followers of Mammon shall <span>tremble</span>.
</div>
<div>
<span>from <b>The Book of Mozilla,</b> 3:31</span> <br>
(Red Letter Edition)
</div>
</font> <br>

<b> ...till here </b> to see the <i> hidden text </i>
</p>

<h2> Easter Egg # 2 (ddate command) </h2>
<p>
use the ddate command to get some wierd information about the date in the calender.
<pre>
$ ddate 1 4 2003
Sweetmorn, Discord 18, 3169 YOLD 
$ ddate 1 1 0000
Sweetmorn, Chaos 1, 1166 YOLD
$ ddate 13 2 2003
Prickle-Prickle, Chaos 44, 3169 YOLD
$ ddate 14 7 1980
Setting Orange, Confusion 49, 3146 YOLD
$ ddate 18 11 1969
Boomtime, The Aftermath 30, 3135 YOLD
</pre>

You can have a lot of fun with this command. Also check out your birth date and what it says ;).
</p>

<h2> Easter Egg # 3 (Credit Listing in VIM)</h2>

<p>
This is a easter egg I recently discovered in the popular editor VIM. Follow the steps 
and you are in for a surprise.
<ol>
<li> On the command line edit a file programmers.txt </li>
<li> Get into insert mode by pressing i </li>
<li> Press enter 11 times </li>
<li> Now that you are on the 12th line, type the name <i> Bram Moolenaar </i> </li>
<li> Open a new buffer using the key sequence <i> CTRL+W </i> followed by <i> N </i> </li>
<li> In the new buffer you will see the names of all the people who have contributed to VIM </li> 
</ol>

If you see nothing probably you are not using the latest version of VIM. You can download it from
<a href="http://www.vim.org"> here </a>
</p>

<h2> Easter Egg # 4 (Flight Simulator in OpenOffice calc)</h2>

<p>
This easter egg is embedded in the spreadsheet software Calc (from the OpenOffice suite).
In case you don't have it you can download it from <a href="http://www.openoffice.org"> here </a>
This easter egg is a beautiful flight simulator embedded in the software. To see it follow the
steps given below 
<ol>
<li> Start Openoffice calc from the Menu or from the command line by giving the command oocalc </li>
<li> Click on sheet 3 to go to the third sheet. </li>
<li> In the range drop-down box type A2000:L2000. This will select the 2000 th row. </li>
<li> Now while pressing the key combination <i> CTRL+ALT+P </i> click on the background colour icon. </li>
<li> Keep <i> CTRL+ALT+P </i> pressed for about 45 seconds. </li>
</ol>
After going through all this steps a screen will popup and start a flight simulator game.
Follow the instructions and enjoy the game. If nothing has happened after all this time,
either you have not followed instructions properly or have missed something. Follow the steps 
again and you are likely to succeed this time round.
</p>

<h2> Easter Egg # 5 (Animation in Anjuta IDE) </h2>

<p align =justify>
This Easter Egg is a cartoon animation in the latest version of 
<a href="http://anjuta.sourceforge.net">Anjuta IDE. </a> To get this
animation, do the following.
<ol>
<li> Start a new project using file menu in Anjuta </li>
<li> When prompted to select a project select generic/terminal project </li>
<li> Change the project name to "Animation" and the project author name to "Horse" </li>
<li> In the Description box that follows in the next screen. Type "ShOw Me ThE AnImATiON now" ;).
	the case is important here.</li>
<li> Don't change the additional options and let Anjuta builds the project for you </li>
<li> When this is finished. Goto the terminal and change to the src directory and type make. </li>
<li> Now run the executable named as animation. You should see a animation of horse running across
the screen </li>
</ol>

This is a really good animation hidden by the programmers of Anjuta IDE.
</p>

<h2> Disclaimer </h2>

<p>
I am not responsible if after trying out the easter eggs, your dog bites your mother-in-law
or your sound card caught fire while trying out the key sequences. What is more likely is 
that you have got a hand sprain while trying out the key sequences while waiting for 
something to pop up on screen. By the way these were not supposed to be easter eggs planted 
by programmers :). The first two easter eggs were real to con you into believing that all 
the other easter eggs listed in this article existed. So how was it to be sent on a wild 
goose chase? I know you feel like a complete moron ;). Happy April Fools day!!!
</p>

<h2> Resources </h2>
<p>
These are for real :) ...
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.eeggs.com"> Easter Egg Archive </a> </li>
<li> <a href="http://www.eggheaven2000.com"> Another Easter Egg Archive </a> </li>
</ul>
















<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
Vinayak is currently pursuing the APGDST course
at NCST. His areas of interest are networking, parallel
computing systems and programming languages. He
believes that Linux will do to the software industry
what the invention of printing press did to the world
of science and literature. In his non-existent free
time he likes listening to music and reading books. He
is currently working on Project LIberatioN-UX where he
makes affordable computing on Linux accessible for
academia/corporates by configuring remote boot stations
(Thin Clients).
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Vinayak Hegde.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">The Linux Scheduler</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/vinayak.html">Vinayak Hegde</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->






<h2> Why the Design of Scheduler is critical </h2>
<p>
Two of the most critical parts of a kernel are the memory subsystem and 
the scheduler. This is because they influence the design and affect the 
performance of almost every other part of the kernel and the OS. That is
also why you would want to get them absolutely right and optimize their 
performance. The Linux kernel is used right from small embedded devices,
scaling up to large mainframes. <!-- Though the kernel is not used as it is but some
modifications are made to it, the core more or less remains the same.
Hence it is imperative to get the scheduling policy and the design of the
scheduler right. -->  Designing is scheduler is at best <i> a black art.</i> No matter
how good the design is, some people will always feel that some categories
of  processes have got a raw deal.
</p>

<p>
In the article that follows, I have purposely tried to skip
quoting any reference code because one can easily get it from the net (see the
references).  The article also looks the challenges developers found when they
redesigned the scheduler, how those challenges were met, and what could be the
 the future direction the
scheduler is likely 
to follow. Having said that, there's nothing like reading the source code to get
an understanding of what's going on under the hood. You will find the implementation
of the scheduler in kernel/sched.c if you have the kernel source installed.
</p>

<h2> Scheduling Objectives </h2>
<p>
<b> The Linux scheduler strives to meet several objectives : </b> <br> <br>

<ol>

<li>
<b> <u> Fairness </u> </b> : 
<p> 

The scheduler should give a fair amount of CPU share to every
process. Quite a fair amount of work has been done in the new kernel to ensure
fair sharing of CPU time among processes.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Throughput and CPU utilization </u> </b> : 
<p>

The scheduler should try to maximize both
throughput and CPU utilization. The usual method of increasing CPU
utilization is by increasing the amount of multi-programming. But this is only
beneficial up to a point after which it becomes counterproductive and thrashing
starts. 

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Minimal Overhead </u> </b> : 
<p>

A scheduler itself should run for as small time as
possible. The scheduler latency should be minimal. But this is the
tricky part. It is generally seen that scheduling itself is <i> not useful work (??) </i>.
But if the scheduling is done right even after expending some more time, it may
be worth the effort. But how do we decide which is the optimal point? Most
scheduler solve this problem by using some heuristic policies.
</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Enforce priority-based scheduling </u> </b> : 
<p>

Priority scheduling means that some processes get more preference over others. 
At the very least the scheduler must differentiate between I/O-bound processes 
and CPU-bound processes. Moreover, some kind of aging must be
be implemented so that starvation of processes does not take place. Linux does
enforce priorities as well as differentiates between different categories of
processes. The Linux kernel differentiates between batch scheduled jobs and 
interactive. They get a share of the CPU according to their priorities.
Probably some people have used the nice command to change the priority of
a process.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Turnaround time, waiting time </u> </b>: 
<p>

Turnaround time is the sum of the service time and amount of time wasted waiting 
in the ready queue. The scheduler tries to reduce both.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Response time and Variance </u> </b> : 
<p>

The response from a program should be as fast
as possible. Also another important factor which is often ignored is the variance
between the response times. It is not acceptable if the average response time
is low but some user occasionally experiences say, a 10-second delay from an interactive
program.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Miscellaneous </u> </b> : 
<p>

The scheduler also tries to meet some other goals such as
predictability. The behavior of the scheduler should be predictable for a given
set of process with assigned priorities. The scheduler performance must
degrade gracefully under heavy loads. This is particularly important because
the Linux is very popular in the server market, and servers tend to get overloaded
during peak traffic hours. 

</p> </li> 
</ol>

<h2> Improvements in the scheduler </h2>
<ul>

<li> <b> <u> The O(1) complexity Scheduling algorithm </u> </b>
<p>

What's O(1) you may ask? Well, I am going to skim the surface on what the O (known as the Big-Oh) notation means.
You will find references to the Big-Oh notation in any good algorithms book. What the Big Oh
notation essentially does is that it tries to estimate the running time of any algorithm 
independent of the machine-related implementation issues. It places a upper bound on the 
running time of the algorithm - that is an upper bound on the algorithm's worst case. 
It is an exceptional technique to compare the efficiency of an algorithm with respect to 
running time.
 
</p>
<p>

Take for example an algorithm which has two nested loops and both of whose
limits range from 1 to n-1 where (n is number of inputs for the algorithm) then the upper 
bound on it's running time is denoted by <b> <i> O(N<sup>2</sup>) </i></b>. Similarly,
consider an algorithm to search for an element in an unordered linked list. The worst case
is that we will have to traverse the list till the last element to get a match or worse still -
to find out that the element is not in the list. Such an algorithm is said to have 
<b> <i> O(N) </i> </b> complexity as it's running time is directly proportional to the number 
of elements in the list - N.
 
</p>
<p>

The Linux scheduler takes constant time to schedule the processes
in the ready queue. Hence, it is said to have <b> <i> O(1) </i> </b> complexity. No matter 
what is the number of processes active on the Linux system the scheduler will always take 
constant time to schedule them. All the "parts" - wakeup , selection of the process to be run
next, context switching and timer interrupt overhead - of the current Linux
kernel (2.5.49 is the reference here - See resources for details) have O(1) complexity.
Hence, the new scheduler has O(1) complexity in it's entirety.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Better Support for SMP and more scalable </u> </b>
<p>

As mentioned in the introduction, the Linux kernel runs on almost anything from wristwatches 
to supercomputers. With the earlier schedulers there were some problems with the scalability.
Some of these problems were solved by modifying the kernel for the application and the target architecture. However, the core design of the scheduler was
not very scalable. The new scheduler is much more scalable 
and SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) aware. The performance of the scheduler is much better for
SMP systems now. One on the goals stated by Ingo Molnar who has written the O(1) scheduler is
that in SMP, processors should not be idle when there is work to do. Also, care should be taken
that processes do not get scheduled on different processors form time to time. This is to avoid 
the overhead of filling in the cache with the required data every time.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Batch scheduling of jobs </u> </b>
<p>

This is not exactly a new feature, but there are some patches that can be applied to support 
batch scheduling. Earlier kernels also had some support for batch scheduling. As of now, the 
batch scheduling of task is done using priority levels. The Linux kernel uses about 40 nice 
levels (though they are all mapped to about 5 levels of priority). Batch scheduled processes
generally get the CPU when there are not many interactive and CPU-bound processes around, which have more priority. Batch scheduled processes get bigger time-slices to run than 
normal processes. This also minimizes the effect of swapping data in and out of the cache 
frequently, thus improving the performance of batch jobs.  

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Better performance of Interactive Jobs </u> </b>
<p>

One of the major improvements in the new scheduler is detection and boosting the performance of
interactive tasks. Tweaking the old scheduler code was a bit cumbersome. In the new scheduler, 
detection of interactive jobs is decoupled from other scheduler tasks such as time-slice management.  
Interactive jobs in the system are detected in the system with the help of usage-related statistics.
That means interactive tasks have good response times under heavy loads, and CPU-hogging processes 
cannot monopolize CPU time. The new scheduler actively detects interactive tasks and give them more
precedence over other tasks. Even then, a interactive task is scheduled with other interactive tasks 
by using Round-Robin scheduling. This makes a lot of sense for desktop users as they will not see 
response time increase when they start a CPU intensive job such as encoding songs into the ogg format. 
Plans are on to merge O(1) and pre-emption code to give better response times for interactive tasks. 

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Better Scalability and support for more architectures </u> </b>
<p>

Because of the redesign of the new scheduler, it scales more easily to other architectures such
as NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) and SMT. NUMA architecture is used on some high-end servers
and supercomputers. Also there is some ongoing work on the SMT (Symmetric Multi-Threading).
SMT is also known by a more popular term: HyperThreading. One of the reasons is that
now every CPU has it's own run queue. Only the load balancing sub-part has a "global" view of the 
system. So any changes for some architecture are to be made mainly in the load balancing sub-part.
Also recently a patch for NUMA was released. In fact it has been incorporated in Linux 2.5.59.
SMT processors implement two (or more) virtual CPUs on the same physical processor - one "logical"
processor can be running while the other waits for memory access. SMT can certainly be seen as a 
sort of NUMA system, since the sibling processors share a cache and thus have faster access to 
memory that either one has accessed recently. Some work is going also going on SMT, but the 
new O(1) scheduler handles SMT pretty well even without any changes. Recently a patch was released
for SMT. Though the NUMA architecture bears some resemblance to the SMT architecture, the Linux
scheduler handles them differently.

</p> </li>

<li> <b> <u> Miscellaneous </u> </b>
<p>

The scheduler gives more priority to fork()ed children than to the parent itself. This could 
potentially be useful for servers which use the fork call to service requests. It could also be 
useful for GUI applications. There are also some real-time scheduling (based on priority)
available in the kernel. 

</p> </li> 
</ul>

<h2> Resources </h2>
<ul> 
<li> <a href="http://people.redhat.com/~mingo/O(1)-scheduler/"> Ingo Molnar's Homepage O(1) patches </a> </li>
<li> <a href="http://www.tldp.org/LDP/lki/lki-2.html#ss2.3"> Linux Kernel Internals - Tigran Aivazian</a> </li>
<li> Browse the Linux Kernel Source Code @ lxr.linux.no
	<ol> 
	<li> <a href="http://lxr.linux.no/source/Documentation/sched-design.txt?v=2.5.49"> Scheduler Design </a> </li>
	<li> <a href="http://lxr.linux.no/source/Documentation/sched-coding.txt?v=2.5.49"> Some notes about scheduler functions </a> </li>
	</ol>
</li>
</ul>








<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
Vinayak is currently pursuing the APGDST course
at NCST. His areas of interest are networking, parallel
computing systems and programming languages. He
believes that Linux will do to the software industry
what the invention of printing press did to the world
of science and literature. In his non-existent free
time he likes listening to music and reading books. He
is currently working on Project LIberatioN-UX where he
makes affordable computing on Linux accessible for
academia/corporates by configuring remote boot stations
(Thin Clients).
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Vinayak Hegde.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>


<TABLE BORDER><TR><TD WIDTH="200">
<A HREF="http://www.linuxgazette.com/">
<IMG ALT="LINUX GAZETTE" SRC="../gx/2002/lglogo_200x41.png" 
	WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="41" border="0"></A> 
<BR CLEAR="all">
<SMALL>...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I></SMALL>
</TD><TD WIDTH="380">


<CENTER>
<BIG><BIG><STRONG><FONT COLOR="maroon">Cloning workstations with Linux</FONT></STRONG></BIG></BIG>
<BR>
<STRONG>By <A HREF="../authors/ward.html">Alan Ward</A></STRONG>
</CENTER>

</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P>

<!-- END header -->








<p>Anybody who has had to install a park of 10 - 100 workstations with exactly
the same operating system and programs will have wondered if there is
a neater - and faster - way of doing it than moving the CDs around from box to 
box. Cloning consists in installing - once - a model workstation setup, and then
copying it to all the others.</p>

<p>The purpose of this text is to explore several of the many ways of cloning
a workstation hard disk configuration. In the cloning process, we will use
the native possibilities of Linux to produce more or less the same effect as
the well-known Norton Ghost of the Windows world.</p>

<p>Though we will be booting the workstations under Linux, the final operating
system they will be running may or may not be Linux. Actually, I use this
system for a park of Windows ME workstations that get to be reformatted at least
once a year - for evident reasons.</p>

<hr>
<p><b>Hard disk switching</b></p>

<p>The oldest way of cloning a hard disk requires two workstations (A is the model,
B is the clone), and another computer C. Only C needs to run Linux.</p>

<p>1. We take the hard drives out of the two workstations, and add them to C.
Take care to leave C's original hard disk in the first IDE position. For example:</p>

<pre>
	IDE bus 0, master	=&gt;	C's hard disk	=&gt;	/dev/hda
	IDE bus	0, slave	=&gt;	A's hard disk	=&gt;	/dev/hdb
	IDE bus 1, master	=&gt;	B's hard disk	=&gt;	/dev/hdc
</pre>

<p>We then get to copy the contents of /dev/hdb to /dev/hdc. If they are both the
exact same model, we can get by with a plain byte-by-byte copy:</p>

<pre>
	dd if=/dev/hdb of=/dev/hdc
</pre>

<p>or even:</p>

<pre>
	cp /dev/hdb /dev/hdc
</pre>

<p>These are the easiest ways of doing the copy, however you should be aware of
the following points:</p>

<p><ul>
<li>The hard disks must be the </u>exact same model</u>: you have problems with
more recent/older versions of the same hard disk.</li>
<li>You may have problems with bad sectors in either A or B.</li>
<li>You are also copying all the blank parts of the A disk to B; this can take
some time and is useless for our purposes.</li>
</ul></p>

<p>This way can be the best for people using bootloaders such as lilo or grub,
as the bootsector is copied along with the rest.</p>

<p>The second, slightly more complicated way of copying A to B consists in two
steps:</p>

<p><ul>
<li>First, you get to set up B's partition table (with fdisk, cfdisk, ...)</li>
<li>You then format B's partitions (with mkfs.ext2, mkfs.vfat, mkswap)</li>
<li>You do the actual copying.</li>
</ul></p>

<p>In this case, copying means mounting:</p>

<pre>
	mkdir /mount/A ; mkdir /mount/B
	mount /dev/hdb /mount/A
	mount /dev/hdc /mount/B
	cp -dpR /mount/A/* /mount/B
	umount /dev/hdb ; umount /dev/hdc
</pre>

<p>This can be a bit of a pain if there are a lot of workstations to clone, but
takes less time than a complete install ... and you are sure they have the same
configuration.</p>

<font color=#b00000>
<p><b>Important</b>: if you are using a bootloader such as lilo or grub to
boot a Linux workstation, you then get to write a personalized bootloader
configuration file and install it on disk B's boot sector.</p>

<p>Basically, you need to tell the bootloader:</p>

<p><ul>
<li>To use disk /dev/hdc to write the boot sector on; this is where your cloned
hard disk currently is.</li>
<li>To use disk /dev/hda to boot from; this is where your cloned hard disk will
be when you boot from it.</li>
</ul></p>

<p>Be careful: you may end up having to use your rescue disks if you do this
wrong! Been there, done that. You've been warned. Before starting, take a close
look at your current /etc/lilo.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst files, and at their
man pages</p>

<p><b>Alternatively</b>, if you are just booting Linux you can:</p>

<p><ul>
<li>copy the files to disk B</li>
<li>put disk B back into workstation B</li>
<li>boot workstation B from the rescue diskette you built for workstation A when
installing the system</li>
<li>run lilo or grub directly</li>
</ul></p>

<p>This second way can be much easier for people with less flying time on Linux
systems. :-)</p>
</font>

<p>Another version of the same setup is, if C's disk is large enough, to copy once
from A to C, and then to copy many times from C to B1, B2, B3 ... etc. If your
IDE setup has enough busses (or you are using SCSI) you can copy 5 disks
or more at a time.</p>

<p>Neadless to say, we use this only if we have no networking set up - a rather
uncommon situation these days. However, speed can be rather high as we are working
directly at IDE-interface speeds.</p>


<hr>
<p><b>Copying over a network</b></p>

<p>Copying over a network consists in booting workstation B with a diskette or
CD into an operating system that can drive the network (let's see now ... here Linux
is in, Windows is out) and getting the hard disk image either directly from
station A, or more commonly from a file server C. In our examples, I will use
workstation B as the computer to be configured and suppose we have the image files
from workstation A copied to a directory on server C.</p>

<p>There are several "tiny" Linux-on-a-diskette distributions available out there.
MicroLinux (<i>muLinux</i>) is my favourite, but they all work in similar ways.</p>

<p>The idea is to boot from the diskette, and set up networking.</p>

<p>You can then either:</p>

<p><ul>
<li>Have a complete hard disk image on the server, which you then copy onto the local
disk with a byte-by-byte copy. As with a direct hard disk to hard disk copy, it is
easier to set up, but also has the same caveats.</li>
<li>Have the filesystem available on the server, which means you get to partition the
local disk, format the partitions and recursively copy the files from the network
onto you disk.</li>
</ul></p>

<p>An example of the first way, over NFS:</p>

<pre>
	mkdir /mount/C
	mount server:/exported.directory /mount/C
	dd if=/mount/C/my.image of=/dev/hda
	umount server:/exported.directory
</pre>

<p>An example of the second (supposing you already have set up and formatted the 
partitions on local hard disk /dev/hda):</p>

<pre>
	mkdir /mount/B ; mkdir /mount/C
	mount /dev/hda /mount/B
	mount server:/exported.directory /mount/C
	cp -dpR /mount/C/* /mount/B
	umount server:/exported.directory /mount/C
	umount /dev/hda
</pre>

<p>In the second case, if you use a bootloader, remember to install it either
immediately after copying the files, or after rebooting workstation B from a
rescue diskette.</p>

<p>The nice thing about Linux is that in essence, copying an image or separate files
from a network is exactly the same as from another hard disk on your computer.</p>

<p>NFS is naturally not the only way of downloading the file or files from server C. There
are actually as many suitable protocols as you have available clients on your bootable
diskette. I would suggest you use whatever server you already have installed on your
network. Some choices:</p>

<table border=1>
<tr><td>NFS (Network File System)</td>
<td>This is the native way Un*x systems use to share files; robust and easy to
set up. My favourite.</td></tr>
<tr><td>HTTP (as in Web server)</td>
<td>Easy to set up on the server side, but it can be difficult to find a suitable
client. Used mainly with automated install scripts. You may already have one of these
running.</td></tr>
<tr><td>FTP</td>
<td>Less easy on the server side, but very easy to find clients. You may already have
one of these running.</td></tr>
<tr><td>TFTP (trivial FTP)</td>
<td>Very easy to set up on the server, very easy to use the client. Many routers (eg. Cisco)
use tftp to store their configuration files.</td></tr>
<tr><td>SMB (or Netbios)</td>
<td>Yes, this works. Your server can run either Linux + Samba or any version of WinXX.
The client Linux system on workstation B can mount volumes using <i>smbmount</i>.
Why you would ever want to is your business, though.</td></tr>
<tr><td>rcp or scp</td>
<td>(scp is preferable for security)</td></tr>
<tr><td>rsync</td>
<td>Another favourite of mine. Used normally to synchronize a back-up file or web
server to the main server. This can be a bit of a security hole if server C is
accessible from outside your network, so take care to block this on your firewall.
Performs compression.</td></tr>
</table>

<p>There is a recent on-a-CD distribution called <i>Knoppix</i> that boots you directly
into a KDE desktop. From here, you can use all your regular graphics-based file
tools if you are so inclined.</p>

<hr>
<p><b>Booting from the network</b></p>

<p>A final twist is to boot workstation B directly from the network without using
a boot diskette. The idea is to tell the BIOS to load a minimum network driver
from an EPROM. Control is then passed to this driver, which goes onto the network
searching for a DHCP server it can get an IP address and a kernel image from. It
then boots the kernel, which in turn gets the root filesystem from an NFS server.</p>

<p>By this time, workstation B is up and running with a Linux system. You can then
format its local hard disk and copy files from the server.</p>

<p>Needless to say, this rather more complicated to set up than a diskette or CD
Linux system. However, the process can be completely automated and suits large
networks with many workstations that must be reconfigured often.</p>

<p>Another twist of the same is to dispense completely with the local hard disks
on workstations B1, B2, B3 ... and have them boot each time from the network.
Users' files are stored on the central NFS file server.</p>

<hr>
<p><b>Further reading</b></p>

<p>Another program used by many scientific cluster administrators is <i>dolly</i>.
I've heard a lot of good about it, but have not tried it out yet.</p>

<p>On booting from a network, look up <i>etherboot</i> or, if your hardware 
supports it, <i>PXE</i>.
<hr>

<p>PS. Should anybody want to translate this article: I wrote it in
the spirit of  the GPL software licence. i.e. you are free (and
indeed encouraged) to copy, post and translate it -- but please,
PLEASE, send me notice by email!  I like to keep track of translations --
it's good for the curriculum :-)</p>









<!-- *** BEGIN author bio *** -->
<P>&nbsp;
<P>
<!-- *** BEGIN bio *** -->
<P>
<img ALIGN="LEFT" ALT="[BIO]" SRC="../gx/2002/note.png">
<em>
Alan teaches CS in Andorra at high-school and university levels. His hobbies
include science photography (both digital and traditional), trekking, rock and
processor collecting.
</em>
<br CLEAR="all">
<!-- *** END bio *** -->

<!-- *** END author bio *** -->


<!-- *** BEGIN copyright *** -->
<hr>
<CENTER><SMALL><STRONG>
Copyright &copy; 2003, Alan Ward.
Copying license <A HREF="../copying.html">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A><BR> 
Published in Issue 89 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, April 2003
</STRONG></SMALL></CENTER>
<!-- *** END copyright *** -->
<HR>

</BODY></HTML>