Linux Cubed Series 7: Sunsite/Linux Cubed Series 7 - Sunsite Vol 1.iso/system/admin/linuxcon.000/linuxcon/linuxconf-1.6/Changes

Text File | 1996-08-05 | 13.5 KB | 340 lines

Linuxconf 1.6 (official release)
=============

Linuxconf's http mode is now operationnal (see info below in linuxconf 1.4)
on how to install manually in /etc/inetd.conf and friends. This features
was the primary goal after the other official release 1.3.

A new menu under networking let you control which machines or networks
have access to linuxconf using the http protocol.

To achieve proper operation under http mode and to enhance in
general the user interface, several dialog have been reworked. The SAVE
button is gone from all dialogs. Each time a sub-dialog is "accepted", this
imply a save of the underlying database. For example, when creating a new
user account and accepting it, /etc/passwd is immediatly updated.

For a related raeson, the DEL button has moved from list items into
the items dialog. This is nicer to operate this way (You know what you
are deleting).

Rework of the install script to support RedHat systems and slackware.
The install script is used both for the binary distribution and the
source distribution install. It checks if linuxconf has already been
installed and exit if so.

Start for a module concept where modules tailored for management of non
"standard" (Place where there are alternatives at least) can be loaded
dynamicly. The first project is the apache http server. Not operationnal
yet. There is a special license for modules.

Because of the module concept, the basic support for httpd has been removed
from linuxconf: It is not starting httpd anymore.

askrunlevel do some work prior to setup its menu.
    -start kerneld if available (if it not already running)
    -mount file system which are not yet mounted


When probing to configure (or find out what has to be configured), linuxconf
does now a check for DNS connectivity. It sends a request to the DNS and
expect an answer in 4 seconds. If the answer does not come in that time,
linuxconf assume that there is a problem and offers you to stop the process.
This avoid useless very long delay at boot time and will tell you why
your machine looks frozen sometime. This behavior can be disabled for
those who don't have full time connectivity to a DNS (Standalone home machine
for one). See "Networking/Configure  Name server specification (DNS)" menu
option for detail.

The update of the serial number of a primary dns table is now smarter.
Instead of incrementing it once per change/session, linuxconf ask the
running DNS (named) about the current "in memory" serial number and
update from there. This was used especially for the http mode where every
host you add to the DNS is done in an independant session (as seen from
linuxconf); For it, it sounds like you quit linuxconf each time you
enter a new host.

When probing for thing to mount/remount in /etc/fstab, the proc filesystem
was not checked.

Start of a control panel in the main menu of linuxconf. It is now possible
to
    -reboot shutdown
    -activate the changes in linuxconf without quiting

    This is especially convenient for web mode (http).

Linuxconf 1.5
=============

    Linuxconf 1.5 is also an intermediate release for testers.
    Unfortunatly, many new features of 1.4 were so needed that
    linuxconf 1.4 was put in production. To differentiate "too many"
    1.4 variant, 1.5 was built.

The major difference between 1.4 and 1.5 is that the html mode is much
more usable. There are still some dialog that do not work (user management
and DNS at least). It is much better and gives you a feel for it. It
properly ask for a password when needed. HTML mode install the same
way as with 1.4. (See below)

To support HTML further, one key modification has to be made to many
dialog: The SAVE button is gone. The sequence ADD-EDIT-ACCEPT-SAVE is
now simpler. Some dialog still have a SAVE buttons. This is why the HTML
mode is not complete. For exemple, when entering a new user, as soon
as you have "accepted" the dialog, the user is created.

The button DEL has now been moved directly in the dialog editing
the object you want to delete. This is nicer and more compatible with
the HTML mode.

-Sometime linuxconf was failing to do an automatic boot
 if the fsck sequence was very long. fixed!

-Some more permissions are checked on special directories and pppd.
-/etc/conf.linuxconf is now 600 for enhance privacy about configuration
 features.
-The word slave is managed properly in /etc/named.boot. Linuxconf
 do nothing with it though.
-A new feature IP_RANGE in the DNS management. You can "document"
 your network by telling linuxconf which IP number range are available
 like this

        206.123.21.2-20        serveurs
        206.123.21.21-50    X terminals
        206.123.21.51-126    Workstation net 1
        206.123.21.128-254    Workstation net 2

 When entering a new IP number for a DNS entry, linuxconf computes
 the first available IP number in each range. Using the combo box field
 (ctrl-X) you can pick the proper one. No more guessing for a free one.
-Better validation in the dialog for filter program in /etc/aliases.
-Basic support to select procmail instead of deliver as local delivry
 agent.
-Complex user routing is now much more proven and better validated. Things
 like these can easily be done (with the same dialog as 1.4)

        [e-mail]    ->info1        (local user)
        [e-mail]    ->[e-mail]
        999-9999@fax        ->faxsend    (A local email to fax filter)

-Start of support for apache httpd. No operationnal yet.
-A nug in the firewalling code was inserting the wrong number of
 ports in the kernel. fixed.
-ppp client management: the lcp-echo feature of pppd is can be configured
 with linuxconf. It is worth it btw. It has completly hidden a problem
 with a buggy ppp connexion (Was it the modem, who cares, it recover by
 itself now).
-Enhanced defaults for ppp client configuration.
-ip alias can be set on the loopback device (LO) and this will
 be activated even in local (no network) mode. Perfect to simulate
 a network during a demo, with a single computer.

-Some work has been started on user privilege. When done, this will
 split the different task done in linuxconf into many categories. When
 configuring a user account, you will see a checkbox for each. This allows
 you to delegate some administrative power to some users. Using his own
 password for exemple, a user will be allowed to create POP account but
 won't be allowed to create normal accounts. This is work in progress and
 does not show yet at the user interface level.
-Support for SHADOW password. Mostly, linuxconf detect /etc/shadow
 and change the user account dialog and add new fields in it. The password
 is then store in /etc/shadow and the different field of /etc/shadow
 are properly managed. This does not require a recompile. Linuxconf
 will be always /etc/shadow aware. You still need to install the shadow
 package to get the new logins and friends.

Linuxconf 1.4
=============

    Linuxconf 1.4 is an intermediate release for testers including
    different things but mostly the html interface (configure
    your system straight with a web browser). To install linuxconf
    so it operates this way, just write

in /etc/services (choose the port you wish)

    linuxconf    98/tcp

in /etc/inetd.conf

    linuxconf  stream  tcp     wait  root    /bin/linuxconf linuxconf --http

and then do

    netconf --update

linuxconf start on demand. From you web browser, open

    http://your_host:98/

and click, click ... Comments are welcome on this.


-IPX interface management/configuration. Huge but simple dialog.
-Some correction to pseudo-tty permission checking at boot time (Some
 pseudo-tty work not checked).
-Permission and mode work not checked correctly for special devices
-fastab editing was not providing access to the two last field (dump
 and fsck order). Now it does allows you to plug a number there in
 the dialog.
-Email alias: Linuxconf was checking for duplicate case sensitivly. It
 has to be case insensitive. It is now.
-One nice addition to mail configuration: Complex (user) routing.
 It is now possible to solve this kind of problem directly with linuxconf
 using a simple dialog.

    -your machine is the mail server of the domain virtual.com
    -You want to redirect all email for [e-mail] to
     bozo@your_competitor.net

 Previously, linuxconf was only supporting special routing at the domain
 level. Using this, it is now possible to redirect a complete domain to
 a single user somewhere else.
-/etc/sendmail.cf is now optionnaly generated even if you change the
 configuration. There is an option in the menu just for that.
-All commands used by linuxconf are now visible in a menu in the main
 menu. You can interactivly change the path and the argument linuxconf
 is using to call the command. No need to recompile or to play in
 /usr/lib/linuxconf/conf.daemons anymore.
-Firewalling now work with the latest kernels. The user interface has
 not changed though.

Linuxconf 1.3
=============

-All textual messages are now in a dictionary. One can translate
 Linuxconf without touching the source code. Checkout the document
 translate/translat.doc for further info about this. Get in touch
 with me ([e-mail]) if you would like to contribute on
 this part (Translating). Because of this change, almost every file
 has changed from linuxconf 1.2 to 1.3.

-start kerneld only if there is some modules available. Use depmod to
 compute the depandency list if needed.

-Can probe /etc/fstab and /etc/mtab. From there, knows what has to be
 mount or remount (Apply new mount option).

-User interface

    -The OK button is gone. It was redundant.
    -Much enhanced 3D look in text mode.
    -More work on HTML mode. Not working yet.
    -When a dialog has a timeout, a counter is shown at the bottom
     so the user knows something will happen if he's not doing anything.

-Basic support for sshd (start/stop it).

-Rework of the firewalling setup to support latest 1.3.x kernel. You
 can still compile linuxconf on older kernels, but the firewalling will
 be disable. Linuxconf does not use ipfw anymore. It talks directly
 to the kernel.

-New dialogs to support IP Aliasing. You specify to address or names
 you want to alias and it manages the channels (eth0:x) itself, adding
 the proper routes.

-New dialogs to support RARP.

-UUCP configuration. All new.

-New tricks in the PPP dialout dialogs. Allows for smarter chats and more
 general.

-Fix the passwd command when a user try to change his own password.


Linuxconf 1.2
=============

-Some cleanup to cleanly compil in gcc 2.7.2. It nows compile fine
 with 2.6.2 and 2.7.2 (2.7.0 also I guess).

-askrunlevel now does some sanity check at boot time. The fixperm
 mecanism has now a way to specify that a check should be done only
 at boot time.

 This includes some permission checking and validation of /etc/fstab.
 If something is wrong, a message will be sent to the user, with
 a timemout of 15 seconds.

-Some permissions checking are done on pseudo-tty. They are normally
 set back by telnetd and other but may stay improperly set after a crash.

-Some paths were changed in conf.daemons, notably pppd and chat which
 are now located in /usr/sbin.

-Some preliminary work have been done for the HTML mode. Not operationnal
 yet.

-Some cleanups of the user interface in preparation to make it
 a DLL. It could be used for other things than linuxconf.

-The firewalling system now is smarter when activating new rules. It do so
 without disrupting network operation. It is now possible to update the
 firewall using a telnet and keep the connection active. You must be careful
 not to shoot yourself though. It is still possible to cut a machine completly
 from the outside.

 It is now possible to specify network and interface using the interface
 name (eth0) instead of IP numbers. It is more convenient. The kernel still
 works with IP number instead of interface. Linuxconf is simply doing
 the translation.

-Many changes in the ppp dialout dialogs. More pppd features. Be warn that
 it is targetting pppd 2.2.0 and not the current production one. One tester
 has reported that it is not working for older pppd. Some documentation
 have been added in the help to describe how to setup a permanent link
 with it and /etc/inittab.

-Some paths were changes from /var/adm/... to /var/log/... according to
 the FSSTND.

-When Linuxconf prompt for the root password, it will gives you 3 tries.

-Preliminary work in UUCP management.

-Preliminary work in the translation utility (For messages).

Linuxconf 1.1
=============

-LILO support is new

-All configuration file path can be changes dynamicly using the
 <edit> button of the screen "List all configuration file". This
 handy for /etc/lilo.conf which has to be moved sometime.

-Cleanup to compile with GCC 2.7.0 and run on Slackware 3.0

-Some more work to PPP support. Add PLIP support. connect and disconnect
 feature work. Does not use the command line anymore to pass information
 to pppd to avoid showing password (using ps -axl).

-default runlevel configuration were changed to accomodate the new
 Slackware inittab (xdm more has moved from runlevel 6 to 4).

-No longer need a special /sbin/init. Just place the line
 /sbin/askrunlevel at the end of /etc/rc.d/rc.S.
 It still work for with the modified /sbin/init (which was calling
 /sbin/askrunlevel directly). Even with this modified /sbin/init, you
 can safely place /sbin/askrunlevel at the end of rc.S.

-Start kerneld automaticly

-Load ethx devices as needed using modprobe

-Configure RARP and load the module as needed.

-Add more C++ to menu management. Some code has been moved from the
 old xconf_menu() to the DIALOG::editmenu() system.

-Some bug fix in DNS management.

 Support CNAME field.
 Propagate glue record for subdomain into domain definition.

-Creation of POP mail only user accounts.