Re: [tlug] disk configuration: drive mounting

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

On Sun, 2002-04-07 at 21:23, Christopher SEKIYA wrote:
> > Most end users want point and click solutions to configuration
> > issues, and at this stage of the development of linux, I think
> > they're entitled.
> 
> The hell they are.  Linux/*BSD developers don't owe the great unwashed masses
> anything, unless the masses are paying said developers (_not_ distribution packagers)
> to cater to their whim.

Chris is right on, as usual. One problem with the recently growing
popularity of GNU/Open Source (tongue firmly in cheek, there) is the
attitude of people who switch from Windows and then proceed to get
pissed at the community that *gave* them an alternative to Microsoft
because things are "hard" or "don't make sense". If they instead took
the attitude that Linux / BSD / AtheOS / whatever is a great platform,
but a few things could be made easier, and then made suggestions to the
developers (in a reasonable tone of voice, of course), there would be
less tension.

The bottom line is, if you want to take the risk of sodding up your
system by using Linuxconf or webmin or whatever, go ahead. People on
this list will generally warn you that it may break more than it
"configures," but go ahead. It is your box.

Now, if you are a sysadmin, and your users "need" to do foo, then that
is a slightly different story. I would suggest a shell script. You can
make an icon that launches (from KDE or Gnome, which I suppose they will
be using) a shell script that pulls a neat little sudo mount. If you
want to get fancy, write a frontend in Tcl/Tk or Java that provides them
with a few drop-boxes and then invokes sudo to get the job done.

Users should be users, and sysadmins should be sysadmins. Or, if users
have to be sysadmins for some reason (as in Jim Breen's case), they
should take a deep breath, RTFM (or ask a LUG mailing list, preferably
*after* RTFM-ing), edit a config file or two (hopefully documenting it
for posterity, so when they have to do it again, it is a snap), and then
go on with their life.

In conclusion, if you think that users are entitled to something that
does not exist, the option to DIY is always there. That is how the
community has come this far, hackers who felt the need for something and
then created it. Join the Linuxconf mailing list. Contribute. If that is
not an option for you, make do with what you can and just hope that
others with more time on their hands have the same itch as you do and
scratch it for you. That is The Way Things Work (tm).

- Josh "S." Glover[1]

[1] Yeah, we might as well *all* rip Wileyc off...