Re: [tlug] CLI admin how-to ideas?

[Christopher SEKIYA <wileyc@example.com>]

On Mon, Apr 08, 2002 at 05:24:09AM -0700, Marlo Rocci wrote:

> Instead there answer appears to be "there are, but you're an idiot for
> being curious about them".

More along the lines of "you know that mixing bleach with ammonia is a really
bad idea, yeah?".

> All I'm asking is: Where is linux on this issue?

Remember that linux is a clean-room implementation of UNIX.  UNIX's historic
strengths are those of linux, as are its weaknesses.  smit is universally
despised, as it attempted to address the questions that you're raising without
allowing the sysadmin an alternate route (smitty does _not_ count).

Second, recall that linux is a _kernel_ only.  No userland.  RMS had a point.

To directly answer your question, linux is all over the map on the issue.  It's
virtually impossible to design a GUI configuration tool that can

	* accurately parse all text configuration files on a system,
	* avoid munging a configuration file that was not created by it,
	* reliably interpret the user's request into a format understood
	  by the configuration file's owner,
	* grok every conceivable permutation of configuration file syntax

Witness the various attempts at X configurators.

-- Chris "phosgene is your friend" Sekiya
           GPG key FEB9DE7F (91AF 4534 4529 4BCC 31A5  938E 023E EEFB FEB9 DE7F)