[olug] linux web server management ?

[Sam Tetherow]

William E. Kempf wrote:
> Eric Penne said:
> 
>>Debian is very easy.  All of the problems I've ever had with a debian
>>install were because I didn't have any good floppy disks.
>>
>>Apt has front ends like ncurses based aptitude and GUI "forgot the name
>>but I used it last night".  Software install could not be any easier.
>>
>>Here is what I do now.  I install a base debian system.  then from the
>>command line I type in the program I want to install.  I run a static
>>webserver on one so the first command I run from the base system is:
>>
>>apt-get install apache
>>
>>This grabs all dependencies and installs them.  Have you tried to do
>>something similar with one command from the command line in any other
>>distro?  It brings on fits of rage.
> 
> 
> With out getting into religious distro wars, I do the same on Mandrake
> with URPMI... and mostly do the same on RedHat with apt-rpm (though
> finding a repository is difficult).  My understanding is that you do the
> same with portage on Gentoo as well (though that system actually compiles
> from source during installs).  But there are still issues, ranging from
> "does this arcane tool I need have a package for my distro" to "how the
> @$@%#@ do I configure this beast once it's installed".

If the package was done properly under debian, this is handled with 
debconf which will prompt you for values you must supply and give 
defaults where appropriate.

> 
> 
>>Another machine is a fileserver with samba.  From the base system:
>>
>>apt-get install samba
>>
>>That's it!!!!  Instant dedicated system!  So wonderfully easy I could
>>almost wet myself.
>>
>>Debian is not hard to install it is just intimidating to think about.
>>In reality though, debian is easy.
>>
>>Debian also comes with Webmin.
>>
>>apt-get install webmin
>>
>>Dude, Dell's are even this easy.
>>
>>A graphical installer would be nicer yet.  Just to reduce the
>>intimidation factor.
> 
> 
> Actually, to allow easier use of "non-vanilla" installs.  For things like,
> say, installing to a non-standard location because I either don't have
> rights to install to the standard location or I want to have multiple
> versions installed at the same time.  Some package management systems
> allow you to do this, some don't, but it's not "intuitive" even for those
> that do.

Well, you can always take the Windows way of doing things and either 
hope it works or bomb if you don't have the permission ;)

In all honesty this would require some changes both in the distro and in 
the software itself.  Most things check in $HOME/.{pkg} for a user level 
configuration file, but moving the 'system' configuration file means you 
need to be able to write to some system wide directory so the 
application knows where to look to figure out where it's REAL config 
file is (at which point why not just put the config file there) or the 
binary would need to be modified at install to know where to look for 
the configuration file which would imply a recompile.

> 
> William E. Kempf
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> OLUG mailing list
> OLUG at olug.org
> http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam Tetherow                           tetherow at nicusa.com
Director of Development
NIC Labs (PSSG)                        http://www.nicusa.com