Re: Linux needs control.exe

Alan Shutko (ats@wydo125.wustl.edu)
23 Oct 1996 14:56:47 -0500


This isn't on topic for linux-kernel, so this should be continued
elsewhere....

>>>>> "MXE" == Matthew X Economou <econommx@rose-hulman.edu> writes:

MXE> The RedHat control panel can manage /etc/fstab, networking setup
MXE> (incl. PPP and routing), /etc/printcap, SysVinit, and stuff.
MXE> Pretty nifty. Mostly complete.

Unfortunately, it needs serious work before it's really useful.
Things of note:

all:

Many have options to specify files, but don't allow thee use of a file
requestor. I'm sure tcl/tk has one somewhere, but if it doesn't one
is necessary.

fstab editor:

* Can't edit the fs type if they're on the hard drive. So, if the
fstool decides to mark one as "ignore", or you make a mistake
entering it the first time, you have to go vi /etc/fstab. No way
to recover.

* Can't delete filesystems if they're on the hard drive. So you
can't even delete things if you make a mistake. Time to call out
vi again.

If we're really going to manage filesystems, we should add in fdisk
support as well.

package management (glint):

Very limited, requires this heirarchal view. No way of seeing all the
packages you've selected in one glance (unless you go to query), no
way to search for packages, no way to do _lots_ of stuff. For
example, I know I have LPR on my system... but where is it?

Help tool:

Doesn't support gzip'd doc files, though gzip'd info and man pages are
fine....

The rest are all mostly ok, though there are a number of possible
additions....

--
Alan Shutko <ats@hubert.wustl.edu> - The Few, the Proud, the Remaining.
A drunken man's words are a sober man's thoughts.