[ale] A bit of a fuss with RH/Fedora/YDL (and maybe others)

[Jerald Sheets]

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan
Rickman
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 4:02 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] A bit of a fuss with RH/Fedora/YDL (and maybe others)

On Sat, 5 Feb 2005 15:19:46 -0500 (EST), tfreeman at intel.digichem.net
<tfreeman at intel.digichem.net> wrote:


> 1) I have yet to find this behavior documented anywhere.
> 2) I don't understand the advantages/disadvantages to the system of 
> indirection. (And PAM isn't the only place this happens either)
> 3) There are no _comments_ in the configuration files to offer guidance.
> 4) The whole system is geared to be a write only configuration system.

It is exactly this type of behavior that leads me to characterize these
distributions as Linux based, while Slackware is just Linux...and to some
extent Debian is as well. I do use and tolerate them though, since they are
in such widespread use.

--
Jonathan "thinks OpenSolaris will eat Linux for breakfast because of such
BS" Rickman 


-------------------------------

Interesting... I'm almost done with an article about how Sun will eat itself
and Linux will take over...  

I just installed Open Solaris, and it was */HIDEOUS/*.  No paths set.  I had
to hunt down several config changes that work out-of-the-box on all Linuxes
I've got experience with. Not delicate and elegant, but brutish and savage.

After working with our Sun guy for over an hour (he sets up our customers
Sun boxes) we finally got things where we wanted them.

Yes, this is entirely due to my inexperience with Solaris installations, but
still.  I've been doing this for a *long* time. 

***

RedHat has a very clear set of locations for *EVERYTHING* adhering as
closely as possible to the LSB.  The last remaining items that don't yet
live in their permanent homes are symlinked (seemingly all over creation)
but I digress.  Translation:  get used to those locations.  All Linuxes that
adhere to the LSB will have their files in these places.  (caveat:  from
what I can tell)

All startup files are 100% SystemV bootscripts with custom command line
options added via /etc/sysconfig/* (sourced through the regular .
/path/to/some/config)

The system-auth file in question is provided by the pam.d project. (do an
rpm -q --whatprovides /etc/pam.d/system-auth )  The location of said files
on te RedHat platform is well documented, most recent of which is in the
RHEL3 documentation :
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-3-Manual/ref-guide/ch-pam
.html

It's also in the two printed publications I have at the office.

As for the linux-pam modules documentation, it is all pretty crystal at the
linux-apm site hosted at kernel.org.  

I'm not sure what you mean by #4.  

Again, check out the LSB.  Check out the PAM documentation at the linux-pam
site at Kernel.org.  I looked up all your examples on my FC1, FC2, and FC3
boxes.




Jerald 
(why do I always find myself defending a distro I don't use all that much?)
:-D  

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