Linux-Misc Digest #282, Volume #27 Sun, 4 Mar 01 19:13:04 EST
Contents:
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? (Chris Gordon-Smith)
Re: Looking for free Terminal Emulator ("Ali Ross")
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? ("Scot Mc Pherson")
Re: Is gnome pronounced "nome" or "Gee-nome" ??? ("Scot Mc Pherson")
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? (Jean-David Beyer)
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? (Jean-David Beyer)
Re: News/leafnode setup-micro HOWTO (Robert Lynch)
Re: Is gnome pronounced "nome" or "Gee-nome" ??? (Arctic Storm)
Re: source for basic utils like ftp/cp/mv... where? (Alex K)
How to auto login ? (Arctic Storm)
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? ("Peter T. Breuer")
Netscape 6.01 Java in user acct's. (Arctic Storm)
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? (Chris Gordon-Smith)
DIR_COLORS (John Prokopek)
Re: Virus checker for Linuix? (Chris Gordon-Smith)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Chris Gordon-Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 22:35:46 +0000
Jean-David Beyer wrote:
> Chris Gordon-Smith wrote:
> >
> > I've been running Linux for a month or so now and have yet to come
> > across a virus checker. It would be nice to think that the apparent lack
> > of such tools is due to viruses being less common in the Linux world
> > than elsewhere. However, I assume that viruses do exist in the Linux /
> > Unix world.
> >
> > Can anyone recommend a good virus checker for Linux?
> >
> I have never gotten a virus, either on Linux or Windows 95 for that
> matter (as far as I can tell). Most of my friends claim that their
> problems are caused by virus's, and possibly they are right, but
> mostly their problems are due to either the conjenital weakness of the
> proprietary binary-only operating-system they use or their own
> ignorance of how to use it. I do not claim that there are no virus's,
> but just that they may be more rare than commonly supposed, at least
> by my friends.
>
> In Linux, and probably other UNIX-based operating systems, there are
> several ways to protect yourself.
>
> First of all, setup your /etc/hosts.deny, /etc/hosts.allow, and
> /etc/inetd.conf to disable all the services that you do not need. This
> makes life much more difficult for crackers to mess you up. Be
> especially careful to turn off telnet and ftp (use ssh and scp instead
> if you need the capability), and really almost everything else.
>
> If you run sendmail, be sure to use an up-to-date version and do not
> enable relaying unless you really must. Even then, read how to do it
> so you do not get uses as a spam relay host.
>
> If you fear that others my lie to you and send stuff with false IP
> addresses, you may wish to use ipchains to deny them access to your
> machine. For example, my sendmail relays only from my machine and one
> other on my LAN. So I have it setup to relay that way (in
> /etc/mail/access). But I also have ipchains deny access for any
> message coming in on my modem from the Internet that claims to have
> the IP address of any machine on my LAN. This reduces problems (or so
> I suppose).
>
> The other problem with crackers is that they send attachments that can
> mess up your machine if you let them run. Fortunately, most of them
> seem to be in Microsoft Visual Basic and you need to be able to run
> that on your machine to get much harm from them. I have never obtained
> WINE, nor do I ever run dosemu, so I cannot run ordinary .exe files
> that I sometimes see as mail attachments. I cannot run Microsoft Word
> or Microsoft Excel, so I am unable to activate a lot of common
> virus's. I can import Word or Excel documents into Applixware, but I
> cannot execute the Visual Basic stuff.
>
> In conclusion, there is a lot you can do for free with tools that come
> with your distribution. The first thing to do is read all about how to
> use them. One link for this stuff would be:
> http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/index.html
>
>
Thanks for this comprehensive reply. I have already disabled inetd, as I
don't need to run any of its services on my desktop PC.
Similarly I don't need to run sendmail at this stage, so I don't.
My main concern was in relation to viruses in attachments or on CDs. Its
good to hear that most of these are not aimed at causing damage to Linux
systems. I hope this situation will last.
Chris Gordon-Smith
London UK
------------------------------
From: "Ali Ross" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Looking for free Terminal Emulator
Crossposted-To: alt.linux,alt.os.linux
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 22:32:21 GMT
Using a program called mtelnet (or mtel32) is good for that, it allows
support of vt100 and ANSI, and allows for full text colours.
Download it from tucows.com or somewhere, that's where I got it from once.
Cheers,
Al.
Nils O. Selåsdal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in article
<Ka6n6.4306$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>
> "Paul M. Hanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:vCSm6.101$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > Can anyone please tell me of a free terminal emulator which runs on
> > Windows 9X and allows login to a Linux machine? It would be a bonus if
> the
> > terminal emulator could also properly handle color (like at the linux
> > console).
> > Thank you in advance for your suggestions and recommendations.
> Open a dos prompt and type : telnet <yourhost> ?
>
>
>
>
------------------------------
From: "Scot Mc Pherson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 22:42:31 GMT
There is a reason for that...Of the 30,000 some odd viruses written, 28,000
some odd thousand are written for dos/windows...Only 3 (that's right...3)
have been written for unix based machines.
The reason unix virii are so rare is due to the way the file system
works...Unless you have global read/write/execute permissions set on all
your files and filesystems, viruses don't work on unix systems...
--
Scot Mc Pherson
http://www.behomet.net
N27° 19' 56"
W82° 30' 39"
Chris Gordon-Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:j5yo6.16033$Cq.345470@news2-hme0...
> I've been running Linux for a month or so now and have yet to come across
a
> virus checker. It would be nice to think that the apparent lack of such
> tools is due to viruses being less common in the Linux world than
> elsewhere. However, I assume that viruses do exist in the Linux / Unix
> world.
>
> Can anyone recommend a good virus checker for Linux?
>
> Chris Gordon-Smith
> London UK
>
------------------------------
From: "Scot Mc Pherson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Is gnome pronounced "nome" or "Gee-nome" ???
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 22:45:36 GMT
I have read its pronounced guh-nome and GNU is pronounced guh-nu...
I prefer nome for gnome, and I pronounce GNU as Gee-nu..
That;s the way everyone I know says it, and honestly I prefer it and it
seems to make more sense to me..
--
Scot Mc Pherson
http://www.behomet.net
N27° 19' 56"
W82° 30' 39"
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Is gnome pronounced "nome" or "Gee-nome" ???
> I believe it is "noMe" but a friend of mine says otherwise. Can anyone
> please add to this?
>
> Thanks.
>
> John
>
> Please send me an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
------------------------------
From: Jean-David Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 17:53:04 -0500
Penpal International wrote:
>
> Virus are almost non-existance under linux. The are a few, but they
> don't affect the system if they aren't invoked as root.
> You really don't have to worry about virusses under linux...
A bit optimistic, IMAO. About 15 years ago, Bob Morris's son wrote a
virus (actually, a worm) that got out of control and seriously messed
up a lot of Unix machines for a few days. It got in through a
configuration mistake in a lot of copies of sendmail.
>
> Chris Gordon-Smith wrote:
> >
> > I've been running Linux for a month or so now and have yet to come across a
> > virus checker. It would be nice to think that the apparent lack of such
> > tools is due to viruses being less common in the Linux world than
> > elsewhere. However, I assume that viruses do exist in the Linux / Unix
> > world.
> >
> > Can anyone recommend a good virus checker for Linux?
> >
> > Chris Gordon-Smith
> > London UK
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ Registered Machine 73926.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 5:50pm up 2 days, 56 min, 4 users, load average: 2.11, 2.12,
2.11
------------------------------
From: Jean-David Beyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 17:58:52 -0500
Chris Gordon-Smith wrote:
>
> Jean-David Beyer wrote:
>
> > Chris Gordon-Smith wrote:
> > >
> > > I've been running Linux for a month or so now and have yet to come
> > > across a virus checker. It would be nice to think that the apparent lack
> > > of such tools is due to viruses being less common in the Linux world
> > > than elsewhere. However, I assume that viruses do exist in the Linux /
> > > Unix world.
> > >
> > > Can anyone recommend a good virus checker for Linux?
> > >
> > I have never gotten a virus, either on Linux or Windows 95 for that
> > matter (as far as I can tell). Most of my friends claim that their
> > problems are caused by virus's, and possibly they are right, but
> > mostly their problems are due to either the conjenital weakness of the
> > proprietary binary-only operating-system they use or their own
> > ignorance of how to use it. I do not claim that there are no virus's,
> > but just that they may be more rare than commonly supposed, at least
> > by my friends.
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > In conclusion, there is a lot you can do for free with tools that come
> > with your distribution. The first thing to do is read all about how to
> > use them. One link for this stuff would be:
> > http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/index.html
> >
> >
> Thanks for this comprehensive reply. I have already disabled inetd, as I
> don't need to run any of its services on my desktop PC.
I hope you mean that you commented out the lines of the services you
do not need in /etc/initd.conf. Do you mean you do not run inetd at
all? I suppose that would be all right, provided you do not run any
daemons that listen to the Internet.
>
> Similarly I don't need to run sendmail at this stage, so I don't.
>
> My main concern was in relation to viruses in attachments or on CDs. Its
> good to hear that most of these are not aimed at causing damage to Linux
> systems. I hope this situation will last.
I would think there would be relatively few viruses in CDs obtained
from reputable software manufacturers. If you get illicit copies of
some stuff, tough luck for you. Luckily, most of the stuff for Linux
is so cheap that it would not pay a pirate to make the stuff. How
could they put out a CD-ROM for less than a place like cheapbytes
charges?
Well, as long as the kiddies try to take advantage of the sloppy
operating system, since it is so easy, most of them will not be
bothered by a "little-used" system that is harder to do.
--
.~. Jean-David Beyer Registered Linux User 85642.
/V\ Registered Machine 73926.
/( )\ Shrewsbury, New Jersey http://counter.li.org
^^-^^ 5:50pm up 2 days, 56 min, 4 users, load average: 2.11, 2.12,
2.11
------------------------------
From: Robert Lynch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: News/leafnode setup-micro HOWTO
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 15:12:22 -0800
Monte Milanuk wrote:
>
> Outstanding! I am working on getting this up and working right now, but
> I felt that I should perhaps point this out: How about getting with the
> maintainer of the News-Leafsite mini-HOWTO (it apparently hasn't been
> updated since Jan 98 -- over three years!) and either merge or take
> over, since you seem to know what you're doing.
>
> Just an idea, and thanks again!
>
> Monte
>
> chris wrote:
> >
> > Robert,
> >
> > I recently went through the same process without taking notes and without
> > mailing my experiences to the newsgroup.
> >
> > I appreciate your mail and will refer to it, undoubtedly, as I am about to
> > configure another new machine.
> >
> > Many thanks for your energies in posting this guide.
> >
> > Chris
Thanks, guys! In view of your encouraging comments I decided to
webify the page and put it on my web site:
http://home.pacbell.net/rmlynch/misc/leafnode.html
Hopefully it will be a leetle easier to find there than searching
archived newsgroups.
[It also gave me a chance to slightly amend my instructions on
cron/texpire. Turns out (oops!) the leafnode rpm already
installs an entry in the daily cron directory.]
Bob L.
--
Robert Lynch Berkeley CA USA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Arctic Storm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Is gnome pronounced "nome" or "Gee-nome" ???
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 23:20:24 GMT
> Is gnome pronounced "nome" or "Gee-nome" ???
> I believe it is "noMe" but a friend of mine says otherwise. Can anyone
> please add to this?
I personally pronounce it as if it were "G-nome". Using the hard 'g', as
in "go" or "get" sounds awkward. As for GNU, I pronounce each letter, as
if it were "G-N-U".
------------------------------
From: Alex K <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: source for basic utils like ftp/cp/mv... where?
Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 00:23:31 -0100
"Peter T. Breuer" wrote:
>
[lotsa arrogance snipped]
>
> I hope you have learned something, if only to use your own head before
> sticking it out in an untenable position and getting it bitten off by
> all and sundry.
>
> Peter
well i cant deny that you have made more biting than answering.
would be nice if you had put all that energy into a few straightforward
answers, instead of pseudorethorical bs like "think about it".
be well / alex k
------------------------------
From: Arctic Storm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: How to auto login ?
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 23:24:09 GMT
Is there a way to setup the boot process, so that one of the accounts will
be automatically logged in,...
I have RedHat 7 and Ximian GNOME. When I boot, I'm presented with the
Ximian login window, so that I can enter the account name and password.
I would like the regular user account to login automatically.
Thanks.
------------------------------
From: "Peter T. Breuer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 00:13:23 +0100
Chris Gordon-Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
[in reply to Jean-David Beyer]
> Thanks for this comprehensive reply. I have already disabled inetd, as I
> don't need to run any of its services on my desktop PC.
> Similarly I don't need to run sendmail at this stage, so I don't.
> My main concern was in relation to viruses in attachments or on CDs. Its
> good to hear that most of these are not aimed at causing damage to Linux
> systems. I hope this situation will last.
As it has for the last twenty-odd years? There are no viruses for unix,
by virtue of its design. This is a faq. Check the unix-faq or the
linux-faq. Hmmm .. the word "virus" does not even _appear_ in the
security HOWTO, which shows you the state of things!
(It does appear in the diskless-howto, since they point out there that
no disk = no virus. Mind you, there are no viruses, so, so what!).
You could as root write anywhere on disk. So you can see that there's
no point to a virus per se: the objective of malicious people is
to get root privileges. Once there they can turn your data to crumble
toast, or simply steal your love letters and your credit card number.
So security is about preventing people becoming root. Read the security
howto.
Peter
------------------------------
From: Arctic Storm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Netscape 6.01 Java in user acct's.
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 23:39:08 GMT
I have RedHat 7 and Netscape 6.01.
When I login as root, I can display Java-enhanced web sites without
problems, but when I'm in regular user account, the same Java-enhanced web
sites don't work properly. As a matter of fact, Netscape will either hang
or crash.
Any suggestions?
------------------------------
From: Chris Gordon-Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 23:59:34 +0000
Jean-David Beyer wrote:
[snip]
> > >
> > Thanks for this comprehensive reply. I have already disabled inetd, as
> > I don't need to run any of its services on my desktop PC.
>
> I hope you mean that you commented out the lines of the services you
> do not need in /etc/initd.conf. Do you mean you do not run inetd at
> all? I suppose that would be all right, provided you do not run any
> daemons that listen to the Internet.
I just don't run inetd (or inet as it is called on my Mandrake
installation) at all. I am simply running a home desktop PC (with a dial-up
connection to an ISP), which has previously run Windows 95 only. I don't
have any need to run any daemons on this kind of configuration, so I
disabled inet.
Perhaps I will get more sophistacated after a while and start running some
server software.
> >
> > Similarly I don't need to run sendmail at this stage, so I don't.
> >
> > My main concern was in relation to viruses in attachments or on CDs.
> > Its good to hear that most of these are not aimed at causing damage to
> > Linux systems. I hope this situation will last.
>
> I would think there would be relatively few viruses in CDs obtained
> from reputable software manufacturers. If you get illicit copies of
> some stuff, tough luck for you. Luckily, most of the stuff for Linux
> is so cheap that it would not pay a pirate to make the stuff. How
> could they put out a CD-ROM for less than a place like cheapbytes
> charges?
One of my reasons for installing Linux, apart from plain curiosity, was
that I was reluctant to pay out for an upgrade to Windows, and also
reluctant to use a pirated version. I agree that anyone using pirated
software has no reason to complain if they pick up a virus in the process.
One reason for my posting on this top[ic was a warning I read in 'Linux
Format' magazine. It says the following about its cover disc:-
".... we recommend that you run a reliable and up-to-date virus checker
on ANY new software."
So far the responses from the newsgroup seem to suggest that this may be
over-cautious advice, although I am still interested to know what virus
checkers are available.
> Well, as long as the kiddies try to take advantage of the sloppy
> operating system, since it is so easy, most of them will not be
> bothered by a "little-used" system that is harder to do.
>
Another way of looking at this would be to say that if a time comes when a
virus checker is regarded as essential for a Linux desktop installation,
then Linux will have 'taken off'.
Chris Gordon-Smith
London UK
------------------------------
From: John Prokopek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: DIR_COLORS
Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 19:08:12 -0500
Can someone tell me why when I start an xterm as my normal user account
my dir_colors are not used but when I "su" dir_colors are used?
thanks
--
John D. Prokopek
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The bus came by and I got on
thats when it all began ...."
------------------------------
From: Chris Gordon-Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Virus checker for Linuix?
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 00:12:44 +0000
Peter T. Breuer wrote:
>
> > My main concern was in relation to viruses in attachments or on CDs.
> > Its good to hear that most of these are not aimed at causing damage to
> > Linux systems. I hope this situation will last.
>
> As it has for the last twenty-odd years? There are no viruses for unix,
> by virtue of its design. This is a faq. Check the unix-faq or the
> linux-faq. Hmmm .. the word "virus" does not even _appear_ in the
> security HOWTO, which shows you the state of things!
>
Actually it was the lack of use of the word 'virus' in the documentation
that puzzled me, and hence the posting.
Chris Gordon-Smith
London UK
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
