Re: [CentOS] Minimising a CentOS installation

[James Szinger]

On Fri, 20 Aug 2021 11:17:11 -0400
Stephen John Smoogen  wrote:

> On Fri, 20 Aug 2021 at 10:25, Anand Buddhdev  wrote:
> >
> > Hi folks,
> >
> > After doing a minimal CentOS 8.4 installation, I found the following
> > packages to be useful for a simple server, so I removed them:
> >
> > cronie-anacron (replaced with cronie-noanacron)
> > alsa-firmware
> > ivtv-firmware
> > iwl*-firmware
> > sssd-common (along with all packages that depended on it)
> >
> > What other things do folk usually remove to make their installation
> > smaller? 
> 
> Usually it breaks down at this point because everyone has different
> things they want for their minimal install. Getting 3 people to agree
> on a minimal working set seems to be harder than doing a three body
> physics problem :).

Exactly.  To me a minimal install has just enough to run sshd, an
editor*, and yum.  It’s not very useful, so then I add diagnostics,
logging and management software, and it is no longer minimal.

My typical approach is to run `package-cleanup --leaves --all` or `yum
leaves` (might need software not on CentOS 8) and justify everything
that is there.  I have about 85 leaf packages on a CentOS 7 web
server, so a minimal package set should be smaller.  Experiment with a
disposable VM so it is easy to recover from mistakes.

Jim

* vi, or emacs, or ...
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Re: [CentOS] How to install XFCE on CentOS 8?

[James Szinger]

On Fri, 26 Feb 2021 09:40:06 -0600
Johnny Hughes  wrote:
> 
> https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/modularity/using-modules/

I find the modularity end-user documentation to be woefully
inadequate, especially for developers.

Here are several basic to advanced question that I can’t see answers
for on that page.  All of this is from the perspective of a user of
Fedora or EL, installing and building software for my own use.  That
page seems aimed at those developing Fedora and using the Fedora build
system.

What modules are available, what are they for, and what’s in them?

What streams are available, what are they for, and what’s in them?
(https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/modularity/using-modules-switching-streams/
says “This page needs to be extended.”)

What profiles are available, what are they for, and what’s in them?

`yum module info` seems to be part of the answer, but it is not in
that doc.

I have an RPM installed.  Which module and stream is it from?  Do
other modules also provide it?  The same version or different?

What is the modularity equivalent of `yum provides`?

How do I examine the dependecies between modules?

I am trying to build an RPM that BuildRequires something from a
module.  How do I get mock to do this?  What if some of the
BuildRequires are private or hidden?

I am trying to patch and rebuild an RPM from a module.  How do I do
this?  How do I access the private BuildRequires?

I am trying to build an RPM that Requires something from a module.
How do I make yum automatically install the correct dependency?

I want to provide modules in my private repository.  How do I set this
up for building and distribution?

How do I install perl-DBD-Pg for perl:5.30 and postgresql:12?  If I
try it on CentOS 8

yum module enable perl:5.30 postgresql:12
yum module install perl-DBD-Pg

I get some conflicts and the docs do not explain how to resolve them.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] How to query which yum package groups a particular package is member of

[James Szinger]

On Wed, 27 Jan 2021 16:21:33 -0800
Kenneth Porter  wrote:

> I'm guessing that means it was a dependency for something back then.
> Is there a way to discover what? Using "yum history info 1" I see
> that this was the original Anaconda install from 2014. Could dnsmasq
> be in the original minimal disk installer?

Or one can also run `rpm -q --whatrequires dnsmasq`.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] How to query which yum package groups a particular package is member of

[James Szinger]

On Wed, 27 Jan 2021 16:21:33 -0800
Kenneth Porter  wrote:

> I'm guessing that means it was a dependency for something back then.
> Is there a way to discover what? Using "yum history info 1" I see
> that this was the original Anaconda install from 2014. Could dnsmasq
> be in the original minimal disk installer?

Try `yum remove --assumeno dnsmasq` and see what it wants to remove.
On my system I get

--> Processing Dependency: dnsmasq >= 2.41 for package: 
libvirt-daemon-driver-network-4.5.0-36.el7_9.3.x86_64

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] I'm looking forward to the future of CentOS Stream

[James Szinger]

On Sun, 13 Dec 2020 09:15:52 +0100
Nicolas Kovacs  wrote:

> Le 11/12/2020 à 02:25, Gordon Messmer a écrit :
> > Personally, I think that changing focus on CentOS Stream is going
> > to make CentOS (and maybe even RHEL) better in the same way and for
> > the same reasons that Fedora is a better distribution than Red Hat
> > Linux was.  
> 
> Using Fedora on production servers is like climbing without a rope.
> 
> It's possible. I've even seen some folks do it.

Since the release of CentOS 8, I have been moving my stuff over to
Fedora.  The combination of modularity and missing -devel packages
make developing and building software on EL8 impractical.  As a
result, EL8 is poor choice for deploying custom software.

Fedora has other advantages.

1. More changes.  Bugs are likely to be addressed sooner and I find
addressing small changes one at a time is more manageable than many
big changes all at once.  Having a good test suite helps.  Our
sysadmin at work spent most of 2020 doing the upgrade from CentOS 6 to
8.  I like to think there were better uses of his time.

2. More software.  Fedora packages much more software than CentOS.
Even adding in EPEL leaves a big gap and EPEL is Fedora, not RHEL.  I
spend less time building dependencies and more time adding value.

3. Easy licensing.  Fedora may be used anywhere for anything.  We have
a RHEL license at work, but I don’t use it because I do not want the
headache of tracking where and how it is deployed.  I’ve wasted too
many days fighting licensing and compliance issues to want to ever do
it again.  It is huge advantage for Free Software.

Your needs may differ, but it is not an insane choice, so please stop
insulting us.

Jim

P.S. It seems to me that compared to Fedora, Stream has the
disadvantages of RHEL but not the advantages.  It’s not clear to me
how Stream will be an improvement.
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Re: [CentOS] Moving to CentOS 8 Stream

[James Szinger]

On Thu, 10 Dec 2020 16:08:09 -0300
Sergio Belkin  wrote:

> El jue, 10 dic 2020 a las 15:48, Kienker, Fred ()
> escribió:
> 
> > "It takes years to build a reputation and seconds to destroy it."
> >
> > -- Business 101 class
> >
> Fear not in DEVops world you can rebuild your reputation in one
> seconds using containers.  :-P

Except that there are no container images available for Stream. :(

(I am not complaining, just pointing out the irony.)

Seriously, many thanks to the CentOS team for their decades of fine
work.  CentOS as I know it is being discontinued and I will evaluate
Stream as its own product on its own merits.

Jim
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[CentOS] Stream questions

[James Szinger]

I have a couple of questions about CentOS Stream.

1. Is there list for update announcements?  Something similar to
upda...@fedoraproject.org.

2. Since both CentOS and EPEL are Red Hat projects, will Red Hat
provide an EPEL version compatible with CentOS Stream?

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] CentOS Stream from bottom works, what is this?

[James Szinger]

On Wed, 9 Dec 2020 13:22:15 -0500
Matthew Miller  wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 09, 2020 at 09:58:10AM -0600, Barry Brimer wrote:
> > If the same happened in the previous question but was in a package
> > or set of packages that was being rebased in 8.5 would it work the
> > same way?  
> 
> Hmmm. I'm not sure I understand you. There won't be a dump of 8.5
> packages into Stream at some point. They will be updated there as
> ready.

The scenario I imagine is this:

start out the same
EL 8.4 foo-1.1.1-1
stream-8   foo-1.1.1-1

update stream for EL 8.5

EL 8.4 foo-1.1.1-1
stream-8   foo-1.2.0-1

CVE!

EL 8.4 foo-1.1.2-1
stream-8   foo-1.2.1-1

Result: foo-1.1.2-1 is in EL but not stream.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Network Manager - rotate connection profile

[James Szinger]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2020 15:25:37 -0600
Frank Cox  wrote:

> I have an occasional need to switch a few computers from one Internet
> provider to a different one.  Both Internet providers feed into the
> same network, one at 192.168.0.1 and the other at 192.168.0.254.
> 
> So to change from one provider to the other I run nmtui to change the
> gateway and dns server addresses, then deactivate and reactivate the
> connection and I'm done.
> 
> It's just takes a few minutes, but I'm wondering if there's a way to
> automate this a bit so instead of having to run nmtui and change all
> of those numbers, then deactivate and reactivate the connection, I
> could just have each configuration saved as a text file or something,
> and just tell network manager "use this configuration now until
> further notice."

I would create two different NetworkManager connection profiles,
called eth0-isp1 and eth0-isp2.  You can use the GUI, TUI, or CLI for
this.  The something like 
`nmcli connection down eth0-isp1 && nmcli connection up eth0-isp2`
should work.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Samba rpms now available from Storage SIG

[James Szinger]

On Mon, 17 Aug 2020 12:07:34 +0530
Anoop C S  wrote:
> This is to announce the availability of Samba(and CTDB) rpms from
> Storage SIG[1] on CentOS 7 and 8. Visit Samba's CentOS Storage SIG
> wiki page[2] for more details on installation steps.
> 
> [1] https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/Storage
> [2] https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/Storage/Samba

How does this differ from the Samba in the regular release?

This announcement and the wiki would benefit from a sentence or two
stating why someone would, or would not, choose to release the SIG
Samba instead of the distro Samba.

Thanks,
Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Can't move to Centos 8

[James Szinger]

On Tue, 12 May 2020 17:42:25 -0700 david  wrote:

> Folks
> 
> I've been trying to convert my systems to Centos 8, seeing the EOL on 
> the horizon a few years away.  One of my systems is a Mac-Mini, and 
> support for that has been discontinued.  I'm wondering what the 
> community suggests among these alternatives:

I can't be specific since you didn't say how you're using the
Mini. You don't even say if the Mini is PPC, i386, or x86_64.

> 1)  Stay with Centos 7 even after EOL hoping market pressures will 
> add Mac-Mini support

My guess is that RH will focus on the server market.

> 2)  Spend a few hundred dollars on a small, **quiet** replacement
> (ugh)

2a) Stay on C7 until EOL (in 4 years).  Then re-evaluate your hardware
needs and availablilty.

> 3) Convert to the Debian/Ubuntu distro.
> 
> 4) Hope someone figures out a solution.

Beware.  This might end up being very fragile.

5) Switch to Fedora which has better hardware support and more software.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Giving full administrator privileges through sudo on production systems

[James Szinger]

On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 10:13 PM John Pierce  wrote:
>
> $ sudo rm -rf /

Just for fun, I cloned a C7 VM and ran rm -rf.  I then examined the
disk image with guestfish. Everything was gone except for a few empty
directoriers: /dev, /etc, /proc, /sys, and so on.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Bypassing 'A stop job is running' when rebooting CentOS 7

[James Szinger]

On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 1:41 PM Jon LaBadie  wrote:
> But we can blame systemd for the cryptic message
>
>   A stop job is running
>
> Surely systemd knows what service it is waiting for,
> why doesn't it tell us?
>
>   The stop job XYZ is running

The message reported by the OP and the message I see is 'A stop job is
running for ...' where the ellipses stand in for the unit that systemd
is waiting for.  It seems pretty clear IMHO.  Actually debugging it is
harder since the system is not available during shutdown, but that's a
generic problem and the systemd docs do provide debugging tips.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Bypassing 'A stop job is running' when rebooting CentOS 7

[James Szinger]

On Wed, May 22, 2019 at 7:44 AM mark  wrote:
>
> The joys of systemd

I'm not sure it's right to blame systemd.  Systemd asked nicely for
the service to shutdown.  The service didn't, probably because the
update change something and pulled the rug out from beneath it.
Systemd then waited a bit to make sure the service wasn't just being
slow, and finally gave up and forcibly killed it.  I think this is a
reasonable approach to killing a misbehaving service while trying to
minimize data-loss, and the timeout can be configured.

This hasn't happened to me recently, but I think I've tried Ctl-C and
Ctl-Alt-Del without much success.  That leaves the Big Red Switch
(which is mostly small and black these days).

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] is "list_del corruption" fix available in Centos ?

[James Szinger]

On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 3:17 AM John Hodrien  wrote:
> RHEL advice would clearly be not to use btrfs.

I'm curious, is there anything in RHEL 8 that would replace BTRFS or
ZFS?  I'm experimenting with BTRFS on one system and the snapshot and
subvolume features are nice.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] is "list_del corruption" fix available in Centos ?

[James Szinger]

On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 2:47 AM santhosh kumar
 wrote:
> On Tue, May 14, 2019 at 7:26 PM santhosh kumar 
> wrote:
>
> > We migrated from redhat 5.3 to centos 7.5 and facing crashes in longevity
> > tests
> >
> > All of them point to below reason,
> >
> > list_del corruption. next->prev should be 880c1e567000, but was
> > 00450008a948adba
> >
> > We searched around web and see this is fixed in redhat
> > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1028750

That's a Fedora bug and Fedora merely built a newer kernel with the
upstream kernel fix.  It's mostly irrelevant to RHEL and Centos.

> >
> > But don't see any fix in Centos. https://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=10944

According to the CentOS kernel changelog

$ rpm -q --changelog kernel-`uname -r`|less # only relevant lines shown
* Mon Mar 03 2014 Jarod Wilson  [3.10.0-101.el7]
- [fs] btrfs: take ordered root lock when removing ordered operations
inode (Zach Brown) [1051282]

this might have been fixed in 2014, but I don't have access to
1051282.  There are also scores more btrfs patches in the RHEL 7
kernel since 2013.

I also notice that the stack trace for
https://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=10944 does NOT mention btrfs, so
it's most likely a different bug.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Automated XFCE install from kickstart and epel-release issue

[James Szinger]

On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 3:01 AM  wrote:
> I am working on a kickstart automated Centos 7 GUI vm deployment.
>
> Defining gnome desktop in kickstart works.
> @gnome-desktop - A GNOME desktop
>
> However Centos and anything from the epel-release such as xrdp does not
> work.
>
> I have tried it on different ways.
>
>
> repo --name=epel-release
> %packages
> #epel-release # DOES NOT WORK
> @ Core  #@core
> @ Base  #@base
> @ X Window System   #@x11
> #@ XFCE # DOES NOT WORK
> @xfce-desktop# DOES NOT WORK
> #@Server with GUI  # DOES NOT WORK
> #Xfce# DOES NOT WORK
> #xrdp  # DOES NOT WORK
>
> I would also like to do a full system upgrade automatically.


You need to tell anaconda where to find the repo:

repo --name=EPEL --baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/7/x86_64/

You can then use EPEL packages in the %packages section.  It's better
to point to a local or nearby mirror if you do this often.  Add
another line for the updates repo to get those installed.  My typical
kickstart file has lines like:

url --url=https://.../centos/7/os/x86_64/

repo --name=base--baseurl=https://.../centos/7/os/x86_64/
repo --name=updates --baseurl=https:/.../centos/7/updates/x86_64/
repo --name=EPEL --baseurl=https://.../fedora-epel/7/x86_64/

I have successfully installed MATE and XFCE this way.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] OT: hardware: sanitizing a dead SSD?

[James Szinger]

Disclaimer: My $dayjob is with a government contractor, but I am speaking
as  private citizen.

Talk to your organization's computer security people.  They will have a
standard procedure for getting rid of dead disks.  We on the internet can't
know what they are.  I'm betting it involves some degree of paperwork.

Around here, I give the disks to my local computer support who in turn give
them the institutional disk destruction team.  I also zero-fill the disk if
possible, but that's not an official requirement.  The disk remains
sensitive until the process is complete.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] more recent perl version?

[James Szinger]

On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 6:02 AM, hw  wrote:

>
> Ah, yes, that does work.  Sorry, I guess it was signatures rather
> than state.  I´m getting
>
>
> Feature "signatures" is not supported by Perl 5.16.3 at ...
>
>
> with CGI scripts.  And who knows what else might cause problems.
>
> The software has been written with perl 5.20.1, which is already
> rather old.


​From perldoc perlsub:

Signatures
WARNING: Subroutine signatures are experimental. The feature may be
modified or removed in future versions of Perl.
​
​And according to perldelta the signature syntax did change between 5.20
and 5.24.  This is bleeding edge.  My perl code is deployed on CentOS, but
I also test it on Fedora to ensure an upgrade path.  ​I think you should
have a talk with your developers or software vendor about the supported
deployment environment and path for perl and system upgrades.
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Re: [CentOS] CentOS 6.x desktop specs: minimum requirements

[James Szinger]

A couple of years ago I installed C6 on a ThinkPad A20 (512MB ram, 450MHz
cpu).  It runs, but is painfully slow.  It can handle vi in an xterm, but
not a modern web browser.  Even a simple yum update takes too long.

Personally, i suggest staying with C5 and planning to recycle the hardware
when C5 goes EOL.   It comes down to which applications you need to support
and how big your support budget is.

On Tue, Mar 24, 2015 at 1:19 AM, Niki Kovacs i...@microlinux.fr wrote:

 Hi,

 I often have to deal with relatively obsolete hardware in schools, public
 libraries, small town halls, etc. I still have a handful of CentOS 5.x
 installations around for these, but I wonder what CentOS 6.x desktop specs
 are, e. g. the minimum requirements (in terms of CPU and RAM) to reasonably
 run it. Will a battered first-generation P-IV with 512 MB RAM be
 sufficient? How much RAM does 6.x's graphical installer require to even
 start? Or is it better to opt for CentOS 5.x on this sort of dinosaur?

 Cheers,

 Niki
 --
 Microlinux - Solutions informatiques 100% Linux et logiciels libres
 7, place de l'église - 30730 Montpezat
 Web  : http://www.microlinux.fr
 Mail : i...@microlinux.fr
 Tél. : 04 66 63 10 32
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Re: [CentOS] recent ruby packages?

[James Szinger]

On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 7:55 AM,  m.r...@5-cent.us wrote:

 As I keep noting, many perl CPAN packages are available as rpms - I know,
 since my manager prefers we not build any from CPAN unless it's a) not
 available from a trusted repository as an rpm, and b) actually required by
 a developer. As an rpm, of course, if there's an update, it'll get taken
 care of the next update we do; otherwise, we have to remember which of our
 150 or so systems has what that has to be built.

You should check out cpanspec, available from EPEL, which makes it easy to
package CPAN modules into RPMs.  Well-behaved modules are nearly trivial
and the Fedora Packing Guideline help make sane packages out of the more
complicated modules.  Then build with mock and put the RPM into a local
repository and manage with yum.  You might need to iterate a few time to
satisfy all the dependencies, but that's a one-time deal.

The only real problem I've encountered is a program that wants to update a
core perl module and RPM rightly complains about that.  If had used cpan
directly, I would not have been warned about the conflict and might have
ended up with a broken system.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] recent ruby packages?

[James Szinger]

On Tue, 5 Feb 2013 10:47:11 -0600
Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Tue, Feb 5, 2013 at 10:22 AM, James Szinger jszin...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  You should check out cpanspec, available from EPEL, which makes it
  easy to package CPAN modules into RPMs.  Well-behaved modules are
  nearly trivial and the Fedora Packing Guideline help make sane
  packages out of the more complicated modules.  Then build with mock
  and put the RPM into a local repository and manage with yum.  You
  might need to iterate a few time to satisfy all the dependencies,
  but that's a one-time deal.
 
 That keeps your rpm database happy, but it doesn't solve the real
 problem which is that CPAN modules can and do change in ways that make
 previously working combinations break.  It may be rare these days, but
 it happens.   And the value of having centrally packaged modules is
 that (a) the versions released together are generally tested together
 and (b) even if some bug slips by the release process, a lot of other
 people will be using the same set and can share the debugging effort
 and knowledge of the fix.

Any program or library can break---that's why we test and verify.  A
proper package management system helps, but is not a panacea.

I only do this if I can't find a package from a trusted repository.  I 
even try to rebuild the Fedora RPMs if they are available.  Once I have
an RPM, I can test it and then deploy to production.  The spec
file is record of how the package is built and mock helps protect
against hidden dependecies.  Having an RPM also allows for a broken
package to be downgraded or removed.  I have suffered enough problems
from source installs and don't want to do it that way again.

 
  The only real problem I've encountered is a program that wants to
  update a core perl module and RPM rightly complains about that.  If
  had used cpan directly, I would not have been warned about the
  conflict and might have ended up with a broken system.
 
 That's just one of the ways things can break, though.

It was enough to get me to drop back and punt and wait until upstream
fixes their code or I can develop a patch.

Jim
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[CentOS] 6.2 Radeon HDMI audio gotcha

[James Szinger]

I had some trouble (now solved) with the recent upgrade to 6.2.
There was no sound from the DVI/HDMI output and video played back
much too fast.  Booting kernel-2.6.32-131.21.1.el6.x86_64
restored sound and video playback.  The solution is to add
'radeon.audio=1' to the kernel arguments from grub and the new 
kernel also worked.

I'm using CentOS 6 on a media computer with the following graphics
chip:

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS880 [Radeon
HD 4200]
01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RS880 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD
4200 Series]

The Linux 3.0 kernel has the audio device disabled by default
because some users were suffering from blank screens.  These
changes were then backported to the Radeon kernel driver for 6.2.
Some searching revealed this as known issue, including Fedora bug
754825 and Ubuntu bug 897008.

I'm reporting this here because I didn't see it mentioned in
either the upstream 6.2 release notes or the CentOS 6.2 release
notes.

Finally, thanks to the CentOS team for another fine release.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] level 3 font size

[James Szinger]

On Thu, 25 Aug 2011 14:22:08 + (UTC)
Michael D. Berger m_d_berger_1...@yahoo.com wrote:

 On my laptop, I boot CentOS 6 to level 3and find the font is quite
 small.  Is there a way to change the font size at level 3?

That sounds like the result of the new kernel mode setting feature.
Try adding the nomodeset parameter to the kernel commoand line from
grub.  I think that will restore the traditional text console.  I don't
know if X11 will still work, though, depending on the driver.

Also, /bin/setfont can change the console font to something bigger, but
I didn't find it very reliable when I tried it under Fedora 12/13.
Maybe CentOS 6.0 or 6.1 has it improved it.  Personally, I just boot to
X and run a bunch of terminal windows.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] OT: Hardware upgrade help

[James Szinger]

On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 6:17 PM, Thomas Dukes tdu...@sc.rr.com wrote:
 I would like to upgrade my system to a 64 bit machine. I'd like to find a
 bare bones platform to build on. I'm not looking to spend a lot of money on
 this as it is a home system. I looked on the CentOS sponsor page but only
 saw hosting services.

 I haven't kept up with hardware in years so I'm dumber than dirt on what's
 out there. I would prefer a desktop so I can stack it. Don't think I need to
 do the Xeon as that would be overkill for a home user.

 This would be replacing my 'server' so I need PCI slots for an additional
 NIC and a 32 bit video capture card used for zoneminder. Not sure what PCI
 express is or if my cards would work in those slots. Yep, I'm running 8 yrs
 old machines, IBM NetVistas. :-(

If all the jargon is new to you, you might be better off getting a pre-built
system.  System integration can be hit or miss until one acquires
experience the hard way.   My current home server is an off-lease
business-class HP desktop. It's built from commodity parts, so it's
upgradable.  Look at the service manual before you buy.  And the HP
runs CentOS beautifully.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] centos6 not using /etc/gdm/custom.conf

[James Szinger]

On Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:17:10 -0400
fred smith fre...@fcshome.stoneham.ma.us wrote:
 
 In later Fedora releases, GDM has become less and less functional:
 configurability has been removed, more so as releases occur. From my
 (known to be flaky) memory, that includes the ability to turn off the
 silly list that exposes usernames right on the login screen, the
 ability to assign your own wallpaper to the login screen, among other
 things.

There is a gconf setting to turn off the list of users.  I've haven't
tried it under CentOS 6, but it works under Fedora 14.  I don't know
how to fix the wallpaper except by changing the picture behind RPM's
back.   Or, up until F14, I was using a recompiled version of the 
CentOS 5 gdm rpm---that might work for C6.

Fortunately, the C6 wallpaper is good enough that I don't feel compelled
to tweak it.

 In some releases you can hack your way around whatever the missing
 feature is that you're missing by using gconf-editor, in others you
 can't.

The user list preference was broken for all of Fedora 13.  Blech.

There is a long open gnome bus to restore the gdm setting tool that
went away around 2.22.  The chances of having it back for gnome 2 are
vanishingly small.  I'm not holding my breath for the gnome 3 version
either.

 So, my guess is that RHEL/Centos 6 has inherited the later Gnome
 features that have removed the feature you want.

It's a sad day when Mac OS X is easier to customize than a Linux system.

Jim
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[CentOS] CentOS artwork

[James Szinger]

Thanks to the CentOS artwork team.  I've found the CentOS artwork to be
nicely done and the CentOS 6 release is up to your usual high
standards.  I really appreciate the desktop background that stays in
the background, and doesn't demand my attention.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Duplex networkprinter for Linux

[James Szinger]

On Tue, 5 Oct 2010 15:18:09 +0200
kim.gabriel...@get2net.dk wrote:

 does anybody know about a duplex (color) printer with linux support?
 
 either with centos as print server or - preferably - as a stand alone
 network printer?

At home, I recently replaced an HP office jet with a Lexmark X543
multifunction printer/scanner/copier.  The C543 is print-only
version.  Getting it set up under MacOS X, Fedora and CentOS was a
snap.  I'm happy with it (I don't print enough to care about the cost
of toner).

Recently at work, I had to set up a new HP, and had a hard time
finding a Linux PPD, and our sysadmin had no more success.  I
ended up grabbing the OSX PPD and removing the Mac specific parts.

The office jet at home worked OK once I rebuilt the Fedora HPLIP RPMs
for CentOS, but HP's Mac drivers were flaky, and were never updated for
news OSX releases.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Duplex networkprinter for Linux

[James Szinger]

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 8:19 AM, Boris Epstein borepst...@gmail.com
wrote:
 On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:39 AM, James Szinger jszin...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Recently at work, I had to set up a new HP, and had a hard time
 finding a Linux PPD, and our sysadmin had no more success.  I
 ended up grabbing the OSX PPD and removing the Mac specific parts.

 What was the new HP you were having trouble setting up at work, if you
 happen to remember?

It's an HP LJ P4515, and it works well now that it is setup.

To find the Linux driver, I went from the printer's web page to the HP
support site to the HPLIP site.  The first time, my browser crashed.
The second time, I didn't see anything obvious to download.  Then I
gave up and hacked the Mac PPD.  Now, in hindsight, I see that
hplip-3.10.6.tar.gz has a suitable PPD.  I found the process much more
difficult than it should be.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Laptop for CentOS-5

[James Szinger]

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 11:37 AM, James B. Byrne byrn...@harte-lyne.ca wrote:
 So, my desires are:

 WANT:

 Robust construction
 Reliable quality
 Reasonable weight ( 2.5 kg all in)
 Supported sound and video reproduction of reasonable quality
 15-17 lcd screen
 Out-of-the-box support for wireless networking
 Battery life  2.0 hrs.
 Not MS-Windows

 PREFER:

 64 bit
 core duo 2
 2-4+ Gb RAM
 120+ Gb HDD
 writable multi-mode DVD/CD drive
 CentOS-5+

 Your system suggestions, both for hardware and OS, are most welcome.

I'm writing this on a ThinkPad T61 (used), which meets all your
requirements.  I'm
running Fedora 12 for a couple of reasons:  NetworkManager and power
managment have matured a lot since F6/CentOS 5.   Also, the current
generation mulitmedia apps are easier to install on F12.  All the hardware was
recognized and supported out of the box.  I haven't tried CentOS on it, but it
should also work. (I'm hoping for CentOS 6 within the next year so I won't have
to reinstall fedora too often).

Previously, I was using CentOS 5.4 on a ThinkPad A20 (500MHz 512MB), which
was useable, but slow.

The website thinkwiki.org is a good resource for those looking to run Linix on a
ThinkPad.

You might also search for service manual for the laptop.  That will tell you
whether the manufacurer think it is serviceable.

A MacBook is another idea. They have genuine UNIX, better than average sound,
a well-integrated system, no Windows.

Jim
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Re: [CentOS] Newsletter feedback

[James Szinger]

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 6:29 AM, Geerd-Dietger Hoffmann
riba...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hey

 We have now published the sixth version of the Newsletter and I think
 it is time to ask YOU ( the reader ) what we can improve. The current
 trend is away from really technical details more to a light read and
 entertaining stuff. Is this a good way to go. Or should we focus more
 on the technical side again*. Or is the balance right?

 What do you want to read about? What sections do you want? Or just
 comment. I am happy about any constructive criticism.

 I hope you are enjoying the Newsletter.

 Cheers Didi


Overall, I think it's very good.  I'd like to report a small erratum:
The link to A view of the free and non free Linux market (Not the
view of CentOS) is wrong (Same as Oracle and Novel...).

Thanks,
Jim
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[CentOS] ath9k in CentOS 5

[James Szinger]

Hi,

I'm thinking about updating the wireless card on a CentOS 5.3 box.

The Wiki at http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops/Wireless says that
the ath9k driver ships with CentOS, but I can't find it.  I've tried
modinfo, locate, yum search, and yum provides, but they all come up
empty.  Am I missing something, or is the Wiki need correcting?  I've
also searched the CentOS forums and others share my confusion.

Thanks,
Jim
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