XFree86 dselect questions
Hello, I'm new to the Debian distro, and relatively new to Linux in general (was using Red Hat until its security issues began to bother me). Go easy on me :) several questions: 1. I can only run 'xinit' or 'startx' as root, running it from my regular acct says that I don't have permissions to use it. Any suggestions? I'm using xf86config to set it up 2. I'm really confused when it comes to the packaging system for debian. Although RPM was a big reason for *leaving* Red Hat, I'm kind of put off by 'dselect', and even more by 'dpkg'. I bought the CD's from cheapbytes.com, it's a 4 CD set, 2 binary, and 2 source...perhaps I'm doing soemthing wrong, but was something as simple as Pine left out of the distro? Anywho, basically, I guess dselect is the easier way to do things, but I can't even find Netscape in there. Is there a page onthe web or perhaps a HOWTO that describes these two things? 3. In RedHat, the 'su' command allowed and '-l' switch, which would take the path settings of user to be su'ed to (ususally root in my case)...any way to do that with the debian 'su'? thanks so much!! -lev
Re: XFree86 dselect questions
On Sat, 27 Mar 1999, Lev Lvovsky wrote: I'm new to the Debian distro, and relatively new to Linux in general (was using Red Hat until its security issues began to bother me). Go easy on me :) several questions: 1. I can only run 'xinit' or 'startx' as root, running it from my regular acct says that I don't have permissions to use it. Any suggestions? I'm using xf86config to set it up Check what files are suid and sgid... just an idea, I've never seen this before. -rwsr-xr-x 1 root root 4912 Nov 16 03:26 X* at very least... hmm, permissions on your mouse? Try ls -l 'ing everything you think might affect this. 2. I'm really confused when it comes to the packaging system for debian. Although RPM was a big reason for *leaving* Red Hat, I'm kind of put off by 'dselect', and even more by 'dpkg'. I bought the CD's from cheapbytes.com, it's a 4 CD set, 2 binary, and 2 source...perhaps I'm doing soemthing wrong, but was something as simple as Pine left out of the distro? Anywho, basically, I guess dselect is the easier way to do things, but I can't even find Netscape in there. Is there a page onthe web or perhaps a HOWTO that describes these two things? PINE and Netscape both are part of non-free because of licensing issues. A person on this list (Sorry, don't remember the email, search the archives for I have PINE DEBS or something like that... maybe just look for pine) got permission from UW to distribute the modified binaries, redhat just bends over and accepts the silly filesystem layout (kinda works with their own silly filesystem layout. :) Netscape does not meet the DFSG, and so is in non-free, AFAIK mozilla will have no trouble meeting these guidelines, but I see that even in potato, there's a really old version, any newer versions debianized? Solution: Use dselect to change your access method to ftp and update, you should see netscape and the two important pine packages now, select 'em, now go to /usr/src/pine and follow the instructions for building a debianized pine. It's real simple, and the debianized pine is nicer anyway, IMO. 3. In RedHat, the 'su' command allowed and '-l' switch, which would take the path settings of user to be su'ed to (ususally root in my case)...any way to do that with the debian 'su'? su - [user] [user] is optional if su'ing to root. HTH. -Dano -- As long as each individual is facing the TV tube alone, formal freedom poses no threat to privilege. --Noam Chomsky
Re: XFree86 dselect questions
doing soemthing wrong, but was something as simple as Pine left out of the distro? Anywho, basically, I guess dselect is the easier way to do things, but I can't even find Netscape in there. Is there a page onthe Both of these don't fit Debian's idea of free (see http://www.debian.org/intro/free). The University of Washington (the originator of pine) won't let us distribute binaries built from modified source (we have to change a few lines here and there to put files in the right places, etc.). It _is_ allowed, however, to distribute source and a patch, so what we do is distribute the source, and a patchfile, together with a makefile that'll build you a pine .deb. Netscape works similarly -- it's technically illegal for us to redistribute netscape binaries. There is a netscape .deb in the contrib section -- you download the netscape .tar.gz from netscape.com, put it in /tmp, and install the netscape .deb file, which unzips and installs the tarball. Will -- | [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/ | |PGP Public Key: http://www.cis.udel.edu/~lowe/index.html#pgpkey| -- | You think you're so smart, but I've seen you naked | | and I'll prob'ly see you naked again ... | | --The Barenaked Ladies, Blame It On Me | --
Re: XFree86 dselect questions
On Sat, 27 Mar 1999, Daniel J. Brosemer wrote: On Sat, 27 Mar 1999, Lev Lvovsky wrote: I'm new to the Debian distro, and relatively new to Linux in general (was 3. In RedHat, the 'su' command allowed and '-l' switch, which would take the path settings of user to be su'ed to (ususally root in my case)...any way to do that with the debian 'su'? su - [user] [user] is optional if su'ing to root. HTH. -Dano right, I usually use 'su' w/o the user specified, as I normally wanna get root priveleges...problem is, my PATH's aren't set. With RH, you could do an 'su -l', and get the PATH of the user you were switching to. Is there a switch for this in the debian 'su'? thanks :) -lev
Re: XFree86 dselect questions
On Sat, Mar 27, 1999 at 11:35:07PM +, Lev Lvovsky wrote: right, I usually use 'su' w/o the user specified, as I normally wanna get root priveleges...problem is, my PATH's aren't set. With RH, you could do an 'su -l', and get the PATH of the user you were switching to. Is there a switch for this in the debian 'su'? You can use the the - option, as in su -, to get a similar effect. This causes the your new session to use through the new user's startup files (.bash_profile, etc). This will give you any environment settings (including PATH), as well as aliases, that they would normally have set. If what you're wanting is to inherit only the PATH, then I'm not aware of a similar option...
Re: XFree86 dselect questions
ahh, cool! I also messed around and found that the '--rcfile' option worked. thanks for the help! -lev On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Gregory T. Norris wrote: You can use the the - option, as in su -, to get a similar effect. This causes the your new session to use through the new user's startup files (.bash_profile, etc). This will give you any environment settings (including PATH), as well as aliases, that they would normally have set. If what you're wanting is to inherit only the PATH, then I'm not aware of a similar option...
