On Tue, 2003-01-14 at 18:18, Frank Griffin wrote: > This one's been bothering me for a while, but I've seen it again in 9.1 > so I'll raise the issue now. > > After package selection, the install detects whether you've requested > certain servers and puts up a dialog saying that they may be insecure > and do you really want to install them. Later on, (at least in what > used to be called the Expert Install), you are given a much more > polished dialog that allows you to prevent any installed servers from > starting at boot. > > From the standpoint of an inexperienced user, this makes no sense. > From the standpoint of an experienced user, it's an annoyance. > > There is no correlation between installing a server package and any > security holes that may be introduced by actually running it. The > initial prompt that asks if you want to install the servers is useless, > and should be removed. Most newbies have chosen package categories > without having gone to Individual Package Selection, and have no idea > what categories the servers belong to, or what they might be screwing up > if they don't install them. I very much doubt that anybody ever backs > off at this point. > > To address the security concern, you should really make the later dialog > (choosing/modifying which servers start at boot) unconditional for all > classes of install, and include the security warnings there, It is > perfectly reasonable for a newbie to want to let the installation > install as much as possible, and then sit back and say "well, I won't > run it if I don't need it, but it's there if I want it". Most of them > do not, at that point, know how easy MCC/SoftwareManagement is, and may > figure that it's better to let the installation install this stuff than > have to worry about doing it later on. > > If there are actually any cases where having something installed (but > not running) is a security risk, then point that out during the later > dialog. But don't ask questions the user can't answer (newbie) or just > finds annoying (expert) before installation. > > Maybe part of the "which servers do you want to run at startup" dialog > could display known security issues for each server as its line-item is > selected (just like rpmdrake displays the package description when you > select the package). And, the initial dialog that displays the server > list could state why it's being displayed and what the concerns (in > general) are, and recommend that you not run anything you're not sure > you need. Of course, it should also point out that there are certain > servers without which a Mandrake system is going to run into problems.
These are valid points, but why not prompt the issues at selection time instead of later on? -- Quel Qun <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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