On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 05:10, Hendrik Brueckner
<brueck...@linux.vnet.ibm.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 04:56:50PM -0700, Donald Russell wrote:
>
> > Is this stuff open source? Or how/where do I make suggestions?
>
> You can send your feedback and suggestions to "linux-...@de.ibm.com" or
> directly to me.
>
> Thanks a lot for your feedback about the iucv terminals!
Thanks Hendrik,
First, let me say I think this whole terminal server thing is
fantastic. I would like to offer some suggestions...
I'm posting them here so perhaps other people can add ideas or comment
on mine, rather than sending you a list offline.
Some features/enhancements I'd like to see...
1-
My number one suggestion:
Assuming the Terminal Server VM ID is LXTS.... and my linux userid is
authorized (ts-authorization.conf) to connect to LX*...
Current behaviour: connect LXTS -> connection rejected (or gets me
into a new ts-shell) No good. Expected, but not what I want. ;-)
Suggestion: before attempting to start an IUCV connection, check if
the destination (target) is myself (LXTS in this case). If so, start a
new shell. (shell=... defined in ts-shell.conf)
Reason: Right now I need two linux IDs: 1 to *use* the TS to get to
other systems, and a second to logon to LXTS to do maintenance, etc.
Basically LXTS should be treated like any other "target" and access to
it controlled in the same way as access to other targets.
1a - for bonus points... add a "shell" command (similar to terminal)
to allow the user to specify which shell they want, that would be kept
in $HOME/.ts-shellrc (but it would only be useful for people
authorized to "connect lxts".
(When setting the shell, check it against /etc/shells, and don't let
them choose ts-shell. :-) )
2-
ts-shell.conf (needs more cowbell) ... enhance the connect command behaviour
2a -
provide a mapping of IP hostname to VM ID so the ts-shell connect
command may specify the host name instead of the USER ID. Reason:
The people supporting the zLinux systems may not readily know the VM
USERID of the target system, they usually connect to it directly via
SSH using a host name. The idea here is to "hide" some of the VM
specific things from people that may primarily be "Linux people".
2b -
Regarding terminal IDs
I don't know enough about IUCV, but...
Why can't I just connect via IUCV and have the target system assign
some dynamic terminal ID.
Comparing this to a "normal" SSH connection... I don't have n entries
in /etc/inittab for n simultaneous users, all users just connect and a
new instance is created.
Couldn't iucvtty do something similar?
i.e. iucvtty "listens for an IUCV connection".... it spawns a process
to accept the connection and goes back to listening for the next
one... (iucvtty should not "spawn/listen if the runlevel is "single
user")
If the above can be done, then the "terminal id" on the connect
command becomes much simpler: "iucv" or "hvc"
(Or whatever names we want to put in /etc/inittab) and can default very nicely.
Otherwise....
specify the terminal identifiers in ts-shell, perhaps using brace
expansion, example:
termid=iucvtty{1..10}
termid=hvc{0..7} (Could be implied since there is a restriction of
having a max of 8)
default-termid=iucv (actually a prefix of term-id defined above)
Then, change the connect command behaviour: Use the specified (or
default) terminal ID on the connect command to find the first
connection accepted using a terminal id from the list defined in the
termid statements in the conf file.
For example "connect MYLNX iucv" would first try iucv1... iucv2... iucv10
but connect MYLNX iucv1 would only try iucv1 and iucv10
Of course the identifiers don't have to be called "iucv..." and
"hvc..." they just have to match ts-shell.conf to /etc/inittab on the
targets.
Reason:
Allows automatic selection of a correct and functioning terminal ID. I
have to do that manually... connect... rejected. (First reaction: Oh
great! It's busted! Oh yeah, try something else...)
2c -
add an option in ts-shell to turn the pager off for the list command.
list-pager=no
list-pager=<path to pager program>
Reason:
"It's just wrong"(TM) :-) Though because ts-shell has such limited
access to the rest of the system I understand it may be more difficult
to allow the user to do their own piping ....
But in our (and probably lots) of situations, the list isn't really
that long, especially when using regex.
3-
The terminal command may display or set the current default terminal
identifier to use.
But it is not kept from one ts-shell to another... I have to set the
default each time.
keep that user preference in $HOME/.ts-shellrc (similar to .bashrc)
Perhaps John always uses hvc, so he sets his default to hvc, but Bob
always uses iucv (he sets his default)
Well, that's a good start... sorry if it took up a lot of bandwidth
here.... I'd be happy to discuss this more off-list...
Cheers,
Don
PS... I hope I'm not coming across as being too critical.... I REALLY
REALLY Like this... I just see a few things I'd like to improve.
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