Linux-Misc Digest #37, Volume #20 Mon, 3 May 99 07:13:10 EDT
Contents:
Re: GNU reeks of Communism (Michael Powe)
Re: how do i detect if x is running? (Paul Kimoto)
Re: Upgrading RH5.2 -> RH6.0 (Paul Kimoto)
Re: Netscape 4.5 (Steve McClay)
Re: SUID games? What is RedHat doing? (Bill Unruh)
Re: viewing Linux Xserver Xfree86 on NT ? ("Jing Duan")
Re: Installing PPP into the Kernel (Bill Unruh)
Re: GNU reeks of Communism (Ed Avis)
yeh right (Re: SUID games? What is RedHat doing?) (hvddukp)
Re: SUID games? What is RedHat doing? (Shimpei Yamashita)
Re: Moving Linux to a new hard disk? (Rolf Skowronek)
Re: Mac-emulation on Linux? (Daniel Robert Franklin)
Re: SETI@home output capture (Alex Butcher)
Re: viewing Linux Xserver Xfree86 on NT ? ("Larry Brasfield")
ACL ("Andreas Moroder")
Re: Computer virus threat to Linux? (Geoff Short)
Re: ftp question (monitoring progress) (John Thompson)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: GNU reeks of Communism
From: Michael Powe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 03 May 1999 00:24:26 -0700
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE=====
Hash: SHA1
>>>>> "Jerry" == Jerry Lynn Kreps <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Jerry> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> In his obvious haste, Prins Olivier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> babbled
Jerry> thusly:
>> : errr.....i think right at this moment your nation is bombing
Jerry> another
>> : country trying to destabilise it forever....and about WW II i
>> just
Jerry> want to
>> : say one word....Dresden....
>> Errrrm... What about London, coventry, and many other british
>> cities
Jerry> and
>> towns that were bombed by the Germans? It was a full scale
>> world war.
>> Oh, and it's not BRITAIN that's bombing the serbs, it's NATO,
>> of Jerry> which
>> Britain is a small part. The major influence of this offensive
>> is good ol' >> Bill Clinton.
Do-de-do-de do-de-do-de ... sound of twilight zone music ...
Jerry> Don't forget ... this is Wag-the-dog IV for Clinton. He
Jerry> wagged three other times in minor ways because he was only
Jerry> trying to distract from bimbo and impeachment problems.
Jerry> This time he needed a SERIOUS distraction because he is
Jerry> trying to keep the press and the American people from
Jerry> noticing his treasoneous actions in selling military
Jerry> technology to the Chinese for campaign donations (121
Jerry> people have fled the USA to avoid being summoned to
Jerry> testify). Increasing the accuracy of Chinese missles and
Jerry> giving them the technology to reduce the size of the
Jerry> nuclear bombs so they can be merved is putting the entire
Jerry> world at risk, just to save his leacherous neck - that's a
Jerry> crime against humanity. But, for those of you who voted
Whoops! Time to wake up! Let's check out the Butch administration
selling biowar ingredients to Iraq in 1991 ... and Granpap Ron doing
the Iran-Contra shuffle ... let's go back, waaay back to the grain
embargo -- remember what happened when Carter tried to stop sleeping
with "the enemy"? Whooee. It's fine to talk tough about those nasty
communists, but when it's time to collect the money -- don't get in
the way.
Sales of technology to foreign powers are driven by capitalist greed
- -- whoever has the influence gets the contracts.
Jerry> for him, what did you expect? This man, who switched his
Jerry> stand on the death penality and fried a lobotomized Black
Jerry> man to show he was tough on crime during the 1992 elections
Jerry> will have no second thoughts about frying you if it serves
Jerry> his purpose. And he will do it claiming it is for the
Jerry> "good of the children".
Zzzzzt. Despite his flaws, he's head and shoulder about the
"competition" (ah, Bob "cigarettes don't cause cancer" Dole, where are
you when we need a good laugh?).
mp
- --
powered by GNU/linux since Sept 1997
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.trollope.org
Michael Powe Portland, Oregon USA
"Would John the Baptist have lost his head if his name was Steve?"
=====BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE=====
Version: GnuPG v0.9.0 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Encrypted with Mailcrypt 3.5.1 and GNU Privacy Guard
iD8DBQE3LU4O755rgEMD+T8RAlW5AJ4pCN+7yI8jWrSn/XoBuTioiHKPxQCfYcsp
kVPX3CSn9dxUxUoKyKtqfZ0=
=41Ph
=====END PGP SIGNATURE=====
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Kimoto)
Subject: Re: how do i detect if x is running?
Date: 3 May 1999 02:10:17 -0500
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In article <7gj7t3$sgj$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Cameron Spitzer wrote:
> How about checking for the X server's socket?
>
> test -S /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 && echo The X server is running.
This assumes that the display is on localhost, doesn't it?
--
Paul Kimoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Paul Kimoto)
Subject: Re: Upgrading RH5.2 -> RH6.0
Date: 3 May 1999 02:15:38 -0500
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Erica Vogle wrote:
> I've been checking out www.gnu.org for 2.1 for a while now, and no where
> on their site have I found a reference to the release of 2.1. In fact, all
> I've found are notes stating they've pulled the pre-2.1 for political reasons.
See ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/glibc or
ftp://ftp.us.kernel.org/pub/software/libs/glibc
(^^ replace with appropriate country code as appropriate).
The "political reason" is that glibc-2.1 wanted to be compiled by egcs,
not gcc (i.e., "the official GNU compiler"). But (1) future releases
will be compilable by gcc-2.8.x, and (2) the egcs team is taking over
gcc maintenance.
> Has anyone tried the NIS+ code in 2.1?
You might find information from some glibc-2.1 users at
http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/glibc-linux-archive/ .
--
Paul Kimoto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
From: Steve McClay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Netscape 4.5
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 06:06:00 GMT
I finally got rid of it using the rpm -e command..Thanks..Now the problem is
that I can't link the New Netscape (4.5) to the Netscape option in the menu.
When U click on netscape nothing happens. The I have to go
/usr/local/netscape/netscape. This is because I didn't use the rpm file to
install. Is there a way to fix it ?
Also is there a way I could have the graphical version of RPM managaer ? I
have heard about it, but don't know what it's called. I had it under my
previous Window Manager, but can't find it after I installed Windowmaker..
Thanks in advance,
Steve.
In article <01be9508$38f4d900$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"m" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It -should- be as easy as finding the rpm that came with RH5.2 and
> "erasing" it...
>
> rpm -e netscape4.07.rpm or whatever it is... check the rpm man page for
> more info on that.
> If that doesn't work, you can just delete it from the HD (or overwrite it
> with the 4.5 version [that what I did - I suppose that is less appealing]).
>
> Steve McClay <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in article
> <7giot7$n4c$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > Hello ppl, I just downloaded Netscape 4.5 for Linux 2 and installed it
> > successfully in R.h 5.2. Now the problem is that I don't know how to
> > uninstall Netscape 4.07(standard with R.H 5.2). I installed this
> version(4.5)
> > with the unix-script rather than the rpm file provided with the package.
> Any
> > help would be appreciated. Thanks, Steve.
> >
> > -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> > http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
>
> >
>
============= Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ============
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Unruh)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.security.unix
Subject: Re: SUID games? What is RedHat doing?
Date: 2 May 1999 23:44:27 GMT
In <7gilll$n9i$[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Lee Maguire <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>>With games this is especially dangerous, because security is
>>probably the farthest thing from the minds of the game writer.
>It certainly shouldn't be the top priority - I mean, they're GAMES!
>If your mission-critical server is being used for Doom then I'd suggest
>that the biggest security hole is in the wetware, not the software.
They are programs which can be run by anyone, including anyone in the
world who has managed to get user access to your system. Those suid root
games would probably crash if run by blogs in Mongolia on your machine,
but in the process could well give him root access. It is precisely
because of mindsets like the one you just displayed ("tey're GAMES!...")
That they are so dangerous. They are first and foremost programs, and
as such are as dangerous as any suid lpr or sendmail. From a security
standpoint it is irrelevant that they are games.
>There are single-user Linux systems out there where a fast framerate in
>Quake *is* more important than internal security - my home PC for one.
But of course there is nothing that makes sure that they can only be run
on single user mode, or on a non-networked machine.
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
From: "Jing Duan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: viewing Linux Xserver Xfree86 on NT ?
Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 03:42:58 GMT
Larry Brasfield <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:7E5X2.3438$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Matt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> > Hi,
> >
> > Is it possible to view Linux Xwindows on a NT box. using an equiv app
> > to Hummingbirds Exceed but for free. Maybe SuperX.
>
> As they say at their site,
> http://www.microimages.com/freestuf/mix/
> MicroImages is happy to make its X Server freely
> available for use on any Macintosh or Windows computers.
>
> It installs very easily, works great, and can
> pretty much be configured by referring to
> the X documentation.
>
Not for all applications, I can not use Lyx, XNC (a file manager).
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Unruh)
Subject: Re: Installing PPP into the Kernel
Date: 2 May 1999 23:48:46 GMT
In <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Dennis Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>Would anybody out there know how to put PPP into the kernel in Red Hat
>Linux 5.0 (kernel 2.0.32)? I have already tryed "insmod" and
>"kernelcfg". Thanx, Kevin Brown.
It is already "in the kernel" as a module. Just make sure youare running
kerneld, which will load the module when needed.
/sbin/kerneld
------------------------------
From: Ed Avis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.linux.advocacy,gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: GNU reeks of Communism
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 11:29:11 +0100
Matthias Warkus wrote:
>(Mail from ESR to mawa, date unknown)
>
># No, it's not OK by me for a state to have an army, either. I'm an
># anarchist.
Right, so he doesn't think it's okay to spend money on defence, but
he's quite happy with granting copyright monopolies to software
companies. A strange position for somebody who claims that open
source leads to better software - in this case, there is *state
intervention* leading to *poorer software*! I would have thought that
any anarchist who 'wants to live in a world where software doesn't
suck' would be doubly opposed to such a system.
--
Ed Avis
Advertise here! [EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (hvddukp)
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.security.unix
Subject: yeh right (Re: SUID games? What is RedHat doing?)
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 10:26:40 GMT
On 3 May 1999 06:32:47 GMT, Bill Unruh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The point is that I for example have administered Unix system for over
> 10 years as an small adjunct to my main job doing research. The point is
> that when I was given the opportunity to install, I did choose "games"
> because sometimes my users might want to relax with some games. The
> point is that there was no warning that some of the games were suid
> root, and when I did a scan for suid root programs I suddenly found 6 of
> them under games. The point is that I probably know and am more concious
> of security than 80% of sysadmins out there, and these came as a shock
> to me. Many people administering Unix machines, connected to the net, do
> not even know how to find out whether or not they have suid root
> programs running.
It appears you like starting your sentences with "The point is that".
Here are some real points for you:
1. "... more concious of security than 80% of sysadmins out there, ..."
I doubt that. If you just "discovered" suid root games installed
from RedHat then you are an idiot. If you think they are more of a
risk than any other suid app on your system then you are an even
bigger idiot.
2. "Many people administering Unix machines ... do not even know how to
find out whether or not they have suid root programs running."
Uh, no. If you don't know that then you aren't "administering" a
Unix machine, you are just using one.
> It is precisely my point that Redhat has put in trojans into their
> distribution, that things put on for a lark can seriously comprimise the
> security of the system, and that is unacceptable.
This is your point? I wasn't sure with all of your "The point is that"'s
floating around.
I hate to break this to you, but all RedHat did was sell you a CD. You
are the mindless "admin" that installed the software in question on your
system. If you don't want it, don't install it.
> Of course now I know about them I can remove them. Any security hole can
> be removed once you know about it. That is not the point.
Uh, unless RedHat took control of your body then yes, it is the point.
> The point is that
*sigh*
Do you really have any idea what your point is?
> the only way I got to know about them was by
> accident. Games are NOT someplace I would look for security risks, and
> for someone to put security risks there is not acceptable policy.
I think your "point" is that you want RedHat to think for you so you can
just hit "install" and not worry about anything. Perhaps you should go
back to Windows. It appears to be geared more towards your mindset.
> How many of you who are ponitificating here actually knew that some of
> the games run as suid root?
I did. Everyone with half of a brain checks every suid app after an install.
You are the only one b*tching about it because everyone else knows what
"rpm -e" does.
------------------------------
From: Shimpei Yamashita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,comp.security.unix
Subject: Re: SUID games? What is RedHat doing?
Date: 3 May 1999 01:56:11 +0100
Bill Unruh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>Not really. Having uncontrolled programs on your system which are suid
>root is insane. It is precisely such programs which a user on the system
>can use to gain root access, and hving them there as games, instead of
>crucial system programs, is just silly and dangerous.
>If you need access to something which for some reason requires root
>(aparently the SVGAlib is such) then you provide a single access program
>which you can then really make sure is safe running suid root. You do
>not have each and every program which wants to use the resource doing
>so. With games this is especially dangerous, because security is
>probably the farthest thing from the minds of the game writer. At least
>system daemon writers by now have security as one of their concerns. But
>that is not true of games writers.
That's really nice and all that. The fact remains, however, that
SVGAlib programs currently *requires* root, and if you want to run
them, you either have to be root yourself or make them setuid root and
keep your eye on BugTraq for the SVGAlib security hole of the week.
You might argue that forcing SVGAlib to be setuid root is a misfeature
in Linux, and you may be right, but that isn't something that's going
to change for a long, long time.
I don't see too much problems with SVGAlib on a single-user machine
which provides no external services--if someone manages to sneak onto
such a machine, that someone can probably just as easily sniff the
root password out of the hapless user. It is clearly out of the
question on multi-user machines with any sort of remote access
enabled--I make sure all trace SVGAlib is gone from any such machines
I am responsible for.
--
Shimpei Yamashita <http://www.submm.caltech.edu/%7Eshimpei/>
------------------------------
From: Rolf Skowronek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Moving Linux to a new hard disk?
Date: 3 May 1999 06:46:29 GMT
Thomas Zajic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: On Fri, 30 Apr 1999 12:21:20 +0100, Tom Hall wrote:
:> I currently have Linux (redhat 5.2 with 2.2.6 kernel) on my hard disk, I
:> will shortly be receiving my new 18Gb hard disk and I'm looking to move
:> linux over to the new hard disk (which will replace the old one), now is
:> it possible to just create the partitions on the new hd and then use cp
:> to copy *everything* over to the new partition, and have it all work as
:> before. If not, whats the best way to do this ?
:> many thanks
: Using �cp -ax� always worked for me. Just don�t forget to �mkdir� your mount
: points on the new partition (/usr, /proc, /tmp, ...) and to update the (new!)
: /etc/fstab if necessary.
try cpio. Mount your new disk under /mnt, then cd /,
thenn find . | grep -v /mnt | cpio -pdmu /mnt.
grep filters out /mnnt which would otherwise get copied again.
You might have to run lilo after.
That's how I transferred my system to a larger disk without any problem.
Rolf
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Daniel Robert Franklin)
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.powerpc
Subject: Re: Mac-emulation on Linux?
Date: 3 May 99 06:48:24 GMT
"FM" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>I will attend a college this fall that is predominantly
>Mac-oriented. While they state that Unix and Windows are
>supported by the campus network, it seems that a Macintosh-
>compatible system might be necessary to fully take
>advantage of the system. For example, many softwares are
>written for Macintosh by the faculty, the letter for last
>year's computer purchase recommendation notes. I'm a little
>disgruntled, as I have been planning on getting a Linux
>system for college. So here are a couple of options I have:
>1. Just buy a X86 machine and install Linux on it (if not
>preinstalled). Get some Mac-emulation software if necessary.
>The problem I have with this option is that I have no idea
>about the availability of Mac-emulation softwares for Linux
>nor the degree of compatibility they provide.
OK, you can buy a thing called "Executor":
http://www.ardi.com
It's not freeware but it *does* work, and there is a free time-limited
demo (5 or 10 minutes I think). $35 US for students for the Linux version.
It runs surprisingly quickly.
>2. Buy a Macintosh and dual boot with Linux/MacOS
This is also a viable option, but somewhat more expensive :)
- Daniel
--
******************************************************************************
* Daniel Franklin - Postgraduate student in Electrical Engineering
* [EMAIL PROTECTED]
******************************************************************************
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Alex Butcher)
Subject: Re: SETI@home output capture
Date: Mon, 03 May 1999 10:30:28 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On 28 Apr 1999 16:50:31 GMT, Alasdair Allan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Thomas Amsler ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
>>
>>
>> I am running the SETI@home program and would like to capture its output
>> to a file. While running the program, it prints the output to the
>> terminal.
>>
>[snip]
>>
>> It seems that the above program neither uses stdout or stderr for its
>> output handling.
>
>Thats the conclusion I came to, rather annoying really.
What's wrong with:
#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/setiathome >/var/log/setiathome 2>&1 &
?
>Alasdair.
Best Regards,
Alex.
--
Alex Butcher Using Linux since '95 - because windows are too easy to break.
Berkshire, UK URLBLAST:slashdot.org:www.freshmeat.net:www.dejanews.com:
lwn.net:www.tomshardware.com:www.stardiv.de:www.gimp.org:
------------------------------
From: "Larry Brasfield" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.x
Subject: Re: viewing Linux Xserver Xfree86 on NT ?
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 23:57:55 GMT
Matt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Hi,
>
> Is it possible to view Linux Xwindows on a NT box. using an equiv app
> to Hummingbirds Exceed but for free. Maybe SuperX.
As they say at their site,
http://www.microimages.com/freestuf/mix/
MicroImages is happy to make its X Server freely
available for use on any Macintosh or Windows computers.
It installs very easily, works great, and can
pretty much be configured by referring to
the X documentation.
> Linux box arch = Martox Mill G200 Video Card using SuSE.
> NT box = Savage 3D Video Card.
If you have video working on the Windows box,
the MiX server should work. It doesn't matter
what video you have on the client machine.
> Connection via DEC Ethernet card 10/100
It just has to be sockets-compatible.
> Many thanks
HTH.
--
--Larry Brasfield
Above opinions may be mine alone.
(Humans may reply at unundered [EMAIL PROTECTED] )
------------------------------
From: "Andreas Moroder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: ACL
Date: 3 May 1999 09:47:32 GMT
Hi there,
is there a way to have ACL on Linux ( if possible with the ext2fs )
Thank you
Andreas Moroder
amoroder@[spam]se-nord.provinz.bz.it
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Geoff Short)
Subject: Re: Computer virus threat to Linux?
Date: 3 May 1999 10:35:31 GMT
Carl Fink ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
:
: Do you really think that the loss of one's home directory *doesnt'
: matter*?!
:
: No, it's not as bad as losing everything on a system, but most of my
: important data is in my home directory.
If I lost my home directory I'd be very pissed off. I'd also be able to
restore everything (except today's work) from backups. Deletion due to
virus is much less likely than loss due to hardware failure or plain
incompetence on my part. So, I dump everything to tape or cd every so
often, and get root to run a backup every night to copy new stuff to a
different hard disk.
Geoff
--
============================================================================
Ever sit and watch ants? They're always busy with Geoff Short
something, never stop for a moment. I just [EMAIL PROTECTED]
can't identify with that kind of work ethic. http://kipper.york.ac.uk/~geoff
------------------------------
From: John Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: ftp question (monitoring progress)
Date: Sun, 02 May 1999 21:14:14 -0600
Doug Sanderson wrote:
>
> Is there some way to monitor the progress of an ftp "put" command,
> similar to
> the microsoft dialog window that tells you how many bytes remain and how
>
> much more time until the transfer is complete?
Have you tried "hash?" It will put a hash mark ("#") on the
screen for each block transfered. It doesn't give
percentage transfered, time remaining or anything fancy like
that, though. Use ncftp for that kind of coolness.
--
-John ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
------------------------------
** FOR YOUR REFERENCE **
The service address, to which questions about the list itself and requests
to be added to or deleted from it should be directed, is:
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You can send mail to the entire list (and comp.os.linux.misc) via:
Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Linux may be obtained via one of these FTP sites:
ftp.funet.fi pub/Linux
tsx-11.mit.edu pub/linux
sunsite.unc.edu pub/Linux
End of Linux-Misc Digest
******************************
