On Thu, 06 Apr 2006 15:48:36 +1200
Volker Kuhlmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> > > And every distro worth mentioning has its own GUI runlevel editor.
> 
> > The problem with all point and click GUIs is, quite simply, that they 
> > completely hide all the details of what you are trying to do. I.O.W, while 
> > for some people they are quick and convenient, they will ruin any 
> > fundamental understanding and your learning experience utterly and 
> > completely.
> 
> I don't agree. The first job is to get things working - nothing beats
> GUI there (as long as the GUI thing is functional). Nothing prevents
> those inclined to dig and learn from doing just that. So you could
> simply answer the question at hand with "use your system's GUI runlevel
> editor", and add for the adventurous "it modifies the symlink set under
> /etc/init.d/". If you're kind, add "read it up in 'The $DISTRO's boot
> concept'". You learn by observing how insserv acts on the links - while
> retaining a fully functional system! To anyone stumbling into that
> symlink lafaffel surely the next question is "where's the tool to run
> that show?". Well, mine was. Sure I could use ln, but never dreamt of
> doing so. Keep in mind that on Linux, all those GUI thingemes typically
> only edit some text file anyway, so I say, start with the GUI, and
> compare the text file before and after, that way you're much less likely
> to make your grave while digging around.

Sorry, but *how* would you even know which text file ( or multiple symlinks in 
this case ) was modified if all you do is point and click.

In the example in this thread, 'let's get a samba server up and running as fast 
as possible so I can share my files', where does the concept of defining 
security policies, user access, domains, etc, etc, etc come in given your 
approach. Are you suggesting that 'we'll come back to that later', by which 
time your bank details are all over the internet? Extreme example, yes, but 
perfectly possible.

Sure, rely on default settings if you will, but who's to say that they weren't 
written by an axe murderer?

Or would it be a safer approach to read up, take time, understand the 
strengehs, weaknesses, basic concepts, etc, then set it all up?

It's like the classic example of the person who got apache up and running on 
his xp desktop, opened port 80 on his router, and laid his whole pc bare. 
Click, click, click, done.

My $0.02,

Steve

Reply via email to