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HelixCode Releases Admin Tools
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Helix Code has just released the first preview of its admin tools. Just now there are only three utils. They are glade front-end using perl back-end." Nifty way to attack the problem. I tend to prefer handling things like this the old fashioned way, but this kinda stuff is critical for the newbies. I mean, who wants to know what file you edit in /etc to change your DNS server, or what the syntax is to mount a remote NFS partition? (Ok, I want to know, but for those just joining us, it's probably not the happiest learning curve figuring this stuff out.)
Just glancing over these tools reminded me of something that I've heard is being done for MacOS X that I bet would be a good (albeit large) project for the OSS community to undertake.
:)
Basically for OS X it sounds like all their configuration stuff is done using XML conf files. I'm betting that they're not really making all NEW UNIX conf files, but are adding a layer of XML above stuff (ie, your resolv.conf file is generated off of an XML file)
I think a project whose job would be to take many modern day UNIX configuration files (/etc/*) and translate them into XML formatted files would be quite useful. The logical progression of such a project would be to allow a "univeral" configure tool which would interpret the XML files to create an on screen configuration tool for whatever conf files are needed. This would eliminate the need for specific tools hardcoded for certain files (like the one seen on the Helix code site for configuring your nic's) and would become essential to setting up a Linux box for newbies.
Just a hunch
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I think there is your problem. Newbies shouldn't HAVE to mess with that stuff. Someone new to Linux definitely shouldn't be running a DNS server or an FTP server! These are the kinds of people that stick their boxes up unprotected on the net and wonder why they get hacked, then blame it on Linux! Newbies (we were all a newbie at one time) generally don't bother keeping stuff upgraded until they become more advanced and that poses a very big security risk. Newbies to Linux should probably start off with something akin to a simple WebTV interface that handles all the hard details and doesn't make them worry about handling any of that administrative mumbo-jumbo. They just need to know to turn on their box and start their apps. When (and if) they want to advance and learn more they can get to a shell and start working with that.
I hope it has the capability to, upon making changes, show you exactly what it did. What files were changed, what was added or removed, and a quick little explanation of each change.
What better way to learn the fundamentals of system configuration?
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