Linuxconf 1. What is linuxconf? Welcome to linuxconf, an interactive configuration and activation utility. This utility allows you to configure the following items: +o Networking (client) 1. Basic TCP/IP setup 2. Routing 3. DNS location 4. NIS client 5. IPX (Novell) setup 6. PPP and SLIP dialout +o Networking (server) 1. Boot services: RARP and DHCP 2. DNS 3. IP Aliasing 4. NFS 5. Mail 6. Uucp +o X11 +o User account +o File systems (partitions) +o Boot mode 1. LILO 2. Boot runlevel One key difference between linuxconf and other configuration utilities is that linuxconf takes care of the activation. As an example, if you elect to make some portion of your hard drive available to other machines (such as exporting a file system or a portion of it) via NFS (Network File System), linuxconf will not only help you enter the configuration information but will start the NFS server. If you change your mind later and delete the NFS configuration, linuxconf will stop the NFS server. 2. Command line usage Linuxconf is an interactive utility that can also be run from the command line, which is useful for scripts. Furthermore, linuxconf has several aliases allowing you to enter directly into one of its functional areas. These include: 2.1. domainname Print and set the NIS domainname. 2.2. dnsconf It gets you directly into the main menu of the DNS configure program. +o dnsconf --newdomain domain [template-domain] Install a domain in the DNS. Optionally, use another domain as a template to fill the various field of the domain definition. This includes the DNS advertising section, the email advertising and the various delays. +o dnsconf --set host ip ... Install a host definition in the DNS configuration. It will update the domain and the reverse mappings. +o dnsconf --set host --fromrange range-name Install a host definition. Note that linuxconf allocates the IP itself. It uses the given range to locate the first available IP. +o dnsconf --setcname host real-host Install a nickname for a host in the DNS configuration. +o dnsconf --setfromip host ip Install a host definition in the DNS configuration. It will update the domain and the reverse mappings. Unlike the --set option, this will delete all other host entries which point to this IP number. This functionality is provided as a hook for automatic DNS updates from a DHCP server. +o dnsconf --setmx host/domain mailserver... Install one or more MX records for a host or domain in the DNS configuration. The order is used to set the preference. +o dnsconf --setns host/domain dnsserver... Install one or more NS records for a host or domain in the DNS configuration. +o dnsconf --unset host Remove all references to a host (a record and PTR record) from the DNS configuration. 2.3. fixperm fixperm makes sure that the vital files and directories have proper ownership and permissions. Without argument, it prints its command line options. 2.4. fsconf It gets you directly into the filesystem's configuration menu. +o fsconf --check Do some sanity checking (and correction) in /etc/fstab. 2.5. hostname Print and set the hostname. 2.6. linuxconf Without argument, it simply gets in linuxconf's main menu. +o linuxconf --archive [sub-system ...] Archive the configuration files for the current system profile. Optionally, you can specify a list of subsystems to archive. Without further argument, linuxconf will archive all subsystems. +o linuxconf --diff [sub-system ...] Compare the current configuration file with the last revision stored in the archive for the current system profile. Optionally, you can specify a list of subsystems to process. Without further argument, linuxconf will process all subsystems. +o linuxconf --extract [sub-system ...] Extract the last archived copy of the configuration files for the current system profile. Optionally, you can specify a list of subsystems to extract. Without further argument, linuxconf will extract all subsystems. This effectively overwrites the configuration files with the most recent copy from the profile archive: Use with care !!! +o linuxconf --history [sub-system ...] Show the archive log of all configuration files for the current system profile. Optionally, you can specify a list of subsystems to process. Without further argument, linuxconf will process all subsystems. +o linuxconf --gui Linuxconf will operate in GUI mode even if it is configured differently (see the features menu). +o linuxconf --guiproto This tells linuxconf that it has been started from a GUI front-end, which expects GUI commands. Using this alone on the command line is useless. Here are some examples: remadmin --exec linuxconf --guiproto remadmin --exec ssh one_server linuxconf --guiproto +o linuxconf --setmod module Register a new module. If the module was already registered it has no effect. If the module was already registered but disabled, it is left this way. This is generally used in the post-install part of a module package. +o linuxconf --shutdown Jump straight into the shutdown dialog. This can be useful set up as a button on your X desktop. +o linuxconf --text Linuxconf will operate in text mode even under X11. This may be useful for under-powered workstations, where text mode is quicker. +o linuxconf --unsetmod module Unregister a module. This should be used by the pre-uninstall part of a module package. 2.7. netconf Without argument, this will get you into the networking submenu of Linuxconf. Here are the command line options: +o netconf --connect pppsetup [--fore] Establish a PPP connection using the pppsetup specification. It is possible to keep it in the foreground using the --fore option. netconf will terminate (when not using --fore) only when the link is up or the connection has failed. A useful code is return. This allows simple scripts like this #!/bin/sh if netconf --connect config then you can use the network right away else the connection has failed fi +o netconf --dialctl This presents the list of all PPP/Slip dialout configurations and shows, for each one, their status (connected or not). When selecting a configuration that is not connected, linuxconf asks if you wish to establish the connection. You need proper privileges or the root password to do that. If the connection is established, it asks if you wish to disconnect. Again proper privileges are needed. This command line option points to the same function as the "Activate/terminate PPP links" menu entry of the control panel. This command is suitable for inclusion in the user's desktop menu. +o netconf --disconnect pppsetup Terminate a PPP connection. +o netconf --resetfw Turn off packet filtering (firewall) completely. This is normally used as an emergency trick to bring a network back to life after applying a firewalling rule that is too drastic. +o netconf --update Will reactivate firewalling rules. +o netconf --runlevel local | client | server Switch the workstation to a different operation mode. +o netconf --status Check what has to be done to bring the workstation in sync with its configuration. +o netconf --update Make the configuration file effective (initiate what netconf --status tells you has to be done). 2.8. userconf It gets you directly into the user configuration menu. Here are the command line options: +o userconf --adduser userid group username shell This creates a user account and updates (if available) the various disk quota records from the defaults. There is no default for the --adduser option. The HOME directory (utilizing the default base) is created with proper /etc/skel handling. You may use the passwd command with the -P to set the password for the new account. +o userconf --deluser userid This deletes an account. 3. The WWW interface Linuxconf may be operated from a Web browser. To access linuxconf on your machine, point your browser to http://:98/ The menu structure is the same across all three interfaces. The advantage to the Web interface is that you can set bookmarks to permit rapid movement to specific configuration screens. 3.1. Specific entries to the WWW interface Users may change their own password through the browser using linuxconf. We suggest that you encode this URL in one of your corporate HTML pages (change your own password, click here). The URL is http://:98/htmlmod:userpass: 4. General information Linuxconf is written at Solucorp by Jacques Gelinas (jacques@solucorp.qc.ca). Comments and bug reports are accepted via email. 4.1. Key bindings in text mode Most screens do have a help button. You can access this button using the TAB key or directly using the F1 function key. Some fields have a companion pop-up selection list. These fields are identified with a down pointing arrow at their right end. You can depress the cntl-X key (Control and X at the same time) to activate the pop-up. You can make a selection and either confirm it with the ENTER key or TAB your way to the Quit button. Press the function key F3 to escape from any dialog. 4.2. Other key bindings Here are other key bindings used in Linuxconf. They are also useful elsewhere notably when using the shell. Note that the normal "PC modern" keypad is supported (Home, End, PgDp, PgDn. Del, BkSp). +o ctrl-A : Go to the beginning of the line. +o ctrl-B : Move one character to the left +o ctrl-D : Delete the current character by sliding the end of the line over it. +o ctrl-E : Go to the end of the line. +o ctrl-F : Move one character to the right +o ctrl-K : Delete text up to the end of the line. 4.3. The textarea widget The textarea widget is special as it spans several lines. Further it may be used to edit text larger than the display. Key usage for text editor are a little incompatible with the key bindings for normal text mode dialogs. Using a text editor, one will happily use TAB, DOWN, UP, PAGE DOWN, PAGE UP and so on. Those keys are currently used for field to field navigation. Graphical interface normally reserve the TAB key to jump from one field to the other. Linuxconf uses the TAB key in text mode to jump from the dialog area to the button area. Using the GUI strategy would not work very well: Having to "tab" your way to the "Accept" button of a 20 lines dialog is simply unacceptable. Oddly the GUI standard is not acceptable either, but the mouse is saving the day here. The textarea widget in text mode is somewhat modal. In field mode the normal behavior or field navigation keys (TAB, DOWN, UP, ...) is preserved. You must enter a white space on the field to trigger the edit mode. While in edit mode, all field navigation keys behave as one expect in a text editor. Hitting escape twice will bring you back to field navigation mode. Here are some key bindings specific to the textarea edit mode. They can be used along normal key binding and are especially useful when the terminal emulation you are using is ineffective (like some broken telnet software). +o ctrl-P: Move one line up. Like the UP arrow. +o ctrl-N: Move one line down. Like the DOWN arrow. +o ctrl-K: Erase from the cursor to the end of the line. The erased text is preserved in the yank buffer. +o ctrl-Y: Insert the yank buffer at the current position. 5. Official Web site and mailing list The official Web site for linuxconf is http://www.solucorp.qc.ca/linuxconf . There are two mailing lists for linuxconf. They are linuxconf@xc.org and linuxconf-announce@xc.org. You can find information about these mailing lists (and archives) at http://www.solucorp.qc.ca/linuxconf/mailinglist.html .