Re: Linuxconf
On Fri, Aug 28, 1998 at 04:37:51PM +0200, Federico Di Gregorio wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 28, 1998 at 05:56:46PM +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
> > On Fri, 28 Aug 1998, Federico Di Gregorio wrote:
>
> It's easier when you have a dropdown menu with, say, 20 choices instead
> of a 20 page manual describing 20 keywords you have to put in a conf-file
> by hand. (I have the time to RTFM, some friends of mine haven't, they just
> want to *do* something with their box. I can't blame them for that.)
I can blame them for that. If I buy a chainsaw (to borrow Manojs favourite
example), I take the time to read the manual, because it's a tool, and I
should learn how to work with it. Linux is a collection of dozens of power
tools, and you should take the time to learn to use them --- or stay away
from them.
The other solution is to make a baby saw, which can only cut branches but is
less complicated to use. It's okay if someone wants that, but I doubt this
is the niche that Debian has to fill, there are other projects for that
(SEUL comes to mind) --- those projects can be based on Debian, though.
I agree that a generalized configuration tool can come handy, but this will
be a tool itself and needs to be very powerful to become useful on Linux.
(for example, I don't like the various GUI programs for crontab etc that are
popping up with KDE and Gnome --- they are not flexible and scalable
enough. I do like approaches like COAS, but the progress is slow, which is
just a symptom of the underlying complications).
Just my two cents,
Marcus
--
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