Re: Linuxconf

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

On Fri, 28 Aug 1998, Federico Di Gregorio wrote:

> is someone working on Linuxconf? Some time ago there was a lot of
> talking, then 2.0 release took all my/our attention... I am sure
> everybody agrees on the fact that Debian should have GUI configuration
> tools...

i don't agree.

sure, it might be *nice* to have GUI config tools for newbies, but it's
far from essential.

i am in favour of *optional* GUI configuration tools which do NOT
invalidate or in any way interfere with the ability to edit a config
file with a text editor(*)

i am strongly opposed to any GUI config tool which was either essential
or which interfered in any way with editing text files with a text
editor(*).


(*) that means vi, for you heathens who don't know :).


fortunately, this message is preaching to the converted...as far as i
know, no-one in debian wants anything which over-rides the traditional
ways of configuring a unix box.


craig


PS: speaking as someone who has used GUI configurators (windows,
macintosh, solaris netra stuff, and numerous others) *AND* text based
configuration, I can't see what all the fuss is about. as far as i
am concerned, GUI configs are much harder and clumsier to use and
annoyingly limited in scope. 

i can not comprehend that people actually believe that something is
magically easier just because it has a few graphics in a window and forces
you to take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse.   That just
seems bizarre and wildly counter-intuitive.


--
craig sanders