Hi, as we know since a long time, etch will not be released with webmin and we need an alternative. One application, which seems to suit this need, is cipux. See http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/CipUX/ An installation manual to install cipux on sarge can be found at http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/CipUX/Installation/3.2.12 - but I havent found instructions to install it on etch, so I am writing this email to understand, what cipux is and if we can get it included in Debian/etch or into our repository, because it is (most probably) too late to get it into etch. So I looked for the cipux sources, and as far as I can see, the latest sources (as debian source packages) are at http://debiantest.cipworx.org/dists/sid/main/binary-all/ But there are two tar.gz there: cipux_3.2.11-1.tar.gz 10-Oct-2006 06:48 16.7M cipux_3.2.11.orig.tar.gz 25-Aug-2006 23:08 26.4M And I'm a bit confused by the 10 megabyte size difference... Anyway, it seems cipux also needs two more packages, which are not in debian yet: libauthen-simple-pam-perl and.libauthen-simple-perl. The latest source versions (as debian packages) I found are located at http://backports.cipworx.org/dists/sid/main/source/perl/ To have easier access, I copied those sources to http://developer.skolelinux.no/~holger/ Based on these packages (or newer versions of them) I want to install cipux on a debian-edu/etch-system. But the instructions on http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/CipUX/Installation/3.2.12 are targeted too much at sarge and manual installation. For debian-edu/etch we need automatic installation and configuration. So as a first step, I would be happy if someone could tell, which packages (the cipux source package builds many packages) we need to use CipUX as a webmin-replacement for etch. And then, what additional scripts (if any) need to be executed, to configure CipUX. As a second step, these three (if that is correct) source packages should be uploaded to debian-edu and debian. Also, I have to admit, I have not fully understood the CipUX architecture: quoting from the wiki-page: "CipUX is made up of several parts: on bottom is the LDAP server. On top of that, the LDAP abstraction layer CipUX::?CiBot can be found. Then the CipUX::Task module delivers daily administration task functions to different institutions: (1) The graphical CAT user interface. (2) The CipUX shell command line, and (3) the RPC daemon." So what we really want/need for Debian-Edu is CipUX/CAT. Correct? And CipUX/CAT is the php frontend to CipUX? This php frontend (if I understand the architecture correctly) has received a, IMO, quite scary security review, which conclusion was, to better rewrite it from scratch. And this needs a documentation of the CipUX-PRC API, as documented in http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/CipUX/Requests Also Cipux itself probably needs a security review... but at the moment I want to understand the automatic installation on etch first. And maybe someone else can do the review while I can help making the automatic installation (and configuration) in Debian-Edu/etch possible :-) The requiered features to have a replacement for webmin are (just discussed at the debian-edu devel meeting in Oslo): - administrate the user-data which is kept in LDAP - easy to use (for teachers, not kernel hackers) - usable from remote from any desktop It seems this requirements are also met by GOSA (used by the LiMuX-project (linux in the city of munich) and phpldapadmin (and maybe others, any hints?). These tools have the advantage, that they are allready included in Debian, but need to be tweaked to work with our LDAP schema and probably made a bit easier to use (by disabling some unused features) - but this is only package configuration. Screenshots are available at https://gosa.gonicus.de/ and http://phpldapadmin.sourceforge.net/screenshots.php (I cannot really say something about the moodle integration, which is done/possible with CipUX. But, IMHO, this is a new feature. What we really need (first), is a replacement for webmin. A better webmin is nice to have, but not a must. And I would also appreciate help to answer the question, what "moodle integration" really means.) Also I noted the #cpiux meeting is scheduled tomorrow at 18 UTC, which is one hour after the debian-edu meeting has started (where we will discuss the webmin replacement issue). Hopefully these schedules fit together... And I'm sorry not to have investigated this issue earlier... because I see a scenario I completly dislike: 1. packaging CipUX takes very long (read: too long for our release plan to release shortly after debian/etch has been released) and (maybe) the resulting packages will not be accepted into debian-edu because of security issues. 2. the debian-edu developers invest time and work to make gosa or phpldapadmin usuable as a replacement for webmin. 3. the french and german team are annoyed (because they worked for nothing and the gosa/phpldapadmin solution doesnt satisfies their needs) and release a add-on cd for debian-edu which includes CipUX. I don't want this too happen! And I will definitly be happy with CipUX, if the result of the security review(s) are put into practice. As I will be happy with any other software, which meets our requirements, the DFSG, is ready in time and is supportable security-wise. regards, Holger
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