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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.mathworks.com!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!news.sprintlink.net!in1.uu.net!news1.digital.com!pa.dec.com!nntpd.lkg.dec.com!usenet From: Jon Jenkins <jenkinsj@ozy.ddec.com> Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: The Future of FreeBSD... Date: 12 Aug 1995 22:13:48 GMT Organization: Digital Equipment Corp Lines: 52 Message-ID: <40j92s$unh@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> References: <3uktse$d9c@hal.nt.tuwien.ac.at> <3vgo2b$6vk@cronkite.seas.gwu.edu> <3vi181$j4u@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> <3vj7he$aca@nntp5.u.washington.edu> <3vkh3r$e2v@gate.sinica.edu.tw> <40gf8q$ddv@hamlet.m-u-b.de> <40if2r$ntj@news.bu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: ozyd13-p3.ozy.dec.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (X11; I; BSD/386 uname failed) X-URL: news:40if2r$ntj@news.bu.edu mi@cs.bu.edu (Mikhail Teterin) wrote: ...snip >|I don't mind having these, but the system must remain completely configurable >|with no more than /bin/vi, IMHO (and cc and such, for that matter). > >|I think it's a _really bad idea_ to throw these out and require running a GUI >|to configure the system. > >My full support! Having to deal with Windows NT at work, I know, what >happens when, say, Registry gets screwed -- the whole damn thing may >not come up! Even if this happened to be an Intell machine, and you, >accidentaly have a DOS installed -- you can not go and fix NT from it -- >Registry database is in a binary form (unlike .ini files of plain old >Windows). You may very well end up reinstalling the whole OS. > >So, yes, smth like control panel may be nice (not of the highest >priority, IMHO), but vi should remain sufficient for the job. Absolutely agree. However to make BOTH manual and GUI setup easier perhaps a globally based single keyword file otherwise parsing becomes a nightmare. If desired the GUI tool (or vi) can be used to modifiy the keyword file. Then if desired the various "standard" files could be generated automatically. For example in networking setup the files such as: hosts hosts.conf resolv.conf networks etc etc would still form the basis for the networking setup and could still be edited by hand. Additionally a global networking file (say networks.conf) with sections for each of the base files could be used by a utility (say netsetup) to generate the individual files. Then a GUI utility (xnetsetup) could be sued to generate/modify the networks.conf file and subsequently call netsetup to generate the base files. Jon -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Dr Jon Jenkins Location: Digital Equipment Corporation NaC Voice/Fax: 61-7-55-75-0151/100 Burnett Place, Research Park, Inet: jenkinsj@ozy.dec.com Bond University, Gold Coast Close Proximity: "HEY YOU !!!" QLD, AUSTRALIA 4229 "Daddy, what's outside the Universe?" (My 5 year old.....) -----------------------------------------------------------------------