New user encountering problems

[Victor Tsaran]

Hopefully, we can make a constructive discussion here. Please, please,
please! In fact, I must agree with Kerry that Debian seems to follow the
standards that many other distributions such as SunOS, FreeBSD, Irix follow.
However, I like the way Redhat handles initialization files. In general, I
think it was a great idea for them to create a directory for each runlevel
and prepend the script with S for start and K for kill. At least when you do
LS, you are not bombarded with tones of files (actually, you still are!)
Best,
Vic

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Kerry Hoath" <kerry at gotss.eu.org>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2000 1:16 AM
Subject: Re: New user encountering problems


> Debian put stuff in nonstandard places?
> Actually Debian is the most FSSTND complient distribution out there at the
> moment. You must remember; that the best thing about standards is that
there
> are so many to choose from.
>
> Regarding "lots of stuff doesn't compile" it usually means the person
between
> the chair and keyboard has (1) not edited the package Makefiles,
> (2) not configured a kernel source tree,
> or (3) doesn't have a clue on where the include files live.
> Many packages such as the updated network card drivers *REQUIRE* * R E Q U
> I R E * a *configured* kernel source tree on the system. The kernel
> provides many of the include files necessary for sane compilation, and you
> don't get linux/autoconf.h without running make config or equivalent.
>
> I admit that many packages scatter config files all over the file system,
> /etc, /usr/lib/ /usr/share; /usr/etc/ /usr/local/etc/ /opt/etc; /var/lib
> etc; at least Debian puts *all* config files in etc. This does make it
simpler
> when your system gets big with lots of packages on it.
> There are allways very good reasons why Debian does things the way it
does,
> for example the conf.modules generated from /etc/modutils/* and the like;
either
> take a look at the Debian policy documentation, or the docs in /usr/doc
>
> Compiling specialized software on a Linux system requires you to be on
nodding
> terms with Makefiles and at the very least; able to read the comments in
> config files and edit apropriately. Redhat may have more out of the box
rpms
> but they often don't behave as you'd expect them to out of the box without
> a bit of tweeking. Most packages use gnu autoconf so compilation is a
breeze;
> however learning about your compiler's make system; where system files are
etc
> is an excellent investment in time if you want to consider yourself a
> competant Linux admin or you must tinker with things.
>
> Regards, Kerry.
> On Fri, Sep 22, 2000 at 10:55:21PM -0500, Brent Harding wrote:
> > I've liked debian for awhile, but tons of stuff won't compile, because
the
> > locations of files are a little screwy. Why put stuff in non standard
> > places I don't know. How does one configure a redhat kernel when
compiling
> > anyways? I'm thinking about using it some time, suppose I need the 3c59x
> > driver support for networking, can I config it like a normal kernel or
does
> > redhat have tools to make this easier?
> > At 11:24 PM 9/22/00 -0400, you wrote:
> > >Hi
> > > It is possible to build a speakup kernel from the Red Hat source
> > >RPM. Just skip the patches that can't find their files, they don't
apply
> > >to the i386.
> > > However, the kernel will build, but unless you use a rh supplied
> > >config, your modules will have unresolved symbols all over the place. I
> > >don't think speakup agrees with some of the patches RH applied to their
> > >kernel rpm, for it is not a clean source. They've applied all sorts of
> > >stuff that are beta, or even alpha. Not wise, I believe they do it to
try
> > >to get their distro to support more hardware.
> > > Personally, I think slackware is the best, closely followed by
> > >debian.
> > >
> > >On Fri, 22 Sep 2000, Kirk Wood wrote:
> > >
> > >> I believe this is a kernel problem. Once the kernel starts expanding
(you
> > >> get the loading and the dots, then the kernel quickly takes over. My
guess
> > >> is that you used the kernell source provided by RedHat. If you did,
then
> > >> you should download the kernel (possibly from kernel.org) and apply
the
> > >> patch compile, etc.) RedHat doesn't provide the complete kernel and
as a
> > >> result the built images don't work correct. Sorry I can't give you
more
> > >> complete details. Just that it is common to discover you can't build
a
> > >> working kernel with speakup from the RedHat source package.
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >_______________________________________________
> > >Speakup mailing list
> > >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> >
>
> --
> --
> Kerry Hoath: kerry at gotss.eu.org
> Alternates: kerry at emusys.com.au kerry at gotss.spice.net.au or
khoath at lis.net.au
> ICQ UIN: 62823451
>
>
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