On Tue, 21 Dec 1999, Albert Hurd wrote: ahurd >1. Why is smtp installed by default? The typical user who uses Netscape apparently ahurd >doesn't need it. Perhaps it should be installed only with packages that need it, and security ahurd >problems addressed.
what is installed depends on what yopu pick during installation..i dont know what profile(if any) you picked .. i usually do a full blown install(-chinese support) and disable stuff lateon.. ahurd >2. The Security Howto said that login, shell and exec should be disabled in inetd.conf ahurd >since they are extremely insecure. I have no idea what they do but they were NOT ahurd >disabled in my install. Did I somehow choose inadvertently to install an insecure system, ahurd >and if not, why are these there by default (and what do they do anyway). i can't speak for the developers but they are still widely used services, most anyone that runs an ISP withdialup users needs rlogin for shel users(telnet doesnt do the trick good enough) ..its hard to please both crowds..some want it all turned on by default(like me) so i can figure out what i want and turn whatever off i dont like, some like it all off by default..debian slink i dont think by any means is designed as a desktop distributiuon.. ahurd > ahurd >These are the kinds of things that give Linux a bad name. If I am all wet and there are ahurd >good reasons for the default install, I would appreciate knowing what they are. If not, why ahurd >haven't they been fixed a long time ago. ahurd > i just did a fresh clean install of IRIX 6.3 on a SGI O2, so my perspective is a bit different from yours im sure, but debian's install is about as verbose as it can get i think. corel's caldera, both are CRAP for debugging whats going on during an install(caldera's console installer probably is pretty good) redhat is almost as bad. when I was installing irix, i knew what about 5% of the packages were ..and everyone knows how security plauged irix boxes are :) good thing they are firewalled. I believe debian is a distribution that treats you as if you know what you are dpoing. a great example of this is this morning(on that SGI O2 that i reinstalled) one of the users mistyped a command(as root) and rm -rf'd /usr, everything was gone .. thigns like this dont really give linux a bad name. What gives it a bad name is people trying to compare/compete against age old unix systems. a good example of this is the recent annoucemnt of a new bug with 2.0.x (even .38) that allowed any local user to crash the system using ping -R I believe. a distribution is just that..a way of distributing files, linux like most any *nix system requires some attention when setting up a "secure" system. Other systems are by no means exempt, setting up a "secure" NT system is quite difficult as well (amazing what all has to be done considering the lack of services that come with it) winNT magazine(I think?) said that MS just refused to ship it in a "secure" configuration..maybe win2k will change that (i hope not ;>) im suprise dyou didnt get booted off yer cable when they saw you running *nix, one of my friends runs freebsd on a cable modem and to keep from getting caught he VPN's to another ISP and firewalls everything on his cable IP. nate ----------------------------------------[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ]-- Vice President Network Operations http://www.firetrail.com/ Firetrail Internet Services Limited http://www.aphroland.org/ Everett, WA 425-348-7336 http://www.linuxpowered.net/ Powered By: http://comedy.aphroland.org/ Debian 2.1 Linux 2.0.36 SMP http://yahoo.aphroland.org/ -----------------------------------------[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ]-- 5:10pm up 124 days, 5:00, 3 users, load average: 0.53, 0.37, 0.30
