I have been intending to raise this issue for a while, but with the
6.2 release about to arrive, if it isn't too late already then there
is some hope than at least some of these suggestions might be
seriously considered for inclusion in the 6.2final. And/or the
rawhide releases after that.
I have a shell script that I run over every redhat box that I install
(either manually after the system comes up, or from kickstart).
This is one of the things it does:
perl -spi -e 's,mingetty tty1$,mingetty tty1 --noclear,' /etc/inittab
This prevents the screen from clearing on the first tty when mingetty
takes over. Why do I do this? Because I want to be able to SEE the
bootup messages - they give useful information about the success of
the rc bootup scripts, yet by default you are only given a brief time
in which to study them before it is all vaporised? Why clear it when
so much work has been done to make it look so useful?
This is a RPITA. Not to clear this ONE console screen is surely not
any sort of security or privacy issue, and there are valuable benefits
from having the bootup messages there to look at.
Can mingetty please be configured NOT to clear this tty by defult on
redhat systems?
Other suggestions (things I also do):
- reconfigure lilo.conf to add a "vga=ask" option to the image
sections...
grep -q 'vga=' /etc/lilo.conf || {
perl -spi -e 's,^\troot=,\tvga=ask\n\troot=,' /etc/lilo.conf ; lilo
}
lilo
(Crude, ugly, but it seems to work :)
Why this isn't being done already by default is beyond me. It is a
FEATURE of the kernel, and an alternative to the brain-dead useless
80x25 screen that is current forced on everyone as the default for
EVERY bootup. No, we should be at least be given THIS option!
(I used to set framebuffer VESA modes by default at one stage in
order to get tux (sometimes twins:) up there looking pretty, but
this bit me hard when I discovered that it doesn't work on every
video card and monitor. ouch).
- I'm no great fan of kudzu, and normally I would turn the thing off.
However, one thing it does generate that I find useful is a
"hardware database" file in /etc/sysconfig/hwconf
When kudzu starts at bootup detecting new hardware, it comes up full
screen - effectively wiping out the rest of the bootup messages.
ARGH! NO!
Kudzu, when called from the rc script(s), should run on, say, tty2
(or the next available console, whatever), then switch back after it
is finished. Easily achieved with a command line switch used by
(and mainly for) the rc script.
The effect would also look way cool, like a "screen restore" when it
switches back to /dev/console (tty1). mingetty will subsequently
re-clear the tty that kudzu had used.
- It is *trivial* to colourise bash shell command line prompts, and
one the right way it behaves perfectly in xterms. I tend to
customise and colourise the prompt extensively, but even changing it
to a plain red colour (REDhat, see? :) would help SO MUCH to make
commands and their output become a lot more distiguishable. Why not
a different colour on every terminal (and pts)?
PLEASE consider tweaking /etc/bashrc to make INTERACTIVE shells set
the PS1 environment variable to make it coloured? My suggestion is
something like:
[ $SHELL == "/bin/bash" -o $SHELL == "/bin/bash2" ] &&
PS1='\[\033[1;31m\][\u@\h \W]\\$\[\033[m\] ' &&
export PS1
(The sooner /bin/bash2 becomes /bin/bash the better! But this
issues has already been discussed here... /bin/bash2 was a bad idea
from the start).
- linux-logo (in the powertools) is very cool. I have modified
/etc/rc.d/rc.local to run it (if available) and put the result into
/etc/issue{,.net}
I also add a tty identifier to the /etc/issue screen so that it
(in essense) it looks like this:
Kernel 2.2.12-20 on an i586 (tty5)
This is VERY handy! It is done with this:
Kernel \r on a \m 2-processor (\l)
I then colorise it. Regardless. For more general use it probably
needs tweaking to cater for non-ansi capable terminal types (eg,
booting with a serial console). /etc/issue.net is left mono.
I offer below here my own replacemnt /etc/rc.d/rc.local file as an
example of what could be done to make bootup look nicer. This
version also creates an /etc/motd file for logins (easily
customised, or switched off). Apologies if the embeded Esc
characters causes anyone any hassles.
Cheers
Tony
-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-
Tony Nugent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Systems Administrator
GrowZone OnLine (a project of) GrowZone Development Network
POBox 475 Toowoomba Oueensland Australia 4350 Ph: 07 4637 8322
-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-=*#*=-
#!/bin/sh
#
# This script will be executed *after* all the other init scripts.
# You can put your own initialization stuff in here if you don't
# want to do the full Sys V style init stuff.
# /etc/rc.d/rc.local
# Last modified: Dec 1999 Tony Nugent <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> rh61
if [ -f /etc/redhat-release ]; then
R=$(cat /etc/redhat-release)
arch=$(uname -m)
a="a"
case "_$arch" in
_a*) a="an";;
_i*) a="an";;
esac
NUMPROC=`egrep -c "^cpu[0-9]+" /proc/stat`
if [ "$NUMPROC" -gt "1" ]; then
SMP="$NUMPROC-processor "
if [ "$NUMPROC" = "8" -o "$NUMPROC" = "11" ]; then
a="an"
else
a="a"
fi
fi
fi
# This will overwrite /etc/issue at every boot. So, make any changes you
# want to make to /etc/issue here or you will lose them when you reboot.
cat << EOISSUE > /etc/issue
[0;1;33;44m----- WARNING MESSAGE ------[0;25;1;33;40m
***** This service is for authorised clients only *****
...............................................................
. [5mWARNING[25m: It is a criminal offence to: .
. [1] obtain access to data without authority, and .
. [2] damage, delete, alter, or insert data without authority .
. (Penalty: 2 and 10 years imprisonment, respectively). .
...............................................................[m
EOISSUE
# add linux-logo if it is present
type linux_logo -c > /dev/null 2>&1 && linux_logo -l >> /etc/issue
# add redhat logo stuff
(
echo -e "\033[1;36m$R\033[m"
echo -en "\033[1;36mKernel \033[35m\\\r\033[36m on $a "
echo -en "\\m $SMP(\033[35m\\l\033[36m)\033[32m\n\n"
) >> /etc/issue
cat << EOISSUENET > /etc/issue.net
----- WARNING MESSAGE ------
***** This service is for authorised clients only *****
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| WARNING: It is a criminal offence to: |
| [1] obtain access to data without authority, and |
| [2] damage, delete, alter, or insert data without authority |
| (Penalty: 2 and 10 years imprisonment, respectively). |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
EOISSUENET
echo -e "$R\n%s %r on $a $SMP %m - %t" >> /etc/issue.net
function create_motd () {
cat <<MOTD > /etc/motd
[0;1;32m
GrowZone Development Network - GrowZone OnLine project
[31;5m----- Warning Message -----[25m
[34m***** This service is for authorised clients only *****
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| WARNING: Unauthorised access or use may result in criminal |
| or civil legal action |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Use of this service implies your agreement to abide by the
terms set out under the Policies, Procedures & Guidelines
of GrowZone OnLine.[m
MOTD
}
# zero-length /etc/motd
:> /etc/motd
# UNcomment this to keep motd empty
create_motd
# set the keyboard rate (I like it with fast repeat)
kbdrate -s -r 30 -d 250
# load customised keymap
[ -x /etc/rc.d/rc.keymap ] && /etc/rc.d/rc.keymap
# this file is a #!/usr/bin/loadkeys script
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