Redhat Linux 7.1 Review

Warren Togami warren at togami.com
Tue Apr 17 01:38:52 PDT 2001


Hey folks,

This is a sorta mini review of Redhat 7.1.  Ok... I didn't actually tried it
yet, but I've played with 7.0 + tons of rawhide packages and the 7.1 beta.
Redhat 7.0 out of the box is extremely buggy and with dangerous security
holes in default install, but can be very good after downloading 200MB of
updates and an hours of complicated configuration.  Not very easy for most
newer users. Traditionally Redhat these "dot Oh" releases have not been very
stable.  This 7.1 release is the 7.0 + all those bug fixes + cool new
features.

PROS -
1) Using the new Linux 2.4.x kernel, so you have the awesome features like
better USB support and Netfilter/iptables firewall tool.
2)Firewall Configuration:
For added security, you can now configure a firewall as part of your system
installation. Choose from two levels of security, as well as choosing which
common system services should be allowed or disallowed by default.
*This should make home firewall configuration very easy.  I haven't tried it
yet though.*
3) New Laptop Installation Class:
Laptop users will be able to easily install and configure their machines.
4) New Security Features: Most network features are defaulted off during
installation.
*I'm VERY HAPPY about this.  Finally Redhat has a clue.  Why the heck to
home users need stuff like BIND, Sendmail, FTP and telnet server enabled by
default?  I guess they learned their lesson after being ravaged by those
worms.*
5) Apache Configuration Tool -- apacheconf:
Helps manage virtual hosts in an intelligent fashion
6) BIND Configuration Tool -- bindconf:
Makes DNS configuration easier
7) Printing Configuration Tool -- printconf:
Supports over 500 printers
8) up2date behaves like Debian's apt-get.  This was introduced with the
latest up2date package for Redhat 6.2 and 7.0.  It is damn cool!  Say you're
compiling webalizer, and it complains "libpng not found".  You simply type
"up2date libpng-devel" (knowing the package name), and it automatically
calculates the dependencies and downloads and installs both the libpng and
libpng-devel packages.
9) KDE 2.1.1, XFREE86 4.03 (accelerated), and Mozilla included.

CONS -
1) No Reiserfs in the installer.  I was very disappointed about this one, so
I talked to Redhat engineers and it sounds like we may get an unofficial
installers sometime in the future.  They decided not to include the option
because of the reiserfs bugs in the earlier 2.4.x kernels.  While Reiserfs
is very stable, it is not quite ready for mission critical applications,
especially when mixed with knfsd and/or quotas.  In the mean time, you can
download the latest Reiserfs patches for the 2.4.3 kernel and build yourself
a stable and robust Reiserfs based server.  Takes more work, but I like
using it to scare administrators by pulling the plug during heavy disk
activity.
2) No GNOME 1.4.   Apparently it wasn't released soon enough to make the cut
in their quality assurance testing.  No biggie... Ximian should be releasing
their GNOME 1.4 sometime in the next few months, or go ahead and compile it
yourself.
3) glibc 2.2.2 i686 breaks all Java JDK's at the moment.  Something about a
retarded hard coded assumption in their proprietary code.  Until Sun or IBM
releases new versions of their JDK's, you have two ways of making the old
JDK's work: Install the i386 version of glibc, or run your JDK with
'LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5.

CONCLUSION -
IMHO Redhat 7.1 should be very good for servers.  Very convenient with the
free "up2date -u" access when you register (free) with the Redhat Network -
no personal information needed.  apt-get like up2date behavior is VERY
handy.  However, I suggest Mandrake 8.0 for normal desktop users.  It is
much more newbie friendly, yet powerful and functional for experienced
users.

Warren Togami
warren at togami.com
MPLUG Support Forums
http://forum.mplug.org



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