apache upgrade

[Epsas Nova]

Aloha, 

> We're talking about the apache rpm.  That's all.  

Indeed.

> This person just wanted to upgrade his apache rpm.  All he needed to 
> know was that if he had RPM upgrade apache, then the newer files would 
> replace the older files.  If he had RPM install the new version of 
> apache, then it would exist beside the old version and possibly make 
> things bad.  I don't see any reason why he should touch a tarball for 
> his purposes.

This is my belief:  Even if you are administering a system for home use, it is still good to practice professional disciplines like compiling "critical" applications.  While the performance and security improvements will be negligable on a home system, the habits learned will carry over to his or her professional work.

As far as the "asking your package maintainer about Snort logs"...  I don't want to enter into a competition concerning knowledge of developer security.  I will say this: Package maintainers are just normal hackers like you or me, except that they have chosen to task themselves with creating RPMs or Debs for users.  I can suggest joining irc.openprojects.net and lurking on the developer channels if you are interested in learning more about the integrity of RPMs or Debs.  

This is not meant to be condescending, and I apologize if it appears so.

> them can be limited, etc.  I fail to see why this is not a great tool 
> for those of us entering the realm of linux without the time to read 
> through countless man pages to perform basic sysadmin tasks.

I will differ from many others on this list with this opinion - I believe that a person who does not have the discipline to read a man page has no business administrating a server with internet-public services.  Unix is a powerful operating system and many distributions include Internet accesible services in the basic install.  Unfortunately, this means that users will have to take on the responsibilities of being a system administrator.  Yes, because of this, Webmin is a good crutch towards learning the essentials of system administration - however, training wheels should be taken off your bike once you learn how to ride it. 

> I want to see the world using linux.  I want to see those of you with 
> advanced skills making lots of money administering linux based 
> enterprises.  To get there one must develop greater empathy for those 
> who are just starting out.  Undermining someone's confidence in an rpm 
> should be accompanied with something other than an opinion.  

It is a good sign that a new user is scared away by the complexity of a Unix system, that means that he or she recognizes an essential truth about Unix; Unix is tough.  Insulating new users from the intricities of system administration may help to promote the more widespread adoption of Unix operating systems - but it does nothing to further excellence in the administration of Unix systems.  For this to happen users must confront a Unix system as it was designed to be used, from the command line and inside /etc.

Empathy for new users is healthy, but we should not stop at that.  I think it is just as important for us, more experienced users, to impart the hard wisdom we have learned from our experiences and from our tutors when we were still apprenticing the art. 

> These users you intimidate may one day comprise the market force that 
> keeps you gainfully employed, or they may turn to the comfort and ease 
> of micro$oft.

I didn't take this into consideration.  I guess that I more concerned about maintaining an `esprit de corps` among us Freenix lovers than promoting Unix as a solution for the average desktop user.  Freedom and Power are the two attractions of Freenix.  Power requires discipline and responsibility, in my humble opinion.

Take care,
charles