From owner-freebsd-chat Thu Jan 7 17:06:59 1999 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id RAA06517 for freebsd-chat-outgoing; Thu, 7 Jan 1999 17:06:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from ime.net (ime.net [209.90.192.3]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA06500 for ; Thu, 7 Jan 1999 17:06:55 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from netmonger@genesis.ispace.com) Received: from celeris (56k-port4009.ime.net [209.90.195.19]) by ime.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id UAA18099; Thu, 7 Jan 1999 20:06:20 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <4.1.19990107200536.00a21470@genesis.ispace.com> X-Sender: netmonger@genesis.ispace.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.1 Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 20:06:13 -0500 To: "Brian W. Buchanan" , "Matthew N. Dodd" From: Drew Baxter Subject: Re: A GUI administration tool for FreeBSD Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG In-Reply-To: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org At 05:03 PM 1/7/99 -0800, Brian W. Buchanan wrote: >On Thu, 7 Jan 1999, Matthew N. Dodd wrote: > >> Take for example, the password file. Do you present a simple interface >> for adding users? How do groups fit into the tool? Quotas? Login >> limits? Authentication? One might punt and only present a 1:1 inteface >> to /etc/master.passwd, ignoring the others and relegating their >> configuraitons to other interfaces. For a new user, this sort of GUI may >> be worse than no GUI at all. > >I've been thinking along the same line... The average FreeBSD newbie would >wonder something along the lines of, "GECOS field? WTF is GECOS?" My >goal is to present a unified interface to configuring the system with >things organized in a logical manner. My user editor presently >automatically suggests a new UID, can automatically create a new group for >each user if desired, and automatically fills in the the home directory >with a default of /, and all of these >behaviors are, of course, overridable if the sysadmin so desires -- the >application /suggests/, rather than /insists/, as Windows likes to do. :) > >Unfortunately, this still makes it all too easy for a newbie to shoot >himself in the foot by sticking new users in wheel, setting their UIDs to >0, giving them bogus shells, deleting root, etc. :) I'm pondering a >"Beginner Mode" which would prevent the admin from doing stuff like this >until he declared "I know what I'm doing, damnit" and turned it off. A web solution would be just ducky too.. Wonder if you could run it under the XR6.3 Broadway plugin or not.. --- Drew "Droobie" Baxter Network Admin/Professional Computer Nerd(TM) OneEX: The OneNetwork Exchange, Bangor Maine USA http://www.droo.orland.me.us PGP ID: 409A1F7D To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message