From owner-freebsd-newbies Mon Apr 20 10:03:05 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id KAA11085 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Mon, 20 Apr 1998 10:03:05 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from whistle.com (s205m131.whistle.com [207.76.205.131]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA10898 for ; Mon, 20 Apr 1998 17:02:28 GMT (envelope-from dhw@whistle.com) Received: (from smap@localhost) by whistle.com (8.7.5/8.6.12) id KAA20100; Mon, 20 Apr 1998 10:01:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pau-amma.whistle.com(207.76.205.64) by whistle.com via smap (V1.3) id sma020094; Mon Apr 20 10:01:07 1998 Received: (from dhw@localhost) by pau-amma.whistle.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) id KAA23122; Mon, 20 Apr 1998 10:01:07 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from dhw) Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 10:01:07 -0700 (PDT) From: David Wolfskill Message-Id: <199804201701.KAA23122@pau-amma.whistle.com> To: bjc23@hermes.cam.ac.uk, sue@welearn.com.au Subject: Re: User friendly system config program? Cc: newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org >Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 09:56:26 +1000 >From: Sue Blake >We tend to spend a lot of time using text editors on config files (hence my >sig) which has advantages and disadvantages. For example, if you pull >/etc/rc.conf into your favourite text editor, you can see and change a whole >lot of stuff all at once, quicker than working your way through a series of >menus. You have to be comfortable using a text editor first, though. >Of course, both methods require you to know what you're doing. For me, menus >give a dangerous impression that it's easy to do without understanding, and >at the same time they limit what I can do when I do understand. My view, >however, seems to be in the minority these days :-) And using text files makes it easy to use the usual change-control mechanisms (such as RCS) to track changes. Although this could, I expect, be done with menus, it is something that I haven't often (read: "ever") seen implemented. david -- David Wolfskill dhw@whistle.com (650) 577-7158 pager: (650) 401-0168 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message