Vol. 15 No. 10 June 2003 $2.50 MUUGlines The Manitoba UNIX User Group Newsletter June 10, 2003: Linux Clusters (14 May, 2003) Samba-3.0alpha24 available for The ability to cluster servers is one of the biggest download steps toward acceptance of Linux in mission-criti- The latest alpha snapshot of the SAMBA_3_0 cal applications. There are several Linux clustering CVS tree is available for download. It is being products available, and Red Hat now bundles two provided for testing purposes. The full release different types with their Enterprise server product. notes and source code (http://us4.samba.org/samba/ Clustering can increase both the reliability and the ftp/alpha/) can be found on Samba mirrors. RedHat scalability of many different types of applications. RPMs for 6.2, 7.3, 8.0 and 9.0 are also available in Three types of clustering will be discussed (Failover, the Binary_Packages (http://us4.samba.org/samba/ LVS & Beowulf) and some typical examples of ftp/Binary_Packages/RedHat/) download area. each will be presented by Adam Thompson. Tune in for updates on Samba’s progress in the Meetings are held at the IBM offices at 400 September newsletter, after the summer break. Ellice Ave. (between Edmonton and Kennedy). When you arrive, you will have to sign in at the Linux Server Hacks reception desk, and then wait for someone to take Reviewed by Michael Doob you (in groups) to the meeting room. Please try to Publisher: O’Reilly arrive by about 7:15 PM, so the meeting can start Publication Date: Jan 2003 promptly at 7:30 PM. Don’t be late, or you may not Author: Rob Flickenger get in. Pages: 240 Limited parking is available for free on the street, or in a lot across Ellice from IBM, for $1.00 This book is definitely not bedtime reading. The for the evening. Indoor parking is also available reasons will be clear by the end of this review. nearby, at Portage Place, for $2.00 for the evening. One way of visualising the UNIX operating system is like an onion. You start by learning the Free Stuff This Month shell commands (the outside layer) and gradually work your way into the more inner workings. We’ll have two O’Reilly books to give away this You’re at the heart of the onion when you get to the month, and you won’t want to miss this meeting. kernel. This book changes this analogy; in fact First is “Linux Server Hacks”, reviewed in this issue UNIX is more like a fractal. You learn about the by Michael Doob. Second is “The UNIX CD Book- outside layer, but when you look at some of the shelf, version 3.0” – that’s right, bookshelf – which internals in more detail, in fact a whole new onion is worth around over $200 by itself. It includes a appears where you didn’t see one before. paper copy of UNIX In A Nutshell and a CD with The subtitle of this book is “100 Industrial- the entire contents of seven O’Reilly books, includ- Strength Tips & Tools”. This does indeed reflect ing UNIX In A Nutshell. Look for reviews of these the content – although the tips and tool are divided books in upcoming issues. into eight different areas, almost all can stand alone as an independent topic of interest. You Might Know Some topics are concerned with running an On May 13th, Kevin McGregor gave us a presenta- efficient and secure operating system. Advice tion on the “alpha23” version of Samba 3.0. Sure about services that might be deleted (such as enough, look at the announcement that appeared automount or named) from a particular system is on the Samba.org home page the day after: given; programs that run suid that might be deleted 1 June 2003 Vol. 15 No. 10 also are suggested (when was the last time you used this impossible-to-ignore urge to fire up the nearest the at command?); many of the default drivers in Linux box to try things out. This is not good if you the kernel can be removed if they were compiled in hope to relax and drift off to sleep; it’s even worse (when was the last time you really read /var/log/ if your sweetie happens to be with you. Nonethe- dmesg to see what’s really loaded at boot time?). less, this book is a lot of fun. A checklist of things to do when a user leaves your system is given. For example, you took the The Jargon File user out of /etc/passwd, but what if there is a .rhosts Announcement by Eric S. Raymond file? These are important for anyone who really The Jargon File is a central part of the heritage of the needs to worry about having optimum efficiency Linux and open-source movements. As we ap- with reasonable security, and while what is pre- proach the File’s 30th anniversary, it is my pleasure sented is certainly available from man pages or and honor to bring the hacker community a major other books, it’s nice to have it all in one place. new release, 4.4.0. It has been made available at: Another set of topics is about various bits and http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/ pieces of the file system. Want to set up a file that This is a not a mere point release, but a major can’t be linked to using ln or removed using rm, revision incorporating weeks of work. The file even with root access? Look at the immutable masters have been converted from Texinfo to XML- property set with chattr and viewed with lsattr. Docbook; as a result, You know about /proc/cpuinfo? There’s lots of • There is a real change-log file; you can see other information in the /proc directory that is which entries have been added, changed, or described within this book. deleted in each release since 4.0.0. Other sections concern the efficient implemen- • The new File includes cartoons and tation of various necessary tasks for administering illustrations. In addition to the Crunchly a system. For example, many tips are given for cartoons from the paper edition (the New making backups, either over the net or otherwise, Hacker’s Dictionary) there are other with tools like rsync. Both full and incremental photographs and illustrations of historical and backups are discussed, including a clever way of current interest. keeping unchanged files in an incremental backup There have been many content changes as as links rather than copies. well: Still more is given about networking, including • The entries have been systematically weeded tips involving iptables and masquerading. Using out with Google searches, so the File reflects ssh over the net is also discussed. For example, live usage better than ever before. Over a suppose you want ssh to do a task on a remote hundred bogus entries were removed. computer using a cron job on the local one. When- • Copies of all old versions still extant are now ever such a task is done from a shell prompt, it is available in an archive directory, together with necessary to give the password on the other com- the tools I used for reconstructing the entry puter before ssh will start to execute, so it would histories. seem that trying use cron is impossible. However As usual, many entries have been revised and by using ssh-keygen properly and by setting the updated. Enjoy! keys on both machines appropriately, it can be done. The flavour of this book is hopefully apparent. SCO v. IBM The topics are somewhat scattered, but with each We’ll write about this when something interesting one has some interesting idea. This book simply has happened. must be read with a keyboard attached to a running Linux system nearby. If you like playing with the Rise, Son Of Cygna! various arcane properties of Linux, this is a book ScummVM is an implementation of LucasArts for you. If not, you might as well leave it alone. S.C.U.M.M. (Script Creation Utility for Maniac And this is why this book is not bedtime read- Mansion) interpreter, used in games such as Mon- ing. You’ll start to read a section and you’ll have key Island, Indiana Jones, Day Of The Tentacle, 2 Vol. 15 No. 10 June 2003 Sam and Max, and many more. Some things are still missing, and some games cannot be completed yet. 7th Heaven for Linux Users There are quite a few known bugs. Regardless of Opera 7 now available on Linux the bugs it is still possible to play some games all the Opera Software has released Opera 7 for Linux, way through to the end. Still other games do not offering Linux users a faster and better Internet load at all. experience. The new version includes major new features and changes from Opera 6 for Linux as ScummVM 0.4.1, a stability-focused point re- well as a built-in e-mail client not previously avail- lease, is now available for download. Changes able in Opera for Linux. since 0.4.0 include: The first Opera 7 release on Linux is version • Several crashes/bugs have been fixed in Curse 7.11, bringing Opera for Linux up to the same level of Monkey Island. of development as Windows, with Opera 7.11 for • Several iMUSE and music-related bugs have Windows being released just last week. Opera’s been fixed. cross-platform development has now advanced so • AdvMame3X is new, giving a 3x scaled and far that releases on Opera’s numerous platforms AdvMame-smoothed game.