Re: impressions of a new user

[Andrew Pinski <pinskia@physics.uc.edu>]

On Friday, Aug 15, 2003, at 11:56 US/Eastern, Charles J. Fisher wrote:
>
> Things I don't like:
>
> I hate rc.conf. RedHat's "service httpd restart" is much easier than
> digging the options up out of the /etc/rc*

*BSD have been doing this way for a long time.
apachectl is what you can use to restart apache.
ndc is what you use to restart named.



> In fact, I really miss the SysV init scripts. OpenBSD should have a 
> switch
> you can throw that forces init to follow a SysV-style behavior. This 
> would
> let the userbase decide how OpenBSD develops.

Again this is caused *BSD doing this way for a long time.
Editing /etc/rc.conf is easier than moving files around and editing 
/etc/inittab.

> Mozilla doesn't work. Gimp is available, but there is no complete gnome
> port. I hate konq.

Mozilla will change in 3.4 when i386 goes elf, in fact it already does 
work in 3.4-beta.
The complete gnome port is located in x11/gnome or what is it missing?

>
> (pd)ksh is not configured very well; everything is configured for 
> (t)csh.
> There was no /etc/profile (if I remember correctly). It is sad to see
> OpenBSD and Apple using such a discredited shell. csh has profound
> problems as a scripting shell, and people should use the same shell for
> scripting that they use interactively.

Csh is a *BSD shell so you should not complain when using a BSD.

> pkg_add should do more with PKG_PATH. Part of the installation should 
> find
> the mirror with the best ping time/hop count/bandwidth, and install 
> this
> mirror in /etc/PKG_PATH as the default source for all future installs.
> root should be able to trigger such a scan at any time.

Find the server your self, the install is supposed to be simple and 
fast and small as possible.

>
> The installer is a bit spartan, and also a bit confusing. OpenBSD's
> installer works in three phases: format file systems, untar the base
> operating system, configure the boot manager and sundry tasks. These
> sections should be clearly labeled, and something should be done to 
> make
> them easier to understand (esp the "p m" option in creating the 
> disklabel
> - "m" should be the default). A GUI instaler isn't really necessary, 
> but
> something with curses would be better than what is currently used.

The only thing I found confusing about the install was disklabels but I 
figured it out.

>
> The documentation for the default NAT configuration (SOHO) ends up 
> denying
> all connectivity to the OpenBSD router (RedHat does this also). When I
> want to turn on the POP server for a few minutes, I don't want to 
> hassle
> with pf.

So this was there by design so people do not turn on the POP server by 
accident and leave on it.


> What is the sense in bundling a POP server in the base operating 
> system,
> but not bundling an IMAP server?

POP was not bundled until 3.2 or was it 3.1 but it still it was not 
bundled until lately.
I find I have no need for a POP server but if I did I could download 
one and find the best.

Thanks,
Andrew Pinski