Ximian Setup Tools 0.6 - Now red-carpet powered !

[Chema Celorio <chema ximian com>]

Ximian Setup Tools 0.6 Release Notes

The Ximian Setup Tools are a set of cross-platform configuration
utilities for Linux and other Unix systems. Internally they are divided
in front and back end subsystems. The front end knows nothing about the
underlying operating system and provides the same user interface across
the different platforms. The backend knows how to read and write
configuration information for a given platform. The Ximian Setup Tools
do not impose a new database on the system and therefore do not conflict
with other tools or with by-hand editing of configuration files.

You can get it from :
a) Binaries / packages
Redcarpet, channel "Ximian Preview"
If you don't have red carpet you can visit :
http://www.ximian.com/desktop/download.php3

or
b) tarball from ftp.
ftp://ftp.ximian.com/pub/setuptools/ or (once the mirrors sync)
ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/unstable/sources/ximian-setup-tools

Changes since last release
--------------------------
This was a major bug fix release only. There are some internal changes
but no new user-visible features were added. We have started working on
a new set of tools.

Contributions
-------------

We are happy to say that a lot of contributions have started flowing in.
We still need lots of help from anybody interested in contributing to
XST.

    * Testing
      
      Testing that the tools work correctly on your system and either
filing detailed bug reports or confirming that they work correctly is
greatly appreciated. If you test a tool in an unsupported distro/system
and find out that it works correctly let us know so that we can update
the supported tools matrix (see below).

    * Porting
      
      The backends are designed as to minimize the effort needed to
support more distros/systems. A great way to contribute is to port the
tools to another distribution/system.
Mailing list / IRC

We have a mailing list set up at :
http://lists.ximian.com/mailman/listinfo/setup-tool-hackers

You can also find us in IRC server irc.gnome.org/ channel #xst


Whitepaper
----------

You can find the latest version of the XST whitepaper at:
http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/helix-setup-tools.html


Backup system
-------------

Every time a tool modifies your system configuration files, it makes
backups of those files. The backups are rotated (for 9 levels in total),
and the backup made the first time the tool was run is kept forever.
This means that you can revert your system configuration to the point
before you ever ran a Ximian Setup Tool.

The backup path is /var/cache/ximian-setup-tools/backup/<tool>/<id>/. In
this directory, you'll find a complete snapshot of the files that were
modified. The original directory structure leading up to these files is
also kept. <id> runs from 1-9, and when the first backup is rotated out,
it is kept in a special catalog called "First", which is never touched
again.

Location Management
-------------------

Location management is available under the program
"location-manager-capplet", now built by default.

This program runs in two modes: per-user and global. In per-user mode
(the default), the capplets available from the control center are
location-managed. In order to use this mode, you will need to fetch the
GNOME Control Center from CVS (HEAD branch). A release of the Control
Center with capplets that support location management will be made
shortly.

In global mode, the Ximian Setup Tools themselves are location managed.
To invoke the location manager in this mode, pass the -g option. Of
course, you will need to be running as root to run the location manager
in this mode.

Included Tools
---------------
The current set of tools include:

Network admin
Allows you to configure your:
    * hostname
    * samba hostname and workgroup
    * DNS servers
    * search domains
    * hosts (/etc/hosts)
    * Network interfaces
      
          * ppp
          * ethernet
          * slip
          * wavelan (limited support)

Boot admin
Allows you to set :
    * Default boot partition
    * Partition type and label
    * Timeout
    * Kernel image
    * Kernel extra parameters (append)
    * adding or deleting partitions from the boot manager


Time admin
Allows you to configure your :
    * Date & Time
    * Timezone
    * NTPD servers

Memory admin
Allows you to configure :
    * Swap partitions
    * Swap files
    * Priorities of swap areas

Shares admin
Allows you to import and export NFS and samba shares.

Disks admin
Allows you to mount and unmount local file systems.

Users admin
Allows you to manage :
    * Groups
    * Users
      * username / full name
      * password
      * home dir
      * shell
      * groups


Verification matrix
--------------------

This is a matrix describing the current status of tool
platform/distribution support to the best of our knowledge.
Key:
+ Supported and tested. Tools work natively on this platform. Of course,
there may still be bugs. :-)

+? Supported, but untested. Ximian Setup Tools will probably work on
this platform because we know it's compatible.

? Unsupported, may work. You'll be asked to select from a list of
similar distributions; the Ximian Setup Tools will use that system's
configuration methods.

- Unsupported, probably won't work. We haven't worked on anything we
know to be compatible with that system.

Red Hat Linux:

Version        5.2     6.0     6.1     6.2     7.0     7.1

Boot            +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Disks           +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Memory          +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Network         +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Shares          +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Time            +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Users           +?      +?      +?      +       +       +
Debian GNU/Linux:

Version        2.2    Woody

Boot            +       +
Disks           +       +
Memory          +       +
Network         +       +?
Shares          +       +
Time            +       +
Users           +       +?

Woody comments: You'll have to echo 'woody' > /etc/debian_version to
make the ximian-setup-tools detect your distribution.
Linux Mandrake:

Version        7.0     7.1     7.2     8.0

Boot            ?       ?       +       ?
Disks           ?       ?       +       ?
Memory          ?       ?       +       ?
Network         ?       ?       +       ?
Shares          ?       ?       +       ?
Time            ?       ?       +       ?
Users           ?       ?       +       ?
SuSE Linux:

Version        6.3     6.4     7.0     7.1

Boot            ?       ?       +       ?
Disks           ?       ?       +       ?
Memory          ?       ?       +       ?
Network         ?       ?       +?      ?
Shares          ?       ?       +       ?
Time            ?       ?       +       ?
Users           ?       ?       +       ?
Turbolinux:

Version         6

Boot            ?
Disks           ?
Memory          ?
Network         -
Shares          ?
Time            -
Users           ?
LinuxPPC:

Version        2000

Boot            -
Disks           ?
Memory          ?
Network         -
Shares          ?
Time            -
Users           ?
Yellow Dog Linux:

Version        1.2     2.0

Boot            -       -
Disks           ?       ?
Memory          ?       ?
Network         -       -
Shares          ?       ?
Time            -       -
Users           ?       ?
Solaris:

Version        7.0     8.0

Boot            -       -
Disks           -       -
Memory          -       -
Network         -       -
Shares          -       -
Time            -       -
Users           -       -
HPUX:

Version       10.0     11.0

Boot            -       -
Disks           -       -
Memory          -       -
Network         -       -
Shares          -       -
Time            -       -
Users           -       -
FreeBSD:

Version        4.x     5.x

Boot            -       -
Disks           -       -
Memory          -       -
Network         -       -
Shares          ?       ?
Time            -       -
Users           ?       ?