Re: [bug-inetutils] some notes on inetutils-1.8

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

Please CC address@hidden in the future.

   >    > The following should work to compile only syslogd, as per
   >    > ./configure --help, INSTALL and README.
   >    > 
   >    > ./configure --disable-server --disable-clients --enable-syslogd
   >    > 
   >    > What `four lines' did you use?  Maybe something can be improved.
   > 
   >    i just disabled everything i didn't want, which made up four
   >    text lines (rows?) on my monitor. if --enable-syslogd works,
   >    --disable-syslogd=no should work too (by convention), like
   >    --disable-syslogd should be substitutable with
   >    --enable-syslogd=no. using --disable-syslogd=no has the
   >    advantage that one can middle-click (Xorg quick copy/paste)
   >    the option from the configure --help output.
   > 
   > Please show the exact command you used.  Did you try the one I
   > suggested?

   i re-installed with --enable-xxx and it worked fine. however, the
   command line scratched the fourth line on the monitor too (syslogd,
   logger, ping, ping6, hostname, traceroute, encryption, auth,
   shishi).  in other words: both ways part the package at about the
   half.

I do not understand, can you _PLEASE_ just show me the command line
you used? If it is not in your command history, you can get it from
config.log.  Can you also just tell me wether the one I suggested for
you works or not?

   i really think that this inetutils package doesn't reflect common
   private use-cases well. there is too much loose stuff in it, and the
   related stuff (inetd services) isn't a necessity on a 'modern' home
   system. the latter is the stuff belonging into this package.
   concluding, rather syslogd and others don't really fit. they don't
   really fit!

syslogd is a daemon, hence why it fits.  What other programs do you
think do not fit in inetutils?  Please state actual reasons, not just
some hand waving.

   see, coreutils installs quite a lot i never used myself. but my
   system uses it frequently. there may be a rest i don't care much
   about.  however, the inetd utils are fully redundant on my system,
   and they can be dangerous. i don't want to have them lying around
   on my system. this is why this mixture of inetd utils and other
   system stuff gives me a bad feel in the stomach. it doesn't feel
   right!

There is no harm in having inetd installed, likewise for the other
daemons.  They are for one not started (unless your OS does something,
which we cannot control anyway), and require root access to run.  Some
programs do get installed as SUID root, like ping which require
special access when creating ports, but that is it.

In either case, if you do not want a program installed, you can easily
disable it by passing the --disable-FOO switch when configuring.

   >    >    what about an iproute implementation (without berkeley-db
   >    >    dependency ;)
   >    > 
   >    > Would you like to write such a program for us?
   > 
   >    would i then ask you for doing it? i'm not in this field of
   >    programming, just maintain a system. sorry.
   > 
   > Someone has to do it, would you like to do so?

   i really have _no_!! insight into the internals, can barely use the
   command lines. please don't stick further.

   > The `unix' tradition was to not have any help output from programs

   that was in the _rise_ of *nix!

   > -h was already used for different tools and

   that formed the tradition!

-h was never used for help, hence we don't use it which means we do
actually follow this supposed "tradition".

Cheers.