That’s where the user comes in. By opting to use Fedora you should take on the responsibility of reporting bugs. And those bugs will happen. The majority of bugs will be minor and may hardly effect your experience. Even those should be reported. But how? Let’s take a look.

Reporting bugs used to be a hassle that few really wanted to bother with. The user would have to try to obtain a stack trace of the buggy software and then copy/paste that stack track into a a web-based bug reporting, email the trace, or install a tool like Bug Buddy.

Included with recent Fedora operating system releases is a bug reporting tool like no other. The tool is called ABRT (Automatic Bug Reporting Tool) and it is one of the easiest tools you will ever experience for bug reporting.

Figure 1

ABRT is a daemon that resides in the background waiting for something to crash. When something does crash ABRT automatically collects the necessary data for the bug reporting tool and then pops up a notice in your notification area. All the user then has to do is click on the notice, select a bug, and click Report. It really is that easy.

Figure 1 shows the ABRT user interface. It’s couldn’t be any easier to use.

Once you click the Report button ABRT will go about its business. If this is your first run of ABRT, certain packages may have to be installed, before ABRT can go about the business of reporting bugs. If this is the case, all of this will happen automatically.  Once the necessary packages are installed the bug reporting will commence.

Once all of the information is collected, you will be asked where you would like to send the bug report. You have two choices: Bugzilla or Logger. If you select Bugzilla you have to have your login credentials and set them up. If you choose Logger there is no need to create an account (or log in with an account). If you are just wanting to report the bug and not follow up as much as you would with Bugzilla, just choose Logger.

Once you agree with submitting the backtrace you will have to provide additional details. This is in the form of how the crash happens and any description of how to reproduce the bug. After that is filled out, click the forward button, review your information, and click Apply.  Your bug has been submitted. You can then take a look in /var/log/abrt.log to get all of the information you submitted.

Final thoughts

If you use Fedora, please do your part and submit bugs as that is the best way this distribution can improve. Linux is a community-driven operating system and you can easily be a part of that community by helping to improve the operating system by merely reporting when problems arise.

Naturally, what is nice about phpldapadmin is that it allows you to manage your LDAP server from anywhere you have access to a browser (so long as your LDAP server can be reached form anywhere. In this article I am going to show you how to install, configure, and begin to use the phpldapadmin tool.

Installation

Before you install phpLDAPAdmin (also known as PLA), you will need to have your LDAP server up and running. Once that is achieved you can then proceed with your installation of this management tool. You will also need to have a web server installed and running (it is a web-based tool after all).  If you do not already have php5-ldap installed, install that package now.

The first step for installation is to download the source from Sourceforge. You can install from a pre-compiled binary, but I recommend you do the installation from source.

Once you have the .tgz file downloaded move that file to your web servers’ document root. In Fedora this will be /var/www/html and in Ubuntu this will be /var/www. The next step is to unpack the tar file and then rename the newly created directory. You will need administrative privileges for these tasks. Follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Change to your document root.
3. Su to root (if using Fedora or a Fedora-like distribution).
4. Issue the command tar xvfz phpldapadmin-XXX.tgz (If using a Ubuntu-like distribution you will have to add sudo to the beginning of that command) Where XXX is the release number.
5. Rename the directory with the command mv phpldapadmin-XXX phpldapadmin (If using Ubuntu-like distribution you will have to add sudo to the beginning of that command) Where XXX is the release number.
6. Change into the phpldapadmin/config and rename the config file with the command mv config.php.sample config.php (If using Ubuntu-like distribution you will have to add sudo to the beginning of that command).

Now it’s time to fire up your web browser and head to your installation. Point your browser to http://ADDRESS_TO_SERVER/phpldapadmin/ and you will see a page similar to that in Figure 1.

The first thing you need to do is click on the Login link (in the left navigation tree). The credentials you need will be those that were created to administer your LDAP server. But don’t think you can just log in with a username of “admin” and a password. You have to use the standard format of LDAP. So a typical administrator login username will look like cn=admin,dc=wallen,dc=local.

Once you have logged in, the main page will look like that shown in Figure 2. Expand the navigation tree on the left nav and you can see where you can start creating new entries.

Final thoughts

You are now ready to rock your LDAP server from anywhere you can access a web browser. The phpLDAPAdmin tool makes LDAP as easy as phpMyAdmin makes MySQL. This is one of the best LDAP admin tools you will find.

That is, until I discovered a very handy little tool, just for this purpose, called Luma. Luma is an LDAP manager that is pure graphical ease. If you already have your LDAP server up and running, you won’t have any problem managing your data with this tool. In this article I am going to show you how to install Luma and how to connect to your LDAP server.

Installation

I’m going to show you how to install Luma on both Ubuntu and Fedora. It’s actually quite simple. Just follow these steps:

Fedora

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Su to the root user.
3. Issue the command yum install luma.
4. Okay any dependencies (if necessary).
5. Once installation is complete, you can close the terminal.

Ubuntu

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo apt-get install luma.
3. Enter your sudo (user) password.
4. Okay any dependencies (if necessary).
5. Once the installation is complete, you can close the terminal.

Now that you have Luma installed, let’s open it up and connect to a server.

Usage

Figure 1

To start up Luma you will not find a menu entry, so you will have to run Luma from command line (or create a menu entry). To do this click Alt-F and then enter luma in the run dialog. Or you can leave that terminal window open and then just issue the command from within there.

Once started you will see a simple window (see Figure 1) where you can choose from any one of the available plugins. In order to add a server you need to click Settings > Edit Server List. From this window click the Add button to create a new server.

The first step is to give this new server a name. This is a human readable name so it does not need to be a hostname or IP address.  After you create a name click OK to move on to the real work.

Figure 2

Once you have created the server you have three configurations to take care of (see Figure 2):

• Network options: Hostname, Port, Encryption type.
• Authentication: Mechanism for authentication (simple, or SASL type), Bind as (login authentication), and Password.
• LDAP options: Follow aliases and/or Use Base DNs provided by the server.

The trickiest option for most is going to be the Authentication “Bind as” setting. You do not just log in with a plain username. Instead (as you can see in Figure 2), you log in with username and domain in the form of cn=USERNAME,dc=DOMAIN, dc=NAME. In the case of my example it’s cn=admin,dc=wallen,dc=local.

Figure 3

Once you have logged in you can then use the plugins like Browse (see Figure 3). This examples illustrates how you can manage the various aspects of your LDAP entries.

Final thoughts

In upcoming articles we will deal with more LDAP administration with Luma as it is, by far, one of the easiest front ends for the LDAP server I have come across.

But because LDAP is fairly complex, it is not often used except by those who have the lengthy period of time it takes to understand the task of getting an LDAP server up and running. That doesn’t need to be the case, if you happen to have a Fedora server lying around. There is a tool, 389 Directory Server, that helps you to get this up and running quickly and easily.  In this article I am going to show you how to install and set up the 389 Directory Server.

Installation

The installation of 389 DS is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Su to the root user.
3. Issue the command yum install fedora-ds.
4. Accept all of the dependencies.
5. Wait for the installation to finish.

Now you are ready to begin. The configuration of 389 is done via command line. Once that is complete you can then manage your LDAP server with a nice GUI tool.

Configuration

Figure 1

The configuration takes place in the terminal window. To begin the process issue the command (as root) setup-ds-admin.pl. This will begin a process that will take about 14 steps. Each step looks similar to that in Figure 1.

The steps for the setup are:

1. Agree to license.

2. Set up warning alert.

3. Choose type of installation.

4. Configure fully qualified domain name for name.

5. Server user name.

6. Do you want to register this software with an existing configuration directory server?

7. Administrator ID.

8. Administration domain.

9. Server network port.

10. Directory server identifier (name).

11. Valid DN for your directory suffix.

12. Directory Manager DN.

13. Administration network port.

14. Save configuration and set up server.

The final step is basically writing your configurations to the config script and then starting the server. Once you have completed these steps, the hard part is over! Don’t worry about not understanding any of the above explanations, as each step is clearly explained on its own screen (as shown in Figure 1).

Now that your setup is complete, you are ready to fire up the GUI admin tool.

The admin tool

Figure 2

The administration tool is started (as the root user) with the command 389-console. When you login to the admin tool you will need to use your admin username and password you created during the setup and the URL (including port number) you created (see Figure 2).

Figure 3

Once you have successfully logged in you will now be in the 389 Directory Server Management Console (see Figure 3). It is from within this console that you actually take care of all of the LDAP management (we’ll save that for another article).

Final thoughts

If you’ve ever tried to set up LDAP manually then you know it can be a real pain. With tools like 389 Directory Server, this process has become exponentially easier. Give this a try and see if you have better luck setting up your LDAP server.

In this article I am going to show you how to upgrade both Fedora and Ubuntu so that your KDE becomes as snappy and reliable as it was back in the good ol’ days of 3.5.

Before we begin

You will want to make sure that your distribution is fully up to date. So use either your Update Manager or run an update from the command line. Once you have done this you are ready to go.

Adding the repositories

As I said, I am going to be showing you how to do this in both Fedora and Ubuntu. This means we’ll be dealing with apt and yum repositories. The first thing you have to do, in order to make your package manager aware of the new KDE updates, is to edit your repositories. Let’s first do this in Fedora.

For Fedora you will create a new repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d. We’ll call this file kde.repo. The contents of this file will be:

# kde.repo, v2.1

[kde]
name=kde
mirrorlist=http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/fedora/mirrors-stable
gpgkey=http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/kde-redhat.RPM-GPG-KEY
#gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-kde-redhat
enabled=1

[kde-testing]
name=kde-testing
mirrorlist=http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/fedora/mirrors-testing
gpgkey=http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/kde-redhat.RPM-GPG-KEY
#gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-kde-redhat
enabled=1

[kde-unstable]
name=kde-unstable
mirrorlist=http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/fedora/mirrors-unstable
gpgkey=http://apt.kde-redhat.org/apt/kde-redhat/kde-redhat.RPM-GPG-KEY
#gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-kde-redhat
enabled=1

Now, the Ubuntu version is a bit different. Open up a terminal window and issue the command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/beta && sudo apt-get update

With the repositories in place you are almost ready to begin. But first you have an extra step in Fedora.

Enabling the repositories

Figure 1

In Fedora you need to fist make sure you have the repositories enabled before the system will be aware there is an update. To do this click on the start button and then enter “kpackage” in the search string. KPackageKit will pop up. Click on that entry to start up the tool you need.

Within this tool you will want to click on the Settings “tab” (see Figure 1) and then scroll down until you see KDE Testing and KDE Unstable. Check both of those and click Apply. Once you have done that you are ready to check for updates. To do this click on the Software Updates “tab”. You should see numerous updates available, all pertaining to KDE 4.5. You are ready to update.

Updating

You are already in the location you need to be in for Fedora. Click the Select All Updates button in KPackageKit and then click Apply. The update process should now begin.

If you are updating KDE in Ubuntu, from the terminal window, issue the command:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If, however, you are installing KDE for the first time, issue the command:

sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Completing the upgrade

Once your upgrade (or install) is complete all you need to do is log out and log back in. You can open up the Dolphin file manager and click Help > About KDE to see that, in fact, you are now running KDE 4.5. Enjoy the experience!

The GNOME Activity Journal is not a file browser, but a logger of activity. It uses the Zeitgeist engine to keep track of the files/websites/contacts/etc you have interacted with and tracker to get the current state of files. It’s very handy to use if you are constantly struggling to remember exactly what you did and what day you did it. In this article I will show you how to install and use this handy tool.

A preface

Before we start on this little journey, I must say there is a bug or two in the current iteration of GAJ. The developers are currently working on a new migration script from the old ontology to the new. What this is causing is the inability of GAJ to track web sites. This does not affect GAJs ability to track the files you have used, so the tool is still very usable. Look for future updates to resolve the issue of not being able to track your interaction with the web.

Another issue is that the package from the Fedora 13 repositories is broken. So if you are using Fedora 13, and you expect GAJ to work, you will be disappointed. This issue will hopefully be resolved very soon.

With that said, on with the show.

Installation

Installation is very simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software tool.
2. Search for “gnome activity journal” (no quotes).
3. Mark Gnome Activity Journal for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

That’s it. The above steps will also install the necessary dependencies. Once installed, in order to start up the GAJ, click Applications > Accessories > Activity Journal and the main (and only) window will start.

Using the GNOME Activity Journal

Figure 1

When you fire up GAJ what you see will, obviously, depend upon how much activity you have had. If you take a look at Figure 1 you can see the user I use for writing purposes hasn’t had much activity over the last few days. Figure 1 deceivingly show an HTML page that has been accessed. That page was actually a page that had been saved to the hard drive.

As you open and interact with files you will see the “Today” column update almost immediately. If you are curious about a particular file you can hover your mouse over that file to get a thumbnail preview. If you want to re-open that file you can click on it and the file will open in the chosen, default application for that file type.

What I really like about this tool is that it, as the name would imply, serves as a journal of what files I have accessed during the calendar year. You can scroll backwards and forwards (using the left or right-pointing arrows) to any date you want.

Final thoughts

If you are looking for a tool that will keep track of your daily activity on your machine GAJ might be the right tool. Even though it has a few bugs in it’s current form, it is still very useful.

We all know how simple it is to install downloaded applications on the Windows platform. What would you say if I told you it was just as easy to install a downloaded application on the Linux platform? And not just on Ubuntu…but on other Linux distributions. Would you be surprised? Would you be in disbelief? Well, for those disbelievers I have the proof for you today. In this article I will show you how to install downloaded applications, in Linux, with a double click.

What this applies to

Before you think this is going to show you how to install an application from source with a double click, think again. This will only apply to the packages created for a systems package manager. What that means is you can install .deb files in an apt-based (or dpkg-based) system (such as Ubuntu) or .rpm files in an RPM-based system (such as Fedora). If you are wanting to install from source, you will have to employ the command line tool. For the rest…you are just a double click away from installation goodness.

The dependency issue

There can, of course, be issues with this installation. The biggest issue will be dependencies. If a file you are attempting to install has unmet dependencies it will not install. When this happens you can try to meet those dependencies by using your Add/Remove Software tool. Or you can attempt to download the dependency files (after googling them and finding the right version) and install in the same way you are going to install the main application. This is one of the many reasons why it is always best to use your package management system. There are, of course, times when you need a package installed that it not in your package management system and there are no repositories for that tool. That is when this method will come into play.

How it works

Believe it or not, it works in much the same way as it does on the Windows  platform. Let’s see just how this works. I am going to install a package (one that I will writing about very soon) called Hot Copy. For that tool I have downloaded the .zip file (which contains binaries in both .deb and .rpm format. That file will have downloaded to my ~/Downloads directory. Here are the steps for installation (I will be explaining this from the GNOME desktop).

Step 1

Open up Nautilus to the ~/Downloads directory. In this directory you will see the .zip file you downloaded.

Figure 1

Step 2

Double click on the newly downloaded file. This will open up the archive file to display all of the contents. In the case of this file there will be two directories and a help file. The two directories will be for each of the different hardware architecture (x86 for 32 bit systems and x86_64 for 64 bit systems). Double click on the directory for your machines architecture to reveal the included installation files (see Figure 1).

Step 3

Figure 2

For the Ubuntu installation I am going to install both .deb files in this package. First I will double click the hotcopy .deb file. When I do this it will open up the GDebi package installation tool. When this new window opens (see Figure 2)  all I have to do is click the Install package buttton. GDebi will ask for the users password to complete the installation. You might recognize GDebi from any time you have downloaded a .deb file from the web. it’s the same routine.

When the installation is complete GDebi will report the installation is finished and you can then close the progress window and then close the GDebi window.

That’s it. And, believe it or not, the process is pretty much the same on the Fedora distribution as well.

Final thoughts

I bet you never thought installation applications in Linux was this easy. Well, Linux has come a long, long way since the early days when the command line was a requirement. Now, it seems, the command line is only an option. Although I can’t imagine myself using Linux without the command line (it’s how I was taught after all), it is completely possible to do so.

So in this article I am going to discus how to install the necessary codecs to get these media types running in both Fedora 13 and Ubuntu 10.04.

A necessary proclamation

Unfortunately Linux is hindered by licensing issues. This is why you will be hard-pressed to find a major distribution that ships with pre-rolled in MP3 support. It’s frustrating, but it’s a reality when dealing with licenses. Does that mean you have to go without listening to MP3′s and other file formats? No. You can still enjoy them, you just have to install support for those tools yourself (or allow the system to install them).

Auto-install

This is especially true for Ubuntu 10.04. When you try to use a new media type in one of the players (such as Rhythmbox or Banshee), Ubuntu will attempt to install the necessary files, applications,. and/or codecs in order allow that media player to work with said multi-media file. This works most of the time. It’s only during those occasions which it doesn’t work that will have you frustrated because you can’t use that multi-media. Fear  not.

Figure 1

Fedora 13

There is a very simple tool, called AutoX (by Dangermous – no relation to the famous cartoon character), that you can use to install nearly any codec for Fedora 12 and 13 in both 32 and 64 bit versions. You can install it with the commands:

su

rpm -Uvh http://dnmouse.org/autoten-4.7-2.fc13.noarch.rpm

After you install, you run this with the command autoten as the root user. If you do not have all of the necessary dependencies, it will install them at first run. Once running you click on the button for the codec you want and it will install (see Figure 1). Very simple.

Ubuntu 10.04

With Ubuntu 10.04 you will have to issue a few commands to get your codecs installed. Before you run those commands you need to add repositories to apt. The command to add those repositories is:

sudo wget –output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list

Now issue the command:

sudo apt-get –quiet update

Finally the next two commands will finish up the job:

sudo apt-get –yes –quiet –allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring

sudo apt-get –quiet update

You are ready to install the codecs. I will just list them out for you.

Non-free codecs: sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs

DVD support: sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder

Hopefully, after running the commands above, you should the codec you need installed OR now Ubuntu 10.04 should be able to auto-install any codec you need.

Final thoughts

Thanks to licensing issues it’s not a perfect world for Linux and multi-media, but it is getting close. With tools like you have above, getting your distribution up and running with multi-media isn’t all that challenging.

Has KDE 4 reached the point where it is poised to reclaim its throne as the desktop for the Linux masses? Has 4.x shaken off the buggy, slow stigma that has been plaguing it since it rose out of the fiery 3.x ashes? In this article I am going to highlight some of the new features and fixes you will find in 4.5 and show you how you can install this desktop so that you can  draw your own conclusions. NOTE: Public release of KDE 4.5 is set for this August.

Features

Many of these “new” features were really new in the RC candidate (which was the release prior to the SC release). But, since this release actually contains no “new” features,  I will include them here.

Figure 1

Reworked notification area: Prior to this release, the KDE 4 notification area was out of place and buggy. Now it actually looks like it belongs on the KDE 4 panel (see Figure 1). Using a new D-Bus based protocol the notification area has a much more uniform look and interacts much better with the desktop as a whole.

KWin Tiling: This feature allows you to automatically place windows next to one another. This might seem a bit similar to a feature that was brought to Windows users in Windows 7. This feature is pretty sweet. Drag a window to the left side of your screen and it will automatically resize itself to fit the left half of your desktop. Drag another window to the right side of your screen and it will automatically resize itself to fit the right half of the desktop. Drag a window to the top of the screen and it will resize itself to fit the entire desktop.

Advanced graphic effects: It is now possible to blur the background of translucent windows as well as numerous smaller improvements in the area of desktop effects make KDE 4 a much richer graphical experience.

WebKit: If you prefer the WebKit HTML rendering engine over the current Konqueror rendering engine, you’re in luck. With KDE 4.5 you can now switch Konqueror to WebKit.

Qt 4.7: The upgrade to the latest Qt brings to KDE 4.5 fare more speed than any of the updates have offered to date. KDE 4 now seems like it’s not hindering performance on your desktop.

Bug Fixes

As I mentioned, this release was about bug fixes. From what I have read the total number of bugs squashed in moving from 4.4 to 4.5 have been quite numerous. And it shows. The speed and stability increase is noticeable. In this most recent release you will find bugfixes for:

• Konsole: Refreshing and encoding bugs.
• Ocular: Several bugs that lead to Ocular (PDF viewer) crashing.
• KDE PIM Alarms: Numerous fixes.
• KDEUI: Optimizations and bugfixes.
• KDE Accessibility: Bugs fixed in KMouseTool.
• ARK: Numerous bug fixes including RAR fixes and several path fixes..

The list of bugs above is not complete, nor does it look like a list of bugs that would bring about speed increases and stability. Taken as a separate entity they would do little to bring about stability. But in conjunction with the other numerous bug fixes and improvements that have been rolled into what will become KDE 4.5, it all comes together for a much improved experience.

Installing

Installation on Ubuntu is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. sudo apt-add-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/experimental
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

For installation on Fedora follow these steps:

1. Add this repo to your current list of repositories.
2. yum groupupdate kde-desktop
3. yum update

The verdict so far

I have been using the latest development release of KDE 4 and I have to say from KDE 4.4 to KDE 4.5 there have been massive improvements. No longer do you feel like you are working with a sluggish, crash-prone desktop environment. Now KDE is starting to develop the stability and speed associated with the GNOME desktop. If you were a fan of KDE 3.5 and hated the idea of updating to the less stable 4.x, you will happy to know that KDE 4.5 will bring about the same level of stability and usability you once knew.

Of course when you open up your /etc/squid/squid.conf file you might be a bit overwhelmed. So in this article I am going to show you two ways to limit access with Squid (instead of tossing the whole configuration file at you at once). I will also show you the quick and dirty method of installing Squid on a Fedora 13 machine. Once done with this article, you will at least be able to control network access by time or by IP address. In later articles we will discuss other ways to control network access with Squid.

Installation

Installation is quite simple. You can do this two ways: Command line or using the Add/Remove Software tool. Let’s take a look at the latter first.

In order to install Squid from the Add/Remove Software tool follow these steps:

1. Click System > Administration > Add/Remove Software
2. Search for “squid” (no quotes).
3. Select the Squid application for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

That’s it. Now let’s take a look at the command line version of the same task. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window by clicking Applications > System Tools > Terminal.
2. Issue the command su and then enter your root password.
3. Issue the command yum install squid.
4. If your system requires dependencies, allow them as well as the installation to continue.
5. When finished exit out of the root prompt by issuing the command exit.

That’s it. Squid is now installed. Now, on to the configuration.

Configuration

The configuration file you need to edit is /etc/squid/squid.conf. Open that file up with your favorite text editor and get ready to configure. The first set up I am going to show you is how to restrict access by time. To do this you are going to create Access Control Lists (ACLs).

Let’s assume you are restricting access on an internal LAN with an IP scheme of 192.168.1.0 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. And let’s say you are restricting access for your teenage children such that they can only access the network from the hours of 3:00pm until 7:00pm (just a random time I used for example). For this you will need to add two ACLs to your configuration file. Add this first section to the bottom of the ACL section of the file (You will see a long list of lines that start out acl). For restricting to the times I prescribed above the ACLs would look like:

acl home_network src 192.168.1.0/24
acl kids_hours time M T W H F 15:00-19:00

The first line defines the source of the connection and the second line defines the allowed time period.

To finish off this configuration you will need to add another line, this time you will add this section at the bottom of the http_access section (Under the Insert your own rules… here section). This line looks like:

http_access allow home_network kids_hours

NOTE: You could also create an acl for weekend hours to allow more access during those days.

Now, let’s say one of those teens has had trouble with grades and you want to completely restrict access to only that one machine (say the IP address for that child is 192.168.1.10), while continuing to control access to the other machines. To do this you could add a third ACL like so:

acl RestrictedHost src 192.168.1.10

Back to the http_access section you would then add this line:

http_access deny RestrictedHost

Save and close that file. Now restart Squid with the command (run as the root user):

/etc/rc.d/init.d/squid restart

The last thing you need to do is to configure the PCs of those who need to go through the Proxy server. Remember, Squid uses port 3128.

Final thoughts

Squid is a very powerful tool that can be used to to limit access in numerous ways. What I have shown you is only scratching the surface of Squid’s power, but it give you a good idea where to start and how far it can go.

Zarafa is an open source collaborative software solution meant to be an alternative to Exchange. It works like Exchange, includes a web interface that has the same look and feel as Exchange, and even integrates with Outlook! Zarafa integrates with your existing mail server and includes IMAP4 and a POP3 gateway as well as an iCal/CalDAV gateway. In this article I am going to show you how to get this server up and running quickly and easily on top of a running Fedora 13 distribution that includes a working Apache server.
Features at a glance

Before we get into the installation, let’s take a quick look at the feature list Zarafa offers:

• Addressbook
• Calendar
• Notes
• Tasks
• Personal Folders / Public Outlook Folders
• Permissions for every User and Folder configurable
• Meeting invitation and free/busy option
• Resources planning
• POP3
• IMAP
• iCalendar
• Caldav
• synchronization via Z-push
• BlackBerry integration over BES
• Out-of-office message
• Brick-level backup
• Single sign-on

So it looks like there’s very little this server is actually missing eh? That’s right. Now, let’s get this baby installed.

Installation

As I mentioned earlier, Zarafa will need a working email system. You can integrate Zarafa into Postfix by adding the following line to the /etc/postfix/main.cf file:

mailbox_command = /usr/bin/zarafa-dagent “$USER”

You will also need to make sure users are in the Zarafa database as well as the Unix database on the system.

Now, to the installation of Zarafa itself. This is done completely via the command line, so open up a terminal window. The first thing you need to do (after you su to the root user) is to install the system with the command:

yum install zarafa zarafa-webaccess

This command should pick up any dependencies necessary to complete the installation. Depending upon the speed of your machine and network connection, this could take some time.

Once the installation is completed you need to issue a few commands:

• service zarafa-server start
• service zarafa-gateway start
• service zarafa-spooler start

The above three commands will start all of the necessary services for the Zarafa system. Now you need to create a public store which is done with the command:

zarafa-admin -s

Once the store is complete you need to create a test user with the command:

zarafa-admin -c USERNAME -e USERNAME@localhost -f “Zarafa Tester” -p PASSWORD

Where everything in ALL CAPS is user specific.

Now restart your web server with the command:

service httpd restart

It is now time to log in. Point your browser to http://localhost/webaccess and you will see the glorious-ness that is Zarafa (see Figure 1). As you can see the web interface looks a lot like that of the Exchange web access page. And the usage is very similar as well.

This of course doesn’t set up a complete, usable experience. In order to get email delivered into Zarafa you will need to employ the zarafa-dagent with your local mailer (as I mentioned earlier with the Postfix example).

Final thoughts

Zarafa looks extremely promising. It’s easy to install, offers full functionality (nearly equal to that of Exchange), and is open source. Give Zarafa a go and see if you think it can be an open source Exchange “killer”.

But that simplicity doesn’t mean Deja Dup is complete bereft of features. Not at all. In fact, you’d be surprised at how many different ways you can backup with Deja Dup. In this article you are going to see how easy it is to back up your Fedora 13 files and folders with this handy tool.

Features

Deja Dup offers the following features:

• Amazon S3 cloud support.
• Support for local or remote backups.
• Encrypts and compresses your data.
• Incremental back up.
• Restore from any particular backup.
• Scheduled backups.
• Integrated into the GNOME desktop.

But how does it work? Is it really that simple? Yes. Let’s find out.

Usage

Figure 1

To start Deja Dup click Applications > System Tools > Deja Dup Backup Tool. When Deja Dup starts up you will see it’s main (and only) window (see Figure 1). As I mentioned earlier, this window consists of two simple buttons (Restore and Backup). It can’t get more obvious than this. If you want to backup you hit the Backup button…you get the idea.

On first run, hen you click the Backup button, a Wizard will pop open to help you set up your backup preferences. This window wants the following information:

Backup location: This is where you backup to. If you want to connect to a remote system you just click the Connect

Figure 2

To Server button which will open up a new window (see Figure 2). This new window should look very familiar to anyone that has connected a GNOME desktop to a Windows share. From the Service type drop down select the type of connection you want to make and then fill in the information. If you are wanting to backup to a Windows share, Deja Dup will mount the share on your system. Once the share is mounted you have to select the mount in the Backup location drop down in the Preferences Wizard.

Include/Exclude files: In this preferences section you decide what is to be included in your backups. By default Deja Dup will include your Home (~/) directory and exclude your Trash folder. If you decide to go with the default, just make sure your backup location has plenty of room.

Those are the only two major steps in the Wizard. Once you have added the Include/Exclude files to the Preferences you will be at the last step of the Wizard where you can click the Backup button to run the first backup. If, however, you have opted to encrypt your backup you will be given one final step – to add an encryption password. Once you click Continue the backup will begin. Once the first backup is complete Deja Dup will ask if you want to automatically backup. You can select from Daily,  Weekly (default), Monthly, or bi-Monthly.  You do not get to choose the time for your backup.

NOTE: If you are doing regularly scheduled backups to a Windows share, make sure that share is mounted when the backup is to occur or else the backup will fail.

Final thoughts

That’s it. Deja Dup is about as user-friendly a backup tool as you will find. It’s simple to use and very reliable. If you are trying to find a good backup tool that will not wrack your brain with complexity, yet still offers enough features to get the job done give Deja Dup a try.

In this article I will introduce you to the Fedora firewall tool and show you how to secure your Linux distribution quickly and reliably.

Two ways to success

There are two ways to configure the firewall tool to meet your needs. The first method is manually. You can decide what to leave open and what to close up. The other method is with the help of a very easy to use Wizard. What these choices do is allow the system to be useful for both new and seasoned users alike.

What I really like about this tool is that it doesn’t take anything for granted. It allows you decide what interfaces, services, ports are all trusted; it allows you to create your own custom rules, do port forwarding, and masquerading. This tool is pretty fantastic and will keep your desktop secure. Now, let’s see how this thing works.

The Wizard

Figure 1

The Wizard is where every new user should start. But before you get to the Wizard you actually have to start the tool. To do this click System > Administration > Firewall and the main window will open. From this main window click on the Wizard button to begin the process of creating your firewall.

The steps of the Wizard are as follows:

Step 1: Welcome screen (just click Foward).

Step 2: Select the system you ahve (System with Network access or system without network access).

Step 3: User skill level (Beginner or Expert).

Step 4: Configuration (Desktop or Server).

After you have completed the Wizard click the Apply button on the main window to complete the process. This will clear your current firewall and apply the settings the Wizard has created. Only problem? The wizard really didn’t do much as far as customization for your needs. In order to really customize your firewall you have to step outside the boundaries of the wizard. Let’s do that.

If you look at the main window you can see there is a number of options you can select. If you find the only option in the left pane that is available is Trusted Services, that means you have selected Beginner level. In order to access the other features (Other Ports, Trusted Interfaces, etc) you will have to set yourself up as an Expert by clicking Options > User Skill Level > Expert. Once you have done that all the other options will be available.

At this point you simply need to walk through all of the possible options and select the following:

• Trusted Services: Which services do you want to be made available to hosts and networks.
• Other Ports: Here you can open up any port listed in /etc/services.
• Trusted Interfaces: If you have more than one NIC on your machine this will be especially handy. Define internal and external network interfaces and refine what each has open.
• Masquerading: Need to hide an entire range of private IP address behind a single public address? You might need to configure masquerading.
• Port Forwarding: If you need to configure the host machine to forward a port request to another machine, this is where you do it.
• ICMP Filter: Here you configure error messages between computers. You can block things like ping requests here.
• Custom Rules: This is where you can add your very own custom rules to your firewall. We will discuss this further in another article.

Once you have made any changes make sure you click the Apply button in order to apply the changes.

Final thoughts

That’s pretty much the gist of the Fedora Firewall tool. We will take this further soon with an article on creating your own customized rules with this tool. Until then, enjoy hardening your Fedora box with this easy to use firewall tool.

I have covered Gwibber, which wis the Ubuntu default social networking tool. This time around I will focus on Pino. Pino is the default social tool for Fedora 13. And although it is very much in beta (whereas Gwibber is not), I find it to be far more stable than it’s competition. I will say, however, that Pino is limited to what it can connect to. It is best (in its current state) that you consider Pino a Twitter app and nothing more. That being said, let’s take a look at Fedora’s default social tool.

Installation

As I said, this is the default tool for Fedora, so there is no need for installation. If, however, you are looking for a Facebook social tool, you can either wait and hope the developers add Facebook to this tool or you can go ahead and install Gwibber (though when you see the list of requirements, you might change your mind).

Usage

Figure 1

You will find Pino located in the Applications > Internet menu. When you first fire up Pino you will have to add an account. This is simple. All you need to do is add your login/password credentials, select the Service you are adding (by default there is only Twitter, identi.ca, and Other), and click OK. This is wher eyou find the limitation of Pino. I have confidence that Facebook and other sites will be added in the future.

Figure 2

Once you have added your account you will be amazed at how quickly the main windo (see Figure 2) fills up with your “tweets”. That is where Pino really shines – it’s speed. Pino refreshes remarkably fast.

From this main window you can also view:

Home timeline: This will display all tweets from you and those you are following.

Mentions: Anyone that has mentioned you in a tweet.

Messages: All of your direct messages.

User information: Click on a user’s icon and their information will appear.

Preferences

Figure 3

If you are like me you use your Twitter account quite a bit. To that end I always like to make sure my app is running. With Pino you can have it start automatically to the notification are and have it live in your notification area whenever it is minimized. To do this click Edit > Preferences and then click on the Desktop tab (see Figure 3).  By default Pino is set to minimize to the tray, but not to auto start. Check the box for Starting up in tray and then click Close.

Now you will need to have Pino start at login. You can not do this through Pino itself, but through System > Preferences > Startup Applications.

Figure 4

When Pino is minimized to the notification area you will see the icon shown in Figure 4. I’m sure you can guess, the icon is the small Pine tree.

Survey says!

Pino is an outstanding app for Twitter status updates. It’s not nearly as feature-rich as Gwibber, but it won’t gobble up your CPU like Gwibber is prone to. If you are looking for a tool to post twitter status updates, and you use Fedora – look no further than Pino.

My first exposure to Fedora was Fedora Core 1. That was a huge deal because it was the first time Red Hat Linux had split into enterprise and user grade operating systems. This was a remarkable move and one that has made Red Hat the undisputed king of enterprise level Linux. Why? With Fedora Red Hat has a community testing ground that helps to make sure their enterprise system is solid. All of the bugs that Fedora users report wind up getting fixed in Red Hat. And this is why, as Fedora matures, it is a robust, reliable, and secure as it is.

But are you ready for Fedora? In this article I am going to highlight some of the features that might sway you over to the one of the elder statesmen of the Linux guard.

Instead of going through the litany of updated packages and features. What I thought I would do, this time around, is discuss some of those features that makes Fedora 13 a good match for the end user. Any Linux user who is accustomed to the operating system could hop onto Fedora 13 and be happily plugging away. But what about the new user? What about that user migrating over from another operating system? What features would be a welcome change from the standard Linux distribution? Let’s take a look.

Printing

One of the issues that has plauged Linux for a long time was printer setup. Let’s take my particular printer for example. I have a Samsung ML1710 that usually required the manual installation of the Splix drivers. This printer is on a network so it always made it more challenging. Fedora 13 bypasses that challenge and now has one of the easiest printer setups you will ever see. Not only is printer detection automatic (even over a network), driver installation is automatic as well. With a few simple clicks my network printer was installed and printing. I did have to enter the root user password to make all of this happen, but any user can type a password…nothing special about that.

PackageKit Integration

Remember those days of opening up applications like Rhythmbox only to find it didn’t play your MP3 files – and then having to figure out how to get it to do so? If you are like me you do not recall them fondly. Things have changed quite a bit. Now PackageKit has been integrated practically (if not literally) everywhere so when an application has a need to install something it will be automatically detected and installed. So when you try to play an unrecognized format in your media player, PackageKit will come to the rescue.

New backup tool

There is a new backup tool included in Fedora 13 called Deja Dup (I have no idea where that name came from). This tool is ridiculously easy to use. Once set up the tool has two buttons: Restore and Backup. That’s it. Users can now backup their desktops (as they should be) like seasoned pros.

iPod/iPhone support

Now, out of the box, Fedora supports your iPhone and iPod Touch. No additional software necessary. Just plug that hardware in and it will instantly be recognized and you can manage your music and your photos (sorry, no app support).

Over all impression

I could continue on forever and a day about how Fedora 13 brings a world of improvement to the Fedora/Linux experience. But the best thing I can say is that Ubuntu better watch out or Fedora might well usurp it as the king of Linux for new users. And since Fedora is already one of the most popular distributions with experienced users…you get the picture.

If you have never tried Fedora do so now. If you jumped ship on Fedora some where around  Fedora 9, I’d say it’s about time you jumped back on the ship and enjoyed an incredible experience.

So how does a new-to-Linux user decide? With so many choices, how is it possible to start off on the right path? Without help, it’s not easy. My first Linux distribution was Caldera Open Linux 1. It was rough and nearly pushed me back to Windows. It wasn’t until I found Red Hat (4.2 at the time) that I found the right distribution for the right purpose. That was ten years ago and the choices were much more limited.

Because the new year is here, and I am always one to want to help people make the move to Linux, I thought I would create a flow chart to help Linux users make the right choice. Is it perfect? Probably not. Do I include every possible choice? No way. The distributions I have included are:

• Ubuntu
• Ubuntu Server
• Ubuntu Studio
• Slackware
• Fedora
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
• SuSE Enterprise Linux Server
• SuSE Enterprise Linux
• Gentoo
• Mandriva Power Pack
• CentOS
• PCLinuxOS
• Linux Mint
• Debian

It’s still a healthy list of distributions, but not everyone. And I’m sure there will be those that disagree with my approach. That is understandable. So much so, that I am (in the spirit of open source) including my .dia file for the flowchart. NOTE: The .dia file is hosted on my domain (outside of ghacks). I would love to see how readers change my flowchart to better fit their opinions/experiences.

Figure 1

But for those that do not want to bother messing with editing the flowchart, and just want to see it in all its scattered “glory”, take a look at Figure 1.

One of the first things you might notice is the predestination paradox (temporal causality loop) I created for those unsure of their purpose for choosing Linux.

There might also be some initial confusion as to why I have included, in some choices, distributions that are rather similar. For example: The difference between Mandriva and PCLinuxOS might not be that great, but notice I have included the Mandriva Power Pack which includes pre-installed flash, various codecs, and Mandriva support.

Final thoughts

I hope this flowchart makes your choice of Linux an easier one. Even more, I hope this flow chart helps you to start your new year off on an open source foot, and that you find this path a rewarding one.

Amazon.com not only has an outstanding collection of digital downloads in their music section (as covered by Martin in his insightful article “Amazon DRM Free MP3 Store“), they offer a completely cross-platform tool to make this process simple. The Amazon MP3 Downloader is a very simple (as well as required) tool that enables you to purchase music from Amazon.com and use it at your leisure. And since the files are DRM-free, you aren’t limited to putting them on one device and only one device. Instead you can download your music, burn it on to CD, copy it to your device, copy it to your friends device…what have you.

But in order to take advantage of this service, you MUST have the MP3 downloader installed. That’s where this tutorial comes into play. Here you will see how to install and use the Amazon MP3 Downloader on your Linux box.

Getting and installing

Point your browser to the download page and download the proper file for your distribution. As of this writing you have the choice of files for the following distributions:

• Ubuntu 8.10/9.04
• Debian 5
• Fedora 10
• OpenSuSE 11

Yes, Amazon is a bit behind the times, but you can get around this (at least on Ubuntu 9.10). Below you will find the steps to install the Amazon MP3 Downloader on Ubuntu 9.10.

Download the .deb file for Ubuntu.

Open up a terminal window and issue the command (from within the directory the file was saved) sudo dpkg -i amazonmp3.deb.

You will see a bunch of errors that will end with the warning: Errors were encountered while processing: amazonmp3.

• Issue the command sudo synaptic.
• You will get a warning that you have 1 broken package.
• Go to the Edit menu and select Fix Broken Packages.
• Click Apply in the new window.
• Close Synaptic when the packages have been fixed.

Using Amazon MP3 Downloader

There are two ways you can use the downloader. The first is to start up the application by clicking on Internet submenu of the Applications menu. From within this menu click on the Amazon MP3 Downloader entry.

When you first launch it your default web browser will start up with a “congratulations” page informing you that the Downloader will launch the next time you download a song from Amazon.com. You also will get the chance to download a free song. When you click on the button (on Amazon.com) to download a free song you will taken to the Amazon.com login page. Log in and then you will have the chance to download your free song.  Go ahead and download your free song.

What you will download is an .amz file that links to your download. Your browser, by default, will ask you what to do with the file. Go ahead and let the Amazon MP3 Downloader open that file and the download will being.

But where did that file go? The Downloader will, by default, download all files to ~/Music/Amazon MP3/. If you open up that directory (after you download your file) you will see the sub-directory containing your new download.

Figure 1

Another way to use the Downloader is to open up the tool and click the

Configuring the Downloader

There aren’t many options in the Downloader’s preference window.  From within that window you can click the button “Shop Amazon MP3 Store”. This will automatically open your default browser to the store.

In order to configure the tool click on the File menu and then select Preferences. From within this window you can configure the following:

• Download directory.
• Automatically check for updates.
• Proxy settings.

And that’s it. But what more would you need to configure for such a simple tool? The only option I always change, by default, is the Download Directory. I tend to change this to the directory used by my multimedia player so I don’t always have to add the new media to the player when I download something. Of course, in order to have this work you have to have your media player set up to automatically scan for new files.

Final thoughts

If you are a Linux user, and a purchaser of digital music, you should do yourself a favor and give the Amazon MP3 Downloader a try. If for another other reason, all Linux users should give it a go in order to show support for Amazon’s support for Linux.

Upon installation you might not immediately notice the improvements. They are there and eventually these improvements will impress you. So instead of you having to wade through the distribution to witness these improvements, I will highlight those that will have certain impact on the user…whether directly or indirectly.

Bluetooth Support

You might be wondering why I am starting with a feature that isn’t used by everyone. The main reason is because this is the update that might excite users (at least mobile users) the most. With the latest release not only has bluetooth support matured, but tethering support has become almost foolproof! So now that laptop can tether to your cell via usb. But the improvements don’t end there. One of the issues, prior to 12, that plagued Linux bluetooth users was battery drain. Now bluetooth services are run “on demand” so that thirty seconds after the last bluetooth device was used, the service is suspended.

Network manager improvements

Another large step forward is with the Network Manager. Although this is the best of the best Linux network management tools, it still had room for improvement. What has been improved is:

• IpV6 support.
• Better shared, static, and system-wide connection support.
• Easy to configure bluetooth tethering

Out of the box tablet support

This will come to the surprise of anyone that has had to get tablet support working with Linux. Fedora 12 will work without having to muck around with xorg.conf! Tablet pressure sensitivity, handwriting recognition, and many more features will work, out of the box! This is big news for anyone who wants to use a tablet PC with Linux.

Updates improvements

For those of you who grow more and more frustrated with the constant barrage of updates with a Fedora distribution, you will be happy to know that Fedora has made some serious improvements. First RPM now uses XZ compression (instead of gzip), so packages are smaller. Also, the Presto plugin is now enabled by default. Presto uses RPM deltas which only use files that have changed. Between XZ and deltas file downloads are considerably smaller and updating is noticeably faster.

Bug reporting

One thing to keep in mind is that Fedora is a cutting edge distribution, so bug reporting should be a task most Fedora users follow through with. Fedora 12 makes this task very simple. When an application crashes data is automatically collected (without the user having to run back traces and such). With the help of the new Abrt tool, reporting bugs is about as simple as possible. The user doesn’t even have to go to Bugzilla to report a bug!

Graphics

There have been a number of improvements for graphics with Fedora 12. One of the more important updates is the experimental drivers that give 3D support for graphics cards without the use of proprietary drivers.

Clustered Samba

Another exciting addition is the GFS2 Fedora 12 Samba allows you to  have multiple instances of smbd across different nodes of a cluster. With this you can export a gfs2 filesystem through one or more nodes in the cluster. Clustered Samba will provide high-availablity of the Samba service.

Final thoughts

This is just a taste of what Fedora 12 is brining to the Linux table. There is a veritable plethora of new features available with Fedora 12. For a complete list, take a look at this Wiki page for an all encompassing  look at the feature list.

In this article I will give you reasons why you should and should not make the jump to the most recent release of your distribution. Hopefully, after reading this you will either want to immediately download the latest ISO or you’ll close your browser and go about your merry business.

Ubuntu

The Ubuntu update enigma can be made very simple by looking at one unique feature: LTS. LTS means Long Term Support. Every 2 years Ubuntu releases a new LTS version. When a release benefits from LTS it means it will enjoy three years of support on the desktop and five years on the server. This means that for 3 and 5 years your installation will get free supported updates. With a non-LTS release you only get 18 months of free, supported updates. When dealing with a server this can make a huge difference.

Now it does get a little confusing here. Why? Because a new Ubuntu is released every six months. So in the period of two years you will have gone through four releases. So the question then becomes “Do you deal with one release for two years that will always have updates, or do you just update the latest greatest every six months?”

I think most will agree that updating every six months is a bit much. And “updating” is a tricky word to use as the experience with updating from one release to another is not always the same…especially when looking at a major release update (going from 8.10 to 9.04 for example).

If you are still unsure if you should update your machine the next question you should ask yourself (once you’ve managed to get beyond the LTS or non-LTS question) is to find out if there is a new technology that you must have. For example, the 9.04 release of Ubuntu offers the ext4 file system and a brand new desktop messaging system. For some the ext4 file system was enough to win them over. But for others, a brand new file system is something that will need to have the bugs worked out before they are ready to use.

So ultimately with Ubuntu you have to first ask yourself if you want Long Term Support. If you do want LTS then you will update every two years. If you do not want LTS then you need to go to the next question: Is there something in particular in the new release that you want? If so take the plunge. If not, then you will want to wait for either a new LTS release or a the secondary release of the major release (i.e. 9.10 instead of 9.04).

Fedora

If you are using Fedora you are using the cutting edge. And using the cutting edge comes with a price. Often upgrading the latest Fedora will result with broken features or hardware that won’t work. With the update from Fedora 10 to 11 there are a number of complaints arising from the community. In particular are: Intel graphics issues, Sound issues, Font issues, and more. And with Fedora updating is more of a crap shoot than any other distribution. But, as stated, you know you are living on the edge by choosing Fedora as your distribution. So if you are using Fedora the choice to upgrade should be a no-brainer.

Remember, Fedora Linux is the primary testing ground for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The more people use the lastest release, the more bug reports are sent in. The more bug reports that are sent in means RHEL will continue to improve. The more RHEL improves the more likely enterprises will make the move to Linux.

But even knowing that Fedora is a cutting edge distribution, when you have finally managed to get everything running exactly how you want it, the idea of breaking all of that hard work is something that will cause many a fanboy to hesitate. But where is the fun in that? Fedora is about testing, tinkering, and reporting.

User types

There are generally two types of Linux users: Those that like the latest-greatest, and those that are happy that everything works. If you are one of the former groups you know that nothing will stop you from updating your machine. You are probably anxiously awaiting for the second the new release hits the mirrors so you can burn it and install it.

If you are one of the latter users than you wait, patiently, to hear the reports of how a release is going. For those people I will give this advise: Subsribe to the users mailing list of your distribution of choice. By subscribing to that list you are going to know, right away, what the problems are for that new release. And most likely you will see something pass through that list that will sway you one way or the other.

Final thoughts

It’s not an easy choice. But it is one you will have to make at some point. And I realize that this choice is based on personal taste, time, resources, and knowledge. But the temptation to upgrade is a power to be rekoned with.  I have often succumbed to that temptation. And just where do I stand now? I am currently still using an older version of Elive Compiz because I know the latest version still has some bugs to be worked out (bugs that directly effect the very reason I use that particular distribution.) So I am in a holding pattern until the 2.0 release of my favorite distribution comes out.

What about you? What is your choice? Do you constantly live on the edge, or do you play it safe and stick with a release that works for as long as you can?

Not only is Revisor easy to use, it’s easy to install. But you do need to make sure you have plenty of space available on your hard drive. You are, after all, creating a a complete iso image. Or, thanks to Revisor, you might be splitting a DVD image into a CD set.

Unfortunately Revisor hasn’t reached a point (and may never) where it will be a tool that will allow you to create your own flavor of Linux (it is a Fedora tool after all). But you can customize the packages you include in your respin. You can even customize the iso itself which requires making major changes to a kickstart file (that goes beyond the scope of this article.)  But for creating a LiveCD with the most updated packages and even user-specific packages. With all of that said, let’s see how Revisor is used.

Getting and installing

Since Revisor is a Fedora tool it will be in the Fedora repositories. Installing this tool is simple. Open up a terminal, su to the root user, and issue the following command:

yum install revisor

You will have to accept the installation of the dependencies before Revisor will install. Once it is installed you can start Revisor with the command revisor. You will also find a Revisor entry in the GNOME desktop menu Applications. Look in the System Tools sub menu and you will find an entry for Revisor.

Using Revisor

Revisor is basically a wizard that walks you through the steps of creating your iso. The first screen of the wizard is just a welcome screen. On this screen click Get Started to begin.

Figure 1

The next screen (see Figure 1) requires you to choose the type of media you will be creating. There are two types: Installation media and Live media. Within each media type you can select either DVD, CD, optical, or USB (NOTE: USB will be disabled because it is still experimental.)

Once you choose your media type click Forward to take you to the next screen of the wizard. The next

Figure 2

screen requires you to make configurations and add/remove repositories for your iso image (see Figure 2).

You can use the defaults in the upper section. In the lower section you will want to select the repositories and add any third party repositories you will want. These third party repositories are required if there is software you want to include that is not standard fare for the Fedora distribution. If you do decide to add repositories you will need to know:Base URL, Mirror List, and GPG Key File. You can also choose to include/exclude any packages from the repository, as well as give the repository a name and description. Make sure you save this to configuration if you know you will be creating more respins based on this setup.

The next step in the wizard is for adding a kickstart file (should you want to use one) as well as taking care of a few advanced options regarding your kickstart file.

Figure 3

Now Revisor will load up your repositories. Once the repositories are loaded you can add or remove any packagees to be included in your respin.

Make note that you have to go through and select every package you need. This includes the base packages, networking packages, etc. If you don’t add it, it won’t be on your system.

You can also add optional packages by highlighting the category and clicking the Optional Packages button.

After you have selected all of your packages click Forward and you will see a screen that indicates how many packages and the size of the build. If you are okay with what you see click Forward which will take you to the final configuration steps. Included in these final steps are the root user password, default language, keyboard type, target architecture, and time zone. Click Foward when you have completed these options.

You are now ready to add any kernel boot parameters. Generally speaking you should be fine with the defaults. But if you know that you will need a different boot parameter, add it here.

The next screen allows you to add a network device. Don’t worry, this isn’t about adding the specific hardware. This section allows you to add an interface (such as eth0 using DHCP). Make sure you at least add one interface so networking will be enabled (especially with a Live CD).

Click Forward and you will see the Authentication window. This will be of use if you know you are going to be needing to add any particular authentication such as LDAP, SMB, Name Switch Cache, NIS, etc. If you do not need any authentication click Foward to move on to the Firewall configuration.

Figure 4

In this window you can set up a default firewall. This section should not be overlooked. If you are creating a respin of Fedora you want to keep security in mind, so make sure you aren’t creating a wide-open respin for people to install.

Figure 4 shows the firewall setup window. As you can see you can set this up to allow specific services through. Choose wisely. Click Forward when you are finished to take you to the X Windows configuration. In this window you are going to set up much of X including which graphical environment starts up by default. You can also set up the display options as well.

Complete this section, click Forward, and you will find yourself on the user customization. Here you can add a user to the respin. If you add a user you can set it up to automatically log in with this user.

That’s the last step. Once you click Foward here Revisor will set out to create your respin, which might include a lot of downloading. This final step can take quite some time, depending upon how many packages you have included.

Once Revisor has completed you will find your iso image in the destination directory you configured during the setup process. Burn that iso with your favorite burning software and you now have your very own respin of Fedora Linux!