...making Linux just a little more fun!

next -->

# Mailbag

### This month's answers created by:

[ Amit Saha, Ben Okopnik, Kapil Hari Paranjape, Lew Pitcher, René Pfeiffer, MNZ, Steve Brown, Thomas Adam, Vignesh M ]
...and you, our readers!

# Still Searching

### Design of Remote Accessibility application

Amit Kumar Saha [amitsaha.in at gmail.com]

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:17:44 +0530

Hi list One of Google's SoC 2007 ideas by Ubuntu is

Remote accessibility

Ubuntu should have an easily installable and enable-able feature to allow remote access to your desktop, files, and other resources over the Internet. This could be accomplished via IPv6 when available, dynamic DNS (i.e. dyndns.org) and UPnP when not. Ideally everything would be ssh tunneled, with simple clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux distributed on USB keys or CD-R's. The client could rely on public key authentication and present options for VNC (or NX) remote control, drive mapping, or other resource sharing once connected. When appropriate, it should also allow read-only anonymous access if the owner has enabled it (for websites and shared calendars, for example).

Any thoughts on how we could implement a Simple, Bare Bone Remote access software?

### Changing permissions via Web tool

j.bakshi at icmail.net [(j.bakshi at icmail.net)]

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:06:48 -0800

[[[ This came in with no Subject at all. -- Kat ]]]

Dear list,

Hope everyone is well here. I am in search of some web based tool for linux server and may be some one of you suggest me some possible solutions.

I am using apache and webdav in a linux server. So developers can create/edit their scripts by accessing webdav and can check it through apache. Now not every one has to write permission on all the folders under the htdocs. since webdav authenticate user by LDAP so it can be solved by the <limit> tag in httpd.conf

    reference   http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Apache-WebDAV-LDAP-HOWTO

Based on the Project requirement I have to modify the read/write permission of the developers frequently. Is there any web based tool so that this permission changing can be done from a browser ? I need this so that the project manager then do this from his windows machine.

OR is there any other solution to do this ? I left samba as there was a problem to edit files on linux by dreamweaver from windows because of time server problem. So any other way ?

thanks for your time.

# Our Mailbag

### Design of a Protocol Monkey

Amit Kumar Saha [amitsaha.in at gmail.com]

Mon, 5 Mar 2007 22:53:22 +0530

Hi list Any insights into how i can go about designing a SMTP protocol monkey or any protocol monkey for that matter.

What exactly does RFC 2975 (The Infinite Monkey Protocol Suite (IMPS) mean? Any simple *plain text* explanation?

[ Thread continues here (17 messages/18.40kB) ]

### Dual boot hard drives using Lilo?

Toby.Upham at mydata.com [(Toby.Upham at mydata.com)]

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:04:40 -0500

Good Day!

I have a bit of a challenge on my hands that I think you can help me with. My company (as listed below) makes automated computer placement machines that run on a Linux platform. We have used RedHat exclusively for years. Recently, we have upgraded to a Fedora version.

Into the Linux, we have our own GUI that is used for menu's, data entry, etc. We call it TPSys (Test and Place System). Well, there are many versions of TPSys that have been released over the years. Each version gives new features, some mechanical support, many software improvements.

I am the corporate trainer for this company. I am in a situation now where we just released a new version of the TPSys. Many customers that we have won't be elegible or just won't get the new software, so I'm in a situation where I now have to offer courses on older TPSys software, as well as new! I need to have my demo machine running the software applicable to that course. Short of changing the hard drive each time, I would like to have the machine be a dual boot system so that I can choose.

I have several options at hand. I have a secondary IDE spot that I can put a slave H/D, or, I can partition the drive (it's 80Gig, where we really only need a 40Gig partition to run).

My question for you guys is this...... if I edit the lilo.conf file, there is a boot line. The standard line that is in my machine is "boot=/dev/hda". What do I need to add in order have the choice of which hard drive to boot from? Is there a way to do this, and do you know of anyone using this in a practical way?

I really appreciate your time. Thank you in advance.

Best Regards,

Toby S. Upham

Corporate Trainer

    --
    MYDATA automation, Inc.
    320 Newburyport Turnpike
    Rowley, MA  01969
    Tel: (978) 948-6919
    Fax: (978) 948-6915

[ Thread continues here (4 messages/5.10kB) ]

### Upgrading from RHEL v3 to v5

Jesse Fitzgerald [jesse at nursingnet.com]

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:41:07 -0500

[[[ Please do not send in text with "smart" quotes! And please use a proper .sig delimiter - two hyphens and a space followed by a newline! -- Kat ]]]

Hello all. I'm running Redhat Enterprise Linux version 3.0 with an active RHN subscription.

Linux 2.4.21-47.EL #1 SMP Wed Jul 5 20:30:36 EDT 2006 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I want to upgrade to version 5.0. I?m a bit anxious though. I only have a few users, but have spent a lot of time getting everything running well on my box. My question: If I install Red Hat Enterprise V5 using the upgrade option via the anaconda installer, will I loose any of my data or applications? I know that doing a clean wipe and reinstall is the BEST solution, but if possible I would like to upgrade.

Here is what I'm specifically concerned about loosing: Apache, MySql, PHP, Qmail, Vpopmail, and various other small applications (Webalizer, etc?). All of the above have been compiled from source. I'm also concerned about stuff in /usr /usr/home /etc and /var being overwritten.

I hope my questions aren't too silly. I'm a novice with basic administration experience. My server is not a mission critical commercial machine. Small variances caused by the upgrade would be easily tolerated.

Thanks in advance for any info you may have.

Kind regards,

- --Jesse

PS. Here's the partition information for my system if it helps.

    more fstab
    LABEL=/                 /                       ext3    defaults        1 1
    LABEL=/boot             /boot                   ext3    defaults        1 2
    none                    /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
    none                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
    none                    /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
    /dev/sda3               swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
    /dev/cdrom              /mnt/cdrom              udf,iso9660
    noauto,owner,kudzu,ro 0 0

    --
    Jesse Fitzgerald
    GnuPG Key 0x99EEDF02
    Download @ http://pgp.mit.edu/

[ Thread continues here (4 messages/8.55kB) ]

### Time Woes

VIGNESH [vignesh1986 at gmail.com]

Tue, 6 Mar 2007 21:25:59 +0530

Hi! I have 3 distro`s installed in my system , Debian Etch , Xubuntu Feisty and PCQLinux 2007(Based on Fedora Core 6). My TimeZone is Asia/Calcutta. Is there anyway I can make all the distro`s show the right time.I don`t want to use NTP since the system is not connected to the Internet all the time.. Since Each time I boot into a distro it adds 5:30 to the system clock and shows it as the time. By afternoon it shows 10 pm the next day ! Is there anyway to make them show the right time ?

Cheers! Vignesh

    --
    Registered Linux User : 418463

[ Thread continues here (2 messages/2.63kB) ]

### linuxgazette.net redirecting to gentikayos.com

MNZ [mnzaki at gmail.com]

Wed, 7 Mar 2007 18:25:55 +0400

Hi, Whenever I try to get to linuxgazette.net:80 from a perl script I get a redirect to gentikayos.com What can be causing this?

    --
    //MNZ\\  "We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are"
    							-- Leonard Shelby

[ Thread continues here (8 messages/10.35kB) ]

### how to open .exe file

training [training at iconitservices.com]

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 14:25:23 +0530

dear sir,

how can i open and .exe files in redhat linux.

[ Thread continues here (8 messages/10.27kB) ]

### XDMCP and sound redirection

clarjon1 [clarjon1 at gmail.com]

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 12:57:54 -0500

Hello, all. Anyone know how to redirect the sound when in a remote X session vie XDMCP? I don't mean telling the sound server where to send the sound, I mean have it redirect the /dev/dsp0 back to the computer that is being used.

Thanks, let me know if you need more info, I'd include more, but I'm short on time right now. Sorry.

[ Thread continues here (2 messages/1.74kB) ]

### Renaming of Wiki at GNOME

Amit Kumar Saha [amitsaha.in at gmail.com]

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:45:16 +0530

Hello I just came across this link http://linuxgazette.net/114/lg_mail.html where a distinction between Speech recognition systems & Voice Recognition systems have been lighted upon.

In this context should'nt the wiki at http://live.gnome.org/VoiceRecognitionbe better be Speech Recognition?

    --
    Amit Kumar Saha
    GSM :+91 9903140286
    http://amitsaha.in.googlepages.com

### Endless children

Cenk Yusuf Ustabas [cenk_ustabas at yahoo.com]

Tue, 6 Mar 2007 10:02:17 -0800 (PST)

[[[ This thread was originally entitled "Help please " Just a reminder that it would be helpful for people to put descriptive subject lines in their queries to TAG. -- Kat ]]]

Hi, I am new at operations on processes.I wanna create child from parent and after ending the process of child, child will create another child (like grandchild),and this child will create another child it will goes like that but ? dont know how will ? do this.Will it be in a loop or it will be recursive?Thank you for your help.

[ Thread continues here (20 messages/24.75kB) ]

### Followup: Schema for nmap XML Output

Jimmy ORegan [joregan at gmail.com]

Fri, 2 Mar 2007 12:44:44 +0000

[[[ This is a followup from "Still Searching" in #136 - Kat ]]]

On 20/02/07, Amit Kumar Saha <amitsaha.in at gmail.com> wrote:

    > hi list
    > Attached is the XML output for a Nmap scan
    >

I know I've seen worse uses of XML, but I can't remember when - the useful part is just a CSV blob. This is more compact than a 'proper' use of XML, but it makes it harder to work with using XML tools: the part that looks most interesting here is (in XPath) /nmaprun/scaninfo/@services

(When I want to test simple XPath expressions, I load the XML into Firefox and use this bookmarklet):

     javascript:var r=prompt("Type your XPath here",
     '');alert(document.evaluate(r, document, null,
     XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).stringValue);

It only works when the result is simple text, but that's normally all I want to find.

    > The goal is to move Nmap XML files into a database, with a
    > well-thought out DB schema. Ideally, this should work with PostgreSQL,
    > MySQL, and other popular databases.
    >

Um... why?

FWIW, MySQL 5.1 has the ability to import XML directly:

http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/articles/mysql-5.1-xml.html

http://rpbouman.blogspot.com/2006/03/importing-xml-data-into-mysql-using.html

    > Please suggest a possible database schema for the same
    >

How about the schema used in the XML? Or that used by nmap2sqlite (see below)

    > Please point out any similar works
    >

nmap2sqlite (http://search.cpan.org/~apersaud/Nmap-Parser-1.05/tools/nmap2sqlite.pl), which comes with Nmap::Parser (http://search.cpan.org/~apersaud/Nmap-Parser-1.05/Parser.pm)

### request for project

Ben Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 09:18:57 -0400

----- Forwarded message from kavita kulhari <kavita_kulhari at yahoo.co.in> -----

    Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:58:54 +0000 (GMT)
    From: kavita kulhari <kavita_kulhari@yahoo.co.in>
    To: TAG <tag@lists.linuxgazette.net>
    Subject: request for project
    To: editor at linuxgazette.net

Sir, I want a source code in c for network traffic monitoring ,packet sniffing . So kindly avail me with the source code in linux as soon as possible. Thanking you With regards

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Here*s a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers

----- End forwarded message -----

    --
    * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *

[ Thread continues here (2 messages/1.59kB) ]

### Running Linux from Vista's bootloader

Martin J Hooper [martinjh at blueyonder.co.uk]

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:07:54 +0000

Anyone point me to any howtos or documents on running Linux from the Windows Vista bootloader..?

I do have a program called EasyBCD which will let me edit said bootloader - I'm at a loss as to where to put the GRUB bootloader so Vista will find it...

[ Thread continues here (9 messages/4.75kB) ]

### Mandriva 2007 - WiFi cards cannot find network

OS [osavill at uklinux.net]

Thu, 8 Mar 2007 21:56:26 +0000

I have taken some Ethereal logs

In Mand 2007 it does repeated DHCP Discovers over and over again and gets nothing back.

In Mand 2006 it does a single DHCP Request and gets a DHCP ACK back with its inet address.

I don't know the mechanics of who sends these DHCP signals but I am guessing that DHCP Discover is in some way incorrect for my setup. Does anyone know how to get it to send DHCP Request instead ?

Thanks, Owen

[ Thread continues here (5 messages/8.08kB) ]

Talkback: Discuss this article with The Answer Gang

Copyright © 2007, . Released under the Open Publication License unless otherwise noted in the body of the article. Linux Gazette is not produced, sponsored, or endorsed by its prior host, SSC, Inc.

Published in Issue 137 of Linux Gazette, April 2007

next -->