User-safe system configurations

As a developer and Linux-user, I continuously change several configurations in my systems, some of the changes can include:

• Port-based services: When you have several web servers working on the same machine, you have to configure ports and alias addresses.
• Package sources: I just don't want to mess my apt-get and slapt-get sources configuration.
• Security: External services configuration, security configurations and system restrictions.
• Run levels: I like to have the services I use at system startup, the other ones can burn in hell...
• Networks: I have some static configurations for some environments.
• X11: For some custom modifications I made for several displays.
• Databases: Sources, ports, users and some other configurations.
• Cron: Some backup and maintenance jobs.
• Revision control systems: Common filters, aliases, etc.

As you see, there are several configurations on my system, and I don't like to change them when a package gets updated, or when I upgrade my system. My usual alternative was to keep an .orig file for everything I was going to modify, but that didn't work very well, since I modified those files several times.

Because of the situation, I needed these things:

1. Keep snapshots of my configuration files.
2. Rollback changes.
3. Restore old configurations.
4. Check which files/lines where changed.
5. Use it all from the shell.

So, long story short, I needed a Revision Control System. And as I needed it just my local machines, I reduced my choice to Git and Mercurial.

My choice? Git, it is obvious that its shell interfaces are superior compared with Mercurial, it's very well integrated with all UNIXes and I have been working with it for a long time.

So, whenever I want to check if a configuration has been changed:

#> git status

What about reverting a change?

#> git reset -HEAD

And if I want to restore it to its initial version?

#>git reset

I just modified a bunch of files, save a snapshot of them:

#> git ls-files --modified | xargs git add
#> git commit -m "Too much work and no fun makes Jack a dull boy..."

Ubuntu usage report: 2 months after

So far I've been using Ubuntu as my laptop's system for two months, did a lot of things with it, including serious applications development.

For doing it so, I performed several package installations and system configurations, including very low-level scripting and server-oriented configurations.

Considering everything I did, this are some things I find very useful in Ubuntu:

• Package management system, this is perhaps its most obvious feature, it's really simple to install any package present in a repository.
• User experience, this is also something very well worked. The system is built to make user's life as simple as possible,
• Boot speed, it makes the difference.
• Security updates, very robust updates that don't break anything.
• Software center, a huge amount of software applications available for simple click-installations.
• Huge community, it's perhaps the biggest Linux community I've ever seen.

But, it has some things that can get potential users away of it:

• Dependency hell, do you mean I have to install the entire open-jdk stack if I want to install Maven? even if I already have sun-jdk installed?
• User constraints, if you touch some system configurations that Ubuntu is keeping track of, you are going to have problems.
• Configuration complexity, Slackware is a heaven compared to this.
• Imposition, once you update the distribution, you will get your beloved desktop replaced by an awful Unity desktop.
• Unofficial packages, I had very rough moments try to install something Ubuntu doesn't support, I ended up compiling all the custom software I required.

Migration

Sadly after several years of using Slackware as my main operating system, I have to leave it aside. The decision was taken after several attempts of installing networking tools and Perl patches, somehow I broke several libraries and my system was a complete mess.

Slackware taught me everything about Linux and software development, but the tinkering time for
me it-s over. I can no longer spend hours having fun compiling sources or testing different configurations. My system has to work with the most recent hardware and it requires some sort of support. The distribution I chose for this is Ubuntu, not because is the best one out there, just because its community. It's a huge system with lots of groups around the world following (in their own way) the Open Source initiative.

I still have Slackware running as a server, because it's without any doubt the *stablest* of all systems I ever used, that's a fact. But for my personal computer requires compatibility with many devices that are not open source and work fine with Ubuntu.

PS: This does not mean that I'm leaving Slackware at all, but for my personal computer. All my other machines are still using Slackware as the master system, and they'll keep in that as long as Slackware lives.

ArchLinux deception

Last weekend I decided to give ArchLinux a chance, I only read good articles about it and I thought it would be nice to get out of Slackware world.

I will divide my experiences in a few sections:

1. Installation
• This part was really strange for me, it supposed to be easier than Slackware ncurses wizards. It's not, it's even worse. 
• I don't know if is just me, but I the default installation doesn't have anything, no media support, not extra-fs support, nothing. I don't know why ArchLinux community declares that it's painless than Slackware.
2. Configuration
• A good point here, configuration of mirrors and the system in general is pretty straightforward, very simple configuration with a lot of comments.  
3. Package management
• Maybe Pacman is its best feature, it's even better(IMHO) than APT.
4. Usability
• For me, it's not usable at all, I spent 2 hours to get a minimum XFCE desktop working. And don't make me talk about a work environment, it will take days!. I don't really get the idea of having such a basic environment, I don't want to install everything from scratch. But that's just me, maybe there's some other people who like to waste their time, good for them.
5. Conclusion
• In general, it's not better than Ubuntu or Slackware, installation and configuration tasks are not hard, but can be simplified. Meanwhile, I will stay with my Slackware desktop for another year.

Testing Ubuntu 10.4

I've been testing the new Ubuntu 10.4 distribution for a couple of weeks, just to see how much changed since last year.

I have to say that is really good, nice, lightweight, and really easy to use. Is taking the MacOS approach to attract users and I think it will work.

They are taking the right way for PC users, including very useful applications in a single-CD set. But I'm not a normal PC user, I'm a developer, a curious, stupid, bastard that wants to control everything in the system. Ubuntu doesn't let you do that (at least not in an easy way).

I have tried and tried many distributions and still can't find something better than Slackware. Not because it's easy to use(it really is), or because it has huge software sources. Is because its simplicity, is a very simple system, and allows you to change, modify, ruin everything without telling you 'gfy!'.

*Note: Is an old screenshoot, but is still valid.
If you are a developer, and you would like to learn how a Linux system is, or how to use it, you should give it a try.

Fedora Transformation Pack

Via vivalinux me entero de la salida de un pack de software que nos brinda la posibilidad de cambiar la apariencia de Windows, haciendo que se parezca a la popular distribución de Red Hat, mediante Fedora Transformatio Pack(descarga).


El tiempo dirá si logrará tener el éxito de Ubuntu Transformation Pack.