Subject: Linux-Admin Digest #168
From: Digestifier <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 94 19:14:31 EDT

Linux-Admin Digest #168, Volume #2                Sun, 9 Oct 94 19:14:31 EDT

Contents:
  [fixed] lmail problem with sendmail (Tim Bass (Network Systems Engineer))
  Re: Ftape works...Not yet (Dennis Flaherty)
  Re: Please don't post security holess... (Shawn Brown)
  PASSWORD LOCK FILE problem - /etc/ptmp (Jason R. Mastaler)
  EXT2 FS Recovery (George W. Pogue)
  Re: Not able to record sound! (Alan Osborne)
  Re: Recommendation: Partitioning Linux (Kevin Burtch)
  Re: SCSI vs IDE (Panzer Boy)
  Re: XFree86-3.1 - Whoopee! (Zhuo Er Lin)
  Re: Dial-in and Dial-out on one modem? (Viktor T. Toth)
  Serious Bug In The Networking Code (Ketil Z Malde)
  Should I up to 3.1? (was Re: XFree86-3.1 - Whoopee!) (Andrew Robert Ellsworth)
  Re: Please don't post security holess... (Pierre Belanger)
  Re: Cnews - HELP! (Dmitri Belosludtsev)
  Using MS Windows with Linux (Shmuel Weidberg)

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

From: [email-masked] (Tim Bass (Network Systems Engineer))
Subject: [fixed] lmail problem with sendmail
Date: 9 Oct 1994 16:59:55 GMT

This really surprises me.....

I pulled down the sendmail + IDA package from tsx-11.mit.edu (forget the
exact name of the file, sorry - can get it if anyone cares) and found
that the lmail binary had trouble writing to the /tmp file.

Looking at the src for lmail.c the code contains the line(s):

if (fputs (line,fp) != strlen (line)) {  ...  }        

in the source.

Doing some detective work yielded that fact that fputs() was always 1 and
never equaled strlen() even though the write was okay.

I changed the line to read:

if (fputs (line,fp) < 0) { ... }

and all was okay.  Is fputs() okay?   

Anyway, knowing the problem is 99 percent of the solution and sendmail
is working on linux, delivering to the local users just fine.  

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

From: [email-masked] (Dennis Flaherty)
Subject: Re: Ftape works...Not yet
Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 07:18:43 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Jonathan Williams  <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> Well, I thought I had ftape working, but I guess I was wrong.  I'm running
> Linux kernel version 1.0.9 and ftape version 1.13b patched for the conner bug
> and compiled with the -DCONNER_BUG flag.

Glad you got that working.  Now you can use the tapes you just formatted
with Conner's buggy tape formatting software.

> When I finally got done compiling, I used tar to backup my drive.  It went
> through several hundred files, and then suddenly stopped with an I/O error
> writing to the device.
> 
> I'm assuming that its a bad sector on the tape, since I was able to verify
> everything up to that point, but how do I confirm this and mark the sector as
> bad so I can continue?

Here's a tip: are you using compression with tar?  Trying using tar's
--block-compress option to provide more buffer space between where tar
is and where gzip is compressing.  I use

tar --block-compress -czf /dev/ftape files ...

and it doesn't bomb out anymore like it did before I used that option.

-- 
Dennis Flaherty           [email-masked]
    Oatmeal Stout: It's the Right Thing to Drink!

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

From: [email-masked] (Shawn Brown)
Subject: Re: Please don't post security holess...
Date: 9 Oct 1994 19:13:56 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
Isis Leslie <[email-masked]> wrote:

>I'm rather unconfortable with the posting of all of these security holes.
>For a while I was under the impression that this was a no-no, and that
>while sure, posting a "fix" or "work around will tell those in the know 
>just what the whole is, at least it makes it a little tougher.

I disagree completely.  This information should be disseminated freely.
I want to know everything about any real or potential security problems
with my computer.  The reasons for this should be obvious.  Linux, in
my opinion, is still an experimenters OS, and as such, I want to know
all the steamy details.

You really shouldn't be expecting any real level of security from a 
freeware UNIX as it is.  Linux is at least as secure as several 
commercial UNIXes, but I would never rely on it for any level of
security.

Shawn

--
Shawn Brown | [email-masked] | http://www2.ecst.csuchico.edu/~shawnb

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.help
From: [email-masked] (Jason R. Mastaler)
Subject: PASSWORD LOCK FILE problem - /etc/ptmp
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 16:03:32 GMT

First, I am running slackware 2.0
I am having problems with my password lock file.  Lately for some reason,
users on my linux system are not able to change their passwords or shells.

When issuing the 'passwd' command, and after entering the old pword and
new pword, the change fails.  The error message is "Can't open /etc/ptmp,
can't update password".

The other problem is when using 'chsh' to change shells.  As above the
simple procedure fails with "Can't open /etc/ptmp, can't change shells".

I have consulted the various sysadm manuals specific to linux, but havent
seen mention of this file.  From a general UNIX sysadm book, I got that
if all goes well during the file system check (at boottime),rc checks
the existance and size of the password lock file /etc/ptmp.    It also 
says that this file is created by the "vipw" command.

Well, on my system there is no "vipw" command, and the file /etc/ptmp
simple ISNT THERE.  Leading me to beleive that I accidentally deleted it
somehow.  As root, I have tried to created a file "/etc/ptmp" with a 
blank body, but that doesnt work either.  Then I get "/etc/ptmp exists,
can't change password".  It seems I can't win.  As root I am able to 
sucessfully change other users passwords and shells, but I wish to restore
the ability to them.

I guess what I need, is some advice on how to create an /etc/ptmp file,
or some other way to fix this problem.  Thanks much.  Send replies to
[email-masked]

Regards,

Jason R. Mastaler

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

From: [email-masked] (George W. Pogue)
Subject: EXT2 FS Recovery
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 19:43:45 GMT

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. What a goof! 

I was moving a 200M drive over to a 1Gig drive and blasted the darn thing 
with a mkswap instead of a mke2fs (fumble brain). Nonetheless, the 
partition is still there, I've not done anything to it. 

Question is... is it recoverable at all... or not. No big deal either way 
since I can rebuild it, just want to know if I can get it back and how.

Reply via email please.

bill

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

From: [email-masked] (Alan Osborne)
Subject: Re: Not able to record sound!
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 16:02:55 +0000

Lam Hong ([email-masked]) wrote:
: could anyone figure out the problem(s).

I expect you need to use one of the mixer softwares to turn up
the record volume - aumix or xmix will do the job.

-- 
AlanO

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

From: [email-masked] (Kevin Burtch)
Subject: Re: Recommendation: Partitioning Linux
Reply-To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 15:28:23 GMT

In article [email-masked], [email-masked] (marshall giguere) writes:
>...
>My problem is that I'm trying to pack Linux onto a 540meg ( read 504
>formatted) HD which already contains about 210meg of DOZ stuff.

Don't let your BIOS' limitation of 504M limit the use of your drive in
linux! If it is a WD 540, then you actually have 1048 cylinders, not
1024, so you are losing 24M of space that linux _can_ use. If you use
LILO, use "hd=1048,16,63" for one of the kernel options, then linux's
fdisk will recognize the true size of the disk and let you make a 
partition past the BIOS "boundary". I think you can use the same syntax
with loadlin (gotta love it!), but when I set up mine, I only had to use
the parameter when setting it up. (booted from floppy, used fdisk...)
Linux recognizes the size of the disk after that. (when booting from the
hd) This is all using 1.0.9! (I heard 1.1.50+ is even better)

>I guess one might ask if all the Slackware disks "must" be installed
>in the root partition.  Things like "games" et al could be put in the
>/usr partition?  If I have to I could skinny my DOZ partition down by
>another 20-40meg

Not quite sure what you mean here. I have the full Slackware installed
with a ~24M /, 200M /usr, and 128M /home with plenty of room to spare.
I think games should be either in /usr/games or in a home directory.

Kevin

P.S. for more info on using >1024 cylinders (with 1.0.9) read my post
     from a couple days ago.

P.P.S. Check your drive specs, I have yet to hear of a true 504M drive...

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

From: [email-masked] (Panzer Boy)
Subject: Re: SCSI vs IDE
Date: 9 Oct 1994 13:43:13 -0400

I disagree a bunch of yours also.  However I do agree with a bunch.  If 
people are buying scsi equipment, it's going to be more expensive, very 
true.  However, if you are buying scsi, please buy a real controller.  I 
use the 1542 as an example, because it's what I bought, but there are 
other "good" ones out ther.

Donald Becker ([email-masked]) wrote:
: I disagree with almost every one of those statements.
:  o A VLB IDE controller can provide excellent data transfer performance with
:    a much lower command overhead than SCSI.
You tend to disagree with this one below...  

:  o SCSI controllors do slow down the CPU, some more than others.  The 53c80
:    on my sound card might look like an extreme example to you, but it's
:    typical of the average SCSI controller.  It's a CPU hog.  Even bus-master
:    controllers compete for bus bandwidth.
Yep, but if you are doing scsi, you should be buying a real controller.  
But you have a good point.  But at the same time, you have to realize 
that the 53c80 driver isn't really a good driver on linux.  It busy waits 
for drive xfers, basically a big "for" loop getting data.  If I remember 
right the 53c80 driver wasn't supposed to be a "real" driver, just 
something to work.

:  o SCSI drives do cost considerably more.  The typical IDE drive advertised
:    in our local paper is a 540M at $239.  The same drive hardware with a
:    SCSI controller is $380.  The "sweet spot" for SCSI drivers is a 1.0G
:    (1.2G unformatted) drive at $599.  A 1.0G IDE drive is $495.  [[ I know
:    you've seen better prices, I'm using the Washington Post as a uniform
:    source of local prices. ]]
Scsi costs more.  And will continue to do so for awhile.  At the 1gig 
mark, around $50->$100 more.

:  o SCSI controllers cost a lot more than IDE controllers.  A VLB super-I/O
:    IDE controller is under $20.  An ISA or VLB SCSI controller, which comes
:    without the 2S/1P/1G, costs $100-$400.
Yep, read above.  My 1542 w/o software was around $180 USD, and the 
lowest I've seen them is around $169 USD.  I'm not sure, but most of the 
others are in this price range.

:  o IDE is far more standardized and common.  I've read that over 90% of the
:    drives sold are IDE.  And there's no worry about which commands are
:    supported, cabling or termination.
Master/Slave mean anything to you?  Actually SCSI is the defacto standard 
for most Workstation equipment.  If you are talking about PC's and low 
end DOS machines, IDE has sold more.  IDE is cheaper, and people will buy 
it.  SCSI is as standard as IDE is.  SCSI, SCSI-2, Fast, Wide, SCSI-3, 
and then Differential vs. Single (The only problem).  IDE, WD Enhanced IDE, 
Seagate EIDE, etc...  People have posted enough descriptions of what each 
SCSI is.  IDE may be "more common", but standardized, no.

:  o IDE drives do have a limited "disconnect" ability.  Modern drives
:    silently do read-ahead on the current track, and you can issue a
:    "seek" (IDE command 0x7*, which immediately disconnects) to move the
:    the heads to a new track.  The disconnect issue doesn't apply to writes,
:    which are accepted immediately and buffered while the heads move into
:    position.  It also doesn't affect the typical user with a single primary
:    drive. 
Did you really write this?  It doesn't vibe with the rest of your 
reasons...  IDE's drives are getting better, yes.

:  o Setting up a >528M IDE drive is still much less complicated than SCSI.
Umm?  Say what?  They each are about the same thing, plug in, turn on, 
make sure the controller supports them, partition.  

: I personally think that the best hope for SCSI is the NCR '810 and AMD '974,
: which put can put SCSI on a PCI motherboard for about $30.  That's only
: $80-$100 by the time it gets to you or me.
Don't know about these, but they are getting popular like you say.

If you are looking for cheap good solutions, go for IDE.  For most single 
user applications, this works, and works good.  If you are looking at 
multi user applications, and have the money, go for scsi.
-- 
 -Matt
 ([email-masked])
 "That which can never be enforced should not be prohibited."

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

From: [email-masked] (Zhuo Er Lin)
Subject: Re: XFree86-3.1 - Whoopee!
Date: 8 Oct 1994 02:47:38 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Rene COUGNENC) writes:

>Ce brave Patrick J. Volkerding ecrit:

>> libXpm-3.4c _seemed_ to compile fine under XFree86 3.1, but any apps 
>> linked with the resulting shared library seg fault when executed.  The 
>> static version of libXpm works, though.  (Mitch - are you planning to 
>> look at this?)

>Well, I tried it and... It works fine.
>Make sure you have only the newly compiled libXpm-3.4c on your disk,
>to avoid confusing ld and ldconfig...

>I have now fvwm, with XPM stuff freshly recompiled under XFree 3.1
>with the new libs and it works with no problems.

>(But on a test directory, since I won't recompile all my clients and
> probably keep 2.1.1 for a while...)

>--
> linux linux linux linux -[ [email-masked] ]- linux linux linux 

Me too. I have spent a whole night recompile most of things.
libXpm, gnuplot, xfig, ...

Now only emacs doesn't work. I am afraid it takes too many disk to compile
althought I have compiled 19.19 before :) 
-- 
|  Eric Lin                             Home:   (204) 783-2884             |
|    Computer Engineering          FAX Modem:   (204) 783-2884             |
|    University of Manitoba, Canada    Email:   [email-masked]   |
|    URL: <a href=http://www.ee.umanitoba.ca/~ericlin/>                    |

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

From: [email-masked] (Viktor T. Toth)
Subject: Re: Dial-in and Dial-out on one modem?
Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 00:02:30

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Steve Miller) writes:

> [...] If I turn
>echo off (Q1E0) then cu never sees the "CONNECT" message.

Just a small comment: you turn echo off with E0 but this has no effect on the 
display of CONNECT and other status messages. Q1 on the other hand turns off 
those messages (result codes). So it is entirely possible that your system 
would work with an ATE0Q0 for both dial-in and dial-out.

This is not meant as a suggestion on how to set up your Linux system (someone 
else already posted the names of the files you should read) merely an 
observation.

Viktor

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

From: [email-masked] (Ketil Z Malde)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.linux.help
Subject: Serious Bug In The Networking Code
Date: 9 Oct 1994 18:33:07 GMT
Reply-To: [email-masked]

There appears to be a serious bug in some of the networking code
supplied with linux/slackware, that causes the computer to get
'network unreachable' after approximately 3 minutes of perfect
functioning.  I have no idea what the problem might be, and if
somebody tell me where to look, I can try to figure out what versions
my drivers etc. are.  Here are the configurations I ve gotten this
problem with:

AMD DX2/66, 8Mb, VLB CL5428 1Mb with either
* Etherlink II, kernel 1.1.50 and 1.1.49
* SMC Ultra Combo, kernel 1.1.33, 1.1.49, 1.1.50
        -tried both coax and TP
* SMC Ultra something else, also with various kernels

AMD 386/40, 12Mb,
* SMC Ultra Combo, kernel 1.1.33

The 386 works perfectly well with the network with both cards when
using older software (Some old SLS distrib. I believe)

I would very much like to know what is wrong, and how to fix it.

There is also a 'bug' in df, causing a float exception when it cannot
access a non-existent NFS-mount.

Thanks for any help,
--

 « Ketil Malde                        In real life:  [email-masked] »
 « Nuke The Whales!  Pave The Earth!  And Honk If You Love Unicorns! »

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

From: [email-masked] (Andrew Robert Ellsworth)
Subject: Should I up to 3.1? (was Re: XFree86-3.1 - Whoopee!)
Date: 9 Oct 1994 12:43:29 -0500

>>I've worked too hard to get X up and running, and to futz with fvwm and 
>>its neat-o window sound event manager, to start from scratch all over again.
>
>If you have a card that is supported for 16bpp oar 32bpp and enough
>video-memory, then go for it! (I have a cheap cirrus 5428-card and 1M of
>memory on it, so I can only have 800x600 resolution with 16bit colour,
>but I use it anyway)
>
>And the doom-mode is good too :)
>
>But if your card is not one of the supported cards or if you are not
>interested in TruoColor, etc. and use X mainly for xterms, stick with
>2.11.

DON'T THROW AWAY 2.1.1 JUST TO GET A 3.1 X SERVER!!!!

All you need to do is get the server itself, set up the new-style XF86config,
make a few symlinks, and that's it.  You can run all your 2.1.1 stuff with the
new Xserver w/no problem.  (I'm using the W32 server with 2.1.1, and it works
just fine.)

If anyone needs help on how to do this, I'll be glad to assist.  Getting the
entire XFree86 3.1 package is a bit of overkill if you just want an updated
Xserver.  I'm gonna get the new 320x200 server today and symlink it, too.  It
should work as well, if that's what you're looking for (and I know a BUNCH of 
people who would only want 3.1 because of the new 320x200 mode...I wonder why
...).

Andy Ellsworth
[email-masked]

A
A

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

From: [email-masked] (Pierre Belanger)
Subject: Re: Please don't post security holess...
Date: 9 Oct 1994 20:34:00 GMT

Shawn Brown ([email-masked]) wrote:
: In article <[email-masked]>,
: Isis Leslie <[email-masked]> wrote:

: I disagree completely.  This information should be disseminated freely.
: I want to know everything about any real or potential security problems
: with my computer.  The reasons for this should be obvious.  Linux, in
: my opinion, is still an experimenters OS, and as such, I want to know
: all the steamy details.

I disagree too.  If us (administrators) don't know about these security
problems, how can you prevent anyone to gain access to anything on your
system?  When you know the problem, you can at least fix it, and if you
can't someone here will help you.

Pierre B.

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

Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.help
From: [email-masked] (Dmitri Belosludtsev)
Subject: Re: Cnews - HELP!
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 19:31:59 GMT

[email-masked] writes:

> Hello all....I recently installed the Slackware 2.0.1 Cnews package and am
> experiencing some difficulties now.

> I -USED- to have everything running just fine, but somehow my active file
> became corrupted, my spool drive started to die w/ errors and things kind of
> stopped working.

> I saved all my config files and re-added all my groups.

> Now, when the system starts to process it's incoming News spools, they
> wind up being thrown into the /usr/spool/news/in.coming/bad directory.

> Here's what my Errlog says..

> relaynews: database files for `/var/lib/news/history' incomprehensible or unavailable (Permission denied)

> Also, Here is an ls -al of the directoy (In case this is a permission or 
> ownership problem.)

> total 64
>    0 -rw-rw-rw-   1 news     news            0 Oct  6 23:35 history
>    3 -rw-r--r--   2 root     root         3072 Oct  6 23:35 history.dir
>    3 -rw-r--r--   2 root     root         3072 Oct  6 23:35 history.pag

It seems that You lost all history. First of all make owner
of history* to news and after that run /var/lib/newsbin/expire/mkhistory
as user news.

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

From: [email-masked] (Shmuel Weidberg)
Subject: Using MS Windows with Linux
Date: 9 Oct 1994 13:34:03 -0400

I've seen a FAQ around that explains how to use the Linux virtual memory 
partition for Windows. Could somebody please point me to it?

-- 

[email-masked]

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

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End of Linux-Admin Digest
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