[svlug] Mandrake 7.1 problems (long)

[Marc MERLIN]

On Mon, Aug 07, 2000 at 01:12:31AM -0700, Greg Houlette wrote:
> security considerations and how to prepare for the internet with things
> like ipchains firewalling, the OpenFirewall patches (one of the reasons I
> selected Mandrake), the differences between the Bastille scripts and the

Indeed, their security level option is a good idea.

> Having been more than adequately impressed with the Linux-Mandrake 7.0
> distribution release makes it all the more difficult to fathom what has
> happened to 7.1 and the deafening silence from both MandrakeSoft and
> Macmillan about the problems.  I submitted a bug report on my problems

While MandrakeSoft would indeed be concerned by this, McMillan couldn't care
less. They are  just in it  for the money, whether  it be linux,  windows or
whatever other thing that makes them sell books.
I hope MandrakeSoft is getting a  fair percentage, but in the past, McMillan
used to distribute  RH, and the deal eventually fell  through because of how
little money (i.e. percentage) they were giving back to RH on the sales.

> It's precisely because MandrakeSoft has leveraged their distribution from
> RH that I can't understand why it wouldn't, at the very least, be ON PAR
> or very close to it (as it was with the RH 6.1/Mdk 7.0 Distributions).

Because it forked  off. Back when Mandrake-Linux was RH 5.2  plus a few RPMs
and config  files, Mandrake-Linux really  was a  reboxed version of  Red Hat
(barely better  than LinuxOne), but to  their credit, they worked  on making
Mandrake-Linux a distinct distribution, and not just a reheated RH.
However, when  they do that,  they forked off. Mandrake-Linux  is definitely
not RH compatible anymore (at least not both ways). I installed a few Cooker
packages (XFree 4.0.1) and it was looking for libraries in a really *cked up
place,  forcing me  to link  /usr/lib/i586  to /usr/X11R6/lib  to get  their
binaries to work (thank god for strace).

> I realize that the DrakX installer is their creation, but that is not the
> only part of 7.1 that is busted.  Even if you successfully get past that,
> there are problems with XFree86, SCSI, screwing up non-linux partitions,
> etc.  It ain't pretty...

Not surprising, getting all that right it hard. It requires lots of time and
people, and a big QA lab.
 
> I've done most of the above with the exception of flat-lineing it and
> installing RH 6.2 (or 7.0) even though I have that distribution release

Nope, you still have the option to do
rpm -Fvh *.rpm on the new RPMs
(not that it will necessarly work)

Marc
-- 
Microsoft is to software what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
 
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