Re: [cobalt-users] ![MASTER-CD]!

["Rodolfo J. Paiz" <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 4/19/01 06:59 PM -0400, you wrote:
> One perplexing issue for me is if one to install either of the above [Webmin
> or Plesk] on a RaQ4, I'm sure there are certain functions in the "other"
> amind that might break the GUI generated code, and vice versa.
>
> What would be really helpful to me, and I assume others, would be someone
> running both the Coablt GUI and a Third party admin to fill us in on
> what things crash each other, versus which things have proven to work in
> tandem.

Here's what little I've pieced together; note I only have slight experience 
with the Cobalt GUI and Webmin, and none at all with Plesk.

Plesk and Cobalt GUI both maintain their own copies of the "correct" system 
files and overwrite the existing ones when you make changes within the GUI. 
That is, the GUI has an httpd.conf (for example) apart from the one in 
/etc/httpd/conf, which it uses as a template. Any time you make changes, 
this file is changed then copied over to the right location. This is why 
they both discourage you from making manual changes.

I theorize that this is done to ensure that both GUIs (proprietary and 
closed-source) only write to the system; they don't read from it in the 
course of doing business. By doing this they can legitimately say they are 
not "part of" the OS, nor "derived from" it, and thus legally abide by the 
restrictions of the GPL and keep their stuff under other copyright.

Plesk and the Cobalt GUI would, I guess, *not* get along at all.

Webmin is open-source itself, thus does not care about being associated 
with the OS. It reads the relevant config files each time a module is 
accessed, and stores changes in those files directly. It is non-intrusive 
in that:

* you can continue to make changes by hand
* it won't break your changes
* you can cease to use it at any time
* the Cobalt GUI and Plesk will not cause it any headaches

Webmin can coexist with either the Plesk or Cobalt GUI without causing them 
harm. However, due to the nature of Plesk and Cobalt GUI, changes made with 
Webmin will, like changes made by hand, be overwritten.

Hope this helps (and hope I'm right!!!). Remember, these are my *theories*...


--
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx