Re: [cobalt-users] meta-verify -f messed up GUI

["Julius" <lists@xxxxxxxx>]

Jeff wrote:

>> How do I repair the Admin GUI,
>
> You create directories and html files in the .admserv (or
> something similar) directories.

I think you misunderstood the problem at hand;
They are already there, all of them, none have disappeared.

>> and if not (I'd rather not)
>> can someone give me an example command line for adding a user
>> and adding an email-alias.
>
> If the gui isn't working then the Cobalt command to add an email
> alias probably won't work either, it's what the Cobalt gui calls.

I already successfully added aliases by editing the virtusertable,
creating the .db out of it, and running meta-verify afterwards
to enter them in other databases.
The problem isn't related to what the GUI calls,
it's what the GUI shows and reads. Currently it does not
show any site at all, and like I wrote; everything is
functioning normally, except for the admin-GUI.

> It may seem simpler now to leave the gui entirely, but ...
>
>> I read the man useradd, but the
>> cobalt user-base is quite weird, what list of commands are
>> needed to add a user the right way?
>> I need example commandlines (sorry, the man pages are too
>> complex).
>
> ... if the man pages are too complex then you need the comfort
> level of the gui.

Nonsense. The commandline is faster and much more reliable
than any GUI for any server operation would ever be.
This has nothing to do with how complex man pages are.
The ones on this subject are way too complex for the tasks
at hand, because one never needs to learn or know or even
understand what group or ID a user needs to have on a Cobalt;
I only need to add one the cobalt-default way,
and the man pages give us way too many options
it expects me to set and know how to set
out of the blue; That's stupid and insane.
I can have macros or use pre-saved commands
to perform such tasks using the commandline.
I don't need to know any of those settings,
I only need to have an example commandline,
any user can be added accordingly.
The man pages lack those (really silly
of those writing them, if you ask me).

> Believe me, using useradd to create a user is a
> lot easier than all the other things you have to do to administer
> a linux box without a gui interface.

At least the manuals are better written in most other cases.
I have never had one problem installing users on BSD servers,
yet the weirdo config of RaQs do not have much logic
in my opinion. And then again:
Why does one need to study an entire Sun Cobalt
OS config only to add a user or alias?

> Perhaps someone will answer with more details on what may be wrong
> and how to fix it, but again, if the man pages are too complex I
> question your ability to make the decisions you need to make as
> you work to restore the RaQ.

Blah blah blah. Useless stories.

> It's probably easier to backup the data and restore the system.

I have it all backupped, but I'm not convinced it's
easier to do a recovery of all data. It's not needed at all
(everything is fully functional), and if I don't solve this
chances are really extremely high the same issue will
re-appear after the restore.

>> (which is the case, but they're not visible to the GUI-user)
>> How do I get those sites back changeable by the GUI?
>
> Rebuild the database.  See my paragraph above.

Didn't fix it, in fact: using meta-verify was exactly
what messed it up in the first place, as far as I can tell.

> Then you should start by learning how to follow the man files
> <smile>.

I disagree with that. If one needs to 'learn' how to 'follow'
man pages, they have been written badly, and indeed;
I think in this case they are. man useradd is total chaos.

>> How do I switch off quota forever, and never get them
>> to be turned on by anything anymore? (personally
>> I think they are nonsense, if you have enough diskspace).
>
> Read the fine manuals.  You get to them with the "man" commands.
> I think it's "man quotaoff" or something similar.  You may have to
> search through the startup files and through the files called by
> the cron subsystem, to see if they're being turned back on and if
> so by what.

Well then, what are those startup files on a RaQ4i ?

> Frankly, Julius, it sounds as if you want to get around the gui,
> but that you want to short-circuit the learning process.  There's
> nothing wrong with the man pages.

There is, I have seldomly had problems understanding
any manual(s) ever in my life, yet those in linux
often have me wondering how much they had to drink
before writing them. They are unclear, they don't
explain things the way they should, they are NOT
to be called manuals. Manuals should be written
in a way that ANY reader can use and understand them.
For example, in most cases you will not even know that
[-p password] needs to be -p password in a commandline,
one would assume the [ ] need to be there as well.
It is full of unexplained, uncertain and error-
sensitive command-desriptions like that.
It has nothing to do with a 'learning process',
if anything the writers (like you) need to learn
how to write them.

> Any good linux administration handbook or the Linux Documentation
> Project will help you figure out which man pages to read.

One does not have to read anything at all
if the commands would have had any logic to them.
-- 
Julius