RE: [SLE] Installing APT - don't do what I did
-----Original Message----- From: Ben Rosenberg [mailto:ben@whack.org] Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 5:59 PM [...] It's not that I don't..but I can't say I wanted everyone using a computer. As I've said this isn't a VCR..it's a complex machine with configuration option that need to be understood. Whether you vi a .conf file or put a check in a box..the only difference is whether you use a mouse or a keyboard. One should know what they are checking or typing into a .conf file or the shouldn't bloody mess with it.
(Just saw this message while looking for something else...) Um, I normally don't try to manually edit configuration files unless something is broken. If the lovely simpleton gui tools are not doing the job, then I figure there's not much to lose by poking around with an editor. Normally, I look first, and try to understand what the file is about. That assumes, of course, that I've found the right file. One thing I've noticed over the years is that whenever I have a problem that is eventually fixed without re-installing the system (my 6.x CDs were nearly worn out by all the times I did that...), then there's never, ever, ever, ever, ever... just one edit in just one file. It's always a few different files, often not obviously "connected" to each other. Anyway, if my own snooping doesn't suffice (and it almost never does), then I look for anything vaguely similar in the SuSE Support database, and in Togan's FAQ. The number of problems that I've actually solved from those sources can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Of the remaining hundred(s?), some have surrendered to HowTos that I've either found with Google or been pointed at, by this list. The vast majority of problems that I encounter, however, either wait and get solved in the next SuSE release, or never get resolved. The gurus in this list rarely suggest ways to use YaST (or other gui tools) to fix things that YaST broke or that YaST doesn't seem to address, out-of-the-box. Most suggestions from experienced people tend to involve editing one-or-many files. Since I normally don't ask for help before something is broken, you may assume that it's already broken before I start trying to edit anything. If I *don't* try editing a file -- whether I understand the implications or not -- then what avenue should I pursue? Hell, I already annoy enough people by coming back several times for clarification. Eventually, if I haven't caught on, I just try... on the what-have-I-got-to-lose-it's -already-broken theory. Do other people do it differently? /kevin
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KMcLauchlan@chrysalis-its.com