Fedora 9 and Security

[Amadeus W.M.]

On Thu, 29 May 2008 01:02:12 +0100, Alan Cox wrote:

>> > Because the answer in 99.99% cases is "uh ??"
>> >
>> >
>> Or: "OK, let me chose the default".
> 
> Why even ask the question - if you know what you are doing you can
> change it later on.


What if you don't know what you're doing, but simply do not want the newly 
introduced feature X for whatever reason? 

> 
> We don't go around asking
> 
> Preferred Emailer
> What inode size should we use on ext3 Adjust raid readahead
> 
> 
> so why ask about what to most users are internal details about how we
> make sure their data reappears next reboot ?
> 

Where do you draw the line? Is "which ports do you want to open in the 
firewall" less technical? Is creating custom partitions less technical? 
How about package selection? We do have a choice there (for now). 

Incidentally and for my own understanding: I am able to mount/umount 
/dev/sdaX and such, if I wanted to, so the system can and does know the 
partitions by labels. Why do I have to see the UUID garbage in /etc/fstab 
though? This is not a rant, it's an actual question. 

I don't want to make a bigger deal of this than what it is. I only want to 
say though, that the current effort to have the system do things for the 
user without asking, unnerves people. (I'm thinking hal, sound, NM, etc.) 
That's what I believe. I know I don't have to explain this to you, but 
knowing what the system does at any time is arguably the one (and not the 
only) reason why linux users use linux and not windows.