Getting started with apt (was: mozilla)

[Stuart Sears]

On Fri 15 October 2004 15:04, Temlakos wrote:
a few addenda...
<snip some good information about downloading apt.>
you can also get apt (with appropriate configs included) from  both 
http://dag.wieers.com/packages/apt
http://www.fedora.us/wiki/FedoraHOWTO
> As root, execute "chmod 777 " followed by the name of the package.
huh?
This is totally unneccessary. Unless the downloaded file is a self-installing 
package that you run directly, it does not need to be executable at all.
You can skip this part.
> Still as root, execute "rpm -i " followed by the name of the package.
fine. Personally I would favour 
rpm -Uvh apt-<whatever>.noarch.rpm

<snip more stuff>
> PS: Do not--I repeat, do not--get into the habit of "logging in as root"
> whenever you have to make an administrative change. People have a bad
> habit of "working as root" all the time. Instead, execute the command
> "su" from a terminal window, navigate to the directory containing the
> files you wish to edit, and then edit them with either "gedit" or, if
> you feel adventurous, "vi" or "emacs." I tend to spend as little time as
> possible doing things with the root identity.
Good advice, but (IMHO) most of the time it is better to use
su -
instead of just 'su'. Otherwise you will not have root's PATH set (among other 
things). You can also use su to switch to users other than root if you wish, 
e.g. su - jane
starts a new _login_ (sub)shell as the user jane. Unless you are already root, 
you will need jane's password.
to get back to your previous 'identity' use 'exit', _not_ 'su' again.
>
> PPS: Does anyone know how to restrict the "su" command to a
> non-universal user group, like "wheel," the way Gentoo does? It ought to
> be a simple change, but I'm not as familiar as I should be with how to
> restrict certain commands to certain groups.
chgrp wheel /bin/su
chmod o-x /bin/su 
should do the trick. This will prevent users other than root and members of 
the group wheel from running /bin/su.

you can also do similar things with the sudo command.

Stuart
-- 
Stuart Sears RHCE, RHCX
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur