[UCLA-LUG] Linux vs Windows 2K

[Frederick Lee]

On Sun, 30 Apr 2000 23:24:45 -0700 (PDT), said Dimi Shahbaz <dimator@fire.csua.ucla.edu>:
>
>On Sun, 30 Apr 2000, David Braginsky wrote:
>
>> With IIS there are several screens of configuration options, integrated
>> certificate management, and now text config files to edit. Now maybe that is
>> not the best way to fine-tune your server, it's certainly the easiest.
>> 
>The configuration issue is an important one.  More and more web server
>admins are everyday managers, and as such, despise xterms and config
>files.  For them, running IIS means having a highly-pretty tabbed

Timeout!  I'd say this is more of a job assignment problem than one of
software.  You have to have an admin admin an admined machine, not a manager.
I don't care HOW easy the configuration is; if the configurer has absolutely
no idea how a particular web server should be configured and working, no
amount of prettification will help.  You don't stick a Unix admin to go
balance the accounting books, no matter how multiuser the book is.

>configuration dialog that they can point and click with to their hearts'
>content.  Apache has been lacking this, and I ran into some Tk or
>Athena-based visual config file editors for apache, but, well, they
>were Tk and Athena-based, which are not that much prettier than an
>xterm. :)

>Does anyone know of a visual, pretty config file editor for Apache?  I'm
>thinking this would make a cool summer project, especially if planned and
>designed well, maybe even using some cross-platfrom toolkit such as
>Mozilla's XUL.  Making it modular would be key as well, so that Apache
>module writers could easily and quickly write a little something (xml
>file?) that would neatly snap into the config file editor as another
>Tab or something.

I wouldn't mind a GUI configurator for Apache; I would mind if it gives the
impression than any clueless Joe Sixpack can sit down and *properly* tune
Apache in one sitting.  I'm not saying that only "admins" should be using it,
just that whoever is should have a *clue* as to what's happening under the
hood.  If they wanted a very simple personal web server, they've already made
a bad judgement call trying to go with Apache.  There's a number of other
Free web servers much simpler (and less featureful) than Apache, though not
as popular.

IMNSHO, the GUI should assist in helping speed up the (re)configuration of
Apache, but not necessarily replace the text editor.  The set of valid
keywords in Apache is already complicated enough to even try GUIfying it.


>
>Please forgive my outload thinking and offtopicness. :)
>
>Dimi

You suggested a viable project.  It's on-topic.


-Fred