plug TurboLinux

[Matt Kemner]

On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, russ wrote:

> I'm new to the linux world and to plug. I've been reading
> the mail about the different installations of linux with
> much interest. I've installed TurboLinux (I bought a book
> and it came with it). Is this just a repackaged RedHat?

According to Scott Stone (The "TurboLinux guy") TurboLinux 1.0 was
originally based on RH4.2, but has gone it's own way since.. He says 2.0
will include glibc support, but of it's own accord, not by basing itself
on RH5.

> it worthwhile to continue with this or should I get the
> latest RedHat?

As I've said in my previous posts on this subject - use whatever you feel
comfortable with.  If you have the time/curiosity, spend some time
installing each of the major distributions for a while, and play around
with them, and see which you prefer.. If you're comfortable with
TurboLinux, stick with it.. but you may want to get the latest version for
security reasons.. I don't know anything abour TurboLinux or how secure
the lastest version is, but I do know that version 1.2 at least has a VERY
VERY DANGEROUS security hole in it, which if you run X regularly could
allow anybody to take over your machine at will.

If you're running 1.2 or lower, and you're running X, locate the file
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ASAP and comment out the line 
xhost +

 - I'm not kidding. In the words of Vincent Zweije (who wrote an excellent
FAQ on running Remote X securely) "Xhost should be taken out and shot."
http://www.xs4all.nl/~zweije/xauth.html

Then download
ftp://ftp.turbolinux.com/pub/tl_updates/xinitrc-2.0-3TL.i386.rpm and
install that (rpm -Uvh xinitrc-2.0-3TL.i386.rpm)
It may be worthwhiel checking that tl_updates dir for other packages and
installing them too for good measure.

> Is this the right place for these questions? If not could
> you point me in the right direction?

You can ask anything you like about linux on this list, but asking any
linux group about linux distributions is usually a bad idea unless you
enjoy "religious" flamewars cos that's what they usually end up as. :)
(don't discuss religion, politics or linux distributions with your friends
:P)

 - Matt