Slashdot Log In
Linux Lite?
Posted by
Hemos
on Mon Sep 13, 1999 02:22 PM
from the security-issues-galore dept.
from the security-issues-galore dept.
smock writes "An interesting (and, IMO, excellent) suggestion is over at Linux Journal. " Essentially, an argument for better opening security, given the lack of experience of many new Linux users.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Linux Lite?
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 170 comments
(Spill at 50!) | Index Only
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
|
2
(1)
|
2
The installation program I'd like to see (Score:4)
1. Select a basic "personality" for this system:
a. Server
b. Workstation
2. Select a starting configuration for this system:
a. Minimal (most secure)
b. Standard
c. Custom (for experienced users or administrators only)
You would then proceed to an application selection area, where you would pick some major configuration options (X Windows, Web Server, Mail Server, Games, etc.) and, if you picked Custom, an exhaustive sub-list of packages selectable with checkbox efficiency. Defaults would be pre-selected based on what "personality" you chose for the system.
Basic daemon configuration would be taken care of at this time as well. If you chose to install the telnet daemon, you would be presented with a warning and an option to automatically refuse connections (firewall? TCP wrappers?) from Internet hosts. Repeat this procedure for things like sendmail, httpd, whatever.
Daemon venders tend to like their packages shipped individually with everything "turned on", because in most cases, when the package is being installed, it's being installed by someone who's about to configure and *use* it. This is bad in the cases where someone is installing a new system, because they probably *won't* be jumping straight to the "configure and use" part. They'll install all of the packages and get to them "later." So, if we force them to make configuration decisions at *install* time, and build (or use pre-built) configuration files then, instead of the stock configuration files, the system ends up being much more secure with the user much more aware of what's been installed and how it's been set up.
Along a similar line of thought, and perhaps this already exists, an extension of this installation program could be a graphical "autorpm" of sorts. A program that retrieves from the 'Net a list of updated packages (such as RedHat's updates), and either automatically makes the updates or at least notifies the user that updates are available (a la Windows Update). If the package uses a new configuration file format, a packaged utility should be included and run to convert the old configuration to the new, otherwise the user should be presented with a configuration dialog again to be sure the new package is ideally configured for the system. I've been the victim of several instances where an RPM "upgrade" *overwrote* the existing configuration file (though it did save a backup). In cases where the "default" configuration only differs from the user-specified configuration in that the default configuration is much less secure, the change might not be noticed immediately (or ever).
I'd also like to see warnings where an installed/upgraded RPM is being installed on a machine that previously contained a self-installed copy of the same package. An example could be some HTTP daemon. A quick search for various httpd binaries could let the RPM's installation program know about previously installed copies of the package that weren't done via RPM's and warn the user (perhaps with the option of duplicating the old package's configuration files in the new setup).
Anyways, these are just a few of my ideas, and it seems like we're starting to move in these directions, but the setup programs I'm seeing are just baby steps. Instead of just dropping everything and writing a totally user-friendly setup *system*, we're spending time writing stuff "in between," and I just don't think that's a very efficient way to do it.
Re:not necessarily a good idea (Score:5)
While reading the manuals is something we would *hope* everyone would do, time and experience has shown us that it just Won't Happen. We can't just say, "Well, dammit, you should have read the manual," over and over again. We have to build something that will work securely for those that *don't* read the manuals, because there will always be a significant percentage of users that simply won't.
No amount of screaming, shouting, pasting of banners and throttling will get everyone to "clue up" and read about what they're installing, so we have to adapt the distributions so that they will still function for these types of people.
Re:Install less, and use firewalls (Score:3)
(2) This doesn't seem like such a great idea. If all the services are set up correctly, there's no need to firewall the PPP device. If there's no telnetd running, a script kiddie can't telnet into your box. Rejecting incoming TCP connections would have nasty side-effects such as messing up IRC DCC transfers and ICQ messaging.
(3) Definitely. New users should not be encouraged to set up an ftp/http/irc/telnet server during their initial install. They should get the OS running first, then worry about setting up services.
Our experience with LinuxPPC Lite (Score:5)
First, it was hard to install. I actually can't remember why at this point, but it rarely seemed to work.
It was hard to figure out what needed to be in, and what people would want, and still give it a small footprint. The final cut was a 104 MB distro that could be installed into as little as 30 or 50 MB. But really, you can do that with R4 anyway. I installed from an R4 CD onto a Zip disk. I had Apache running, but no X. It was slow, but it worked!
Then there was LinuxPPC Live, which was an all-in-one distro similar to the recently announced "DemoLinux". Live consisted of a big fat ramdisk.image.gz file and a bigger, fatter live.filesystem file.
Now, the problem with Live was that to make it small enough to fit on demo CD-ROMs and Zip disks, we had to (again) do a lot of cutting, which made it semi-useless. You could set up a PPP dialup with netcfg (kppp was a buggy pile of junk at the time, and of no use). But, if you booted it off a CD, it took forever to boot, and it couldn't save any settings.
Linux on PowerPC still has to contend with users who have HFS Extended formatted drives. HFS Extended, or HFS+, is a more efficient disk format than Apple's original HFS, the Heirarchical File System. (Anyone else remember MFS?) Most Macs now ship with HFS+ formatted HDs, and Linux can't boot from a live filesystem on an HFS+ disk.
Live worked better than Lite, but only slightly. I never had problems with it (that is, it booted, it ran), but it just wasn't usable for much.
The good news is that doing Live provided a lot of solid R&D ground for us to do our current release's installer on. LinuxPPC 1999 (and the new Q3) can boot right from the CD-ROM, into Linux, into X, and into the installer. And it's all under the GPL. C'mon, Caldera! You made such a big deal about releasing Lizard under a semi-open license.. let's see you go all the way.
Live as a standalone distribution isn't a totally dead concept, though. It's got a lot of merit, and it's served nicely as a proof of concept for the live filesystem. It's not perfect, definately not ideal for power users, but it's a good way to get people into Linux with a minimum of fuss.
Security 101... Not offered on campus. (Score:5)
Opening your machine for the first time made you nervous, but after all, you have "ethernet" now, so you can't possibly go wrong. Magicly enough, Windows properly finds your new 3C509 and sets it up. You begin playing around with the network settings based on the little numbers you find on your dorm network setup paper. After a reboot, you fly into Netscape and get lost in the web, watching things come at you with blinding speed. But you want more.
You meet this scruffy, withdrawn student down the hall. You know he's the resident computer guru, so you ask him what else you can do to have fun on the internet. He gives you a long hard look, not sure just how bright you are. Unknown to you, he has been evaluating your intellegence since day one, along with the rest of the incoming freshman. He sighs when he realizes you are the least annoying person in your pack. "Linux," he says. You turn to him with a quizical look on your face. He points you to linux.org and tells you to look around. You jump to it.
Around 2 AM, your Debian install is complete. You had another hard drive lying around from when you had your machine upgraded, and an engineering major installed it and made it go. You choose debian because of the FTP install. You wanted everything to work without waiting, too impatient. Once it's set up, you leave your machine on as you go to bed. You logged out, and felt important doing so.
The morning brings around the first day of classes. You give your friends your 'New' email address and brag about being able to get your own email without having to use the Campus system. You don't know or care how sendmail works. You know, however that it works, and that pine is rather nifty.
As you walk in at night, exhausted from a full day of work and play, you hear your hard drive going a mile a second. You walk over to log in, and find your password changed. You're completely lost and have no idea what to do. You yank the magic cable out of the wall and turn off the machine. You remember that you can still boot to Windows, so you do. Ahh, safe, you sigh.
A week later, the scruffy geek comes back to your room with your hard drive. He had taken it, at your request, to find out what had happened. He snorted, and asked you what business did you have running NCSA HTTPD. You shrugged. He looks over at the wall. He looks confused and exasperated. Unbenounsed to you, he's having a chicken and egg argument with himself. "He needs to learn before he can use this stuff. However, he can't learn without using Linux."
He turns back to you. "Ok, I'll secure this system for you. However, this is a one time deal. I'll answer your questins, in brief, but I will not do anymore for you. Do you understand?" You nod. He returns your harddrive the next day. You're happy as a clam that everything, as far as you can tell, is just as you left it. What did he do? You let it escape your mind as you look at this neat thing called IRC.
Two weeks later, your hard drive is wiped. Unknown to you, another daemon, this time sendmail, had a Cert advisory posted, and you pissed someone off on IRC. The wrong person.
I hope you enjoied that little tidbit. This happens way too often. However, in reality, people's college boxes just become hideouts for script kiddies. I believe a condenced Linux Workstation would be extreamly useful. I wish I had one when I started. I, instead, was baptized by fire.
Mike
Assumptions, and a little humor. (Score:3)
There are two assumptions being made here that I am not sure are universally held.
First, that "we" collectively want people who refuse to read documentation running Linux.
Second, that "we" are striving for universal use of Linux.
These are contrary to the things that drew me to Linux in the first place. I started using Linux (and reading /. and hanging out at #linux) because every illiterate monkey who considers himself a "computer expert" doesn't. The OS sucks less, and so does the community. Now there is this big push to get "every computer" running Linux. World dominance is a Microsoft value, not an open source value.
I am not against making Linux (and associated software) easier to use, I am absolutely for it, but I am for making these things easier as one element of making them better. I am against making it easier to use at the expense of quality. I think that we need to be ever vigilant in this regard.
"Is ease of use more important than quality?""No. Quicker, easier, more seductive"
"But how will I know good ease of use improvements from the bad?"
You will know when your goal is making software better, not driving it on to every processor in the world.
My $.02
-Peter
Install less, and use firewalls (Score:4)
(1) There's no need for entirely separate distributions: a radiobutton selection in the install dialog about whether you want the default desktop edition or something fancy would do.
(2) Firewalling the PPP device by default would help. A *lot*. Just bar incoming TCP connections and most other stuff and a lot of script kiddies get shown the door.
(3) The biggest helper would be if these distributions installed fewer packages! I've installed Debian umpteen times, and I've grown to loathe dselect. The best thing would be for distributions to install a minimum set of recommended packages at install time, enough to get online and browse the Web and read mail and news, and then let them get used to it. Another day, they can learn about making Web servers available and suchlike: a simple, secure base would be an excellent place to start.
--
Not anything new. (Score:3)
The author seems a bit systems-administration-naive to think that you'd have to design a special distribution just for this.
Bruce
Maybe an answer! (Score:4)
should a system come out of the box running
httpd, ftp, or whatever?
The OTHER problem that stops us from
world domination is the GUI! X can be
impossible to get working - especially
on newer hardware(My EOne for example)
A couple of days ago there was an announcement
here of yet another distro that takes care
of one issue: http://www.demolinux.org
This distro runs exclusively off of a CDROM -
you can take linux to any machine! One of the
tricks they pulled that got it to run on my
EOne that neither the latest RH, Mandrake, or
Suse could do was bring up X! They used the
new Frame Buffer server. It isn't accelerated
but it works GREAT! So if the demolinux
people were to go a step further and tighten
up their system to not have a large number
of separate demons running - we might be
pretty close to what the author was asking
for! (Actually haven't looked at what
demons they HAVE enabled on this distro -maybe
it's already there?)
Steve
Linux well done, not "lite" (Score:5)
While I understand they do it to attract Windows users it is becoming a very dangerous game. The solution is not going even further the Windows way, as the article suggests. The only real solution is that the distributions stop focusing on copying Windows styles, looks, feels, sounds, etc. and start focusing on these points:
- Good comprehensive documentation, including overviews and guides to the software they distribute. Besides all generic documentation which comes with a package there is a need for each distribution to explain what is included and why, how the packages included will help the user, and which packages should a user install to accomplish what she needs.
- An installation system which educates the user at the same time it installs the packages. It should guide users so that they choose the installation which best fits their needs, avoiding the current install everything approach.
- A good admintool which takes care of all the tedious system administration tasks in an unobtrusive way. It should perform all necessary security checks and monitor the system periodically.
Of course, these are the ultimate goals and it would take time to reach them. However, while some distros are at least partially working on similar projects, most are not. If new Linux boxes are insecure it is the distros fault. No doubt about it.