Re: Step by Step Startup ??

[David Masterson]

>>>> David Douthitt <ssrat@mailbag.com> 02/21/05 11:50PM >>>
>David Masterson wrote:
>> Forgive the strange quoting below -- Novell's  Groupwise isn't very
>> flexible.

>What I did at times with Groupwise was to cut the text into gvim (or
>other suitable text editor) and add the quoting there, as well as any reply.

>Then paste all of the text back into the Groupwise message box.

Blech!

>> Thanks for the info.  What I'm thinking of is:
>> 
>> 1. Download CFEngine (I had problems finding the download location
>> from cfengine.org).

>This seems odd; isn't there a link on the very first page at the top?

Yes, there is.  At the time I tried it, it took me to a page showing four 
repositories to go to to get the download.  Clicking on any of the repositories 
took you to a mirror of the front page of cfengine.org (com?) and, thus, put 
you into a loop (go to download, click on a repository, go to home page, go to 
download, ...).  The other two links on the download page were giving me 
trouble.  I think Oslo was not letting me download because I'm behind a 
firewall and, I guess, my IP wasn't reversable.

I see a sourceforge (not savanah?) repository coming up and that will help.

>> 2. untar, configure, and make install (this is
>> documented, but could be moved up to a "Quick Start" section).

>In many packages, this is described by a generic instruction text.

Oh, there is an INSTALL file in the download (I helped put it there).  However, 
since many people look at the documentation (on the website) before they do the 
download, I just think this should be easier to find in a "Quick Start" section 
of the documentation.

>> 3. Do "this" to cause /var/cfengine to be setup (this is missing).

>"this" is configuration, including update.conf and cfagent.conf.

Exactly.  I am suggesting a "Quick Start" section in the manual that says 
"here's an update.conf and cfagent.conf to get going with -- make the following 
changes".

>> 4. Test cfengine with this cfagent.conf (this is missing).

>This is done by using the right options with cfagent.

Again, the "Quick Start" section says "test cfagent in this fashion -- you 
should see (roughly) this output".

>> 5. Install this basic update.conf/cfservd.conf (sort of documented on
>> cfengine.org).

>If you've done steps 3 and 4, you already have at least some of these files.

I guess what I meant here was that the user might initially test with a 
cfagent.conf script and then want to install update.conf (etc.) on all systems 
to get cfengine running everywhere.

>> Basically a fleshed out "Quick Start" section to help people get up
>> and running.  This is useful to *both* people who've read the
>> documentation (it gives them a good example) and people who have not.

>For me, the most confusing part initially was that there was no 
>cfengined - or anything like it.  In reality, the program is cfagent.

That confused me too.  There was a "cfengine" in 1.4 when last I looked.  ;-)

>There also is typically no startup file for cfagent - since it runs as a 
>cronjob or on demand.  However, a startup file to run cfagent "on 
>demand" is often recommended to help keep a system up-to-date, and to 
>install needed upgrades on the first boot.

I think the documentation needs a (set of) cookbooks that speak more directly 
and simply to the administrators on how to get cfengine up and running on 
*their* network of systems.  The Wiki can grow to be this resource and it's 
okay for the cfengine documentation to refer people to the Wiki for more 
information.

David Masterson
Symbol Technologies