So, I do some housekeeping to make sure that everything, absolutely everything, gets blown up when I remove a piece of software. Is it necessary? Probably not. Does it satisfy my deeply rooted obsessive control issues? It does.

I’ll assume you’ve already removed the software using the package manager of your choice. For me, that’s aptitude. Throughout this little rundown, replace the word PACKAGE with the name of whatever you’re uninstalling.

sudo aptitude purge PACKAGE

Then, we need to hunt down and kill every remaining bread crumb that this thing left behind. We’ll be using the “locate” tool. It’s a fast search tool that refers to an existing database of files. Start by kicking into super user mode:

sudo su

Then, update the database that locate uses. This rebuilds an updated list of the files on your system.

updatedb

Next, we want locate to find all of the files that were left behind.

locate PACKAGE

This will print them all to the screen. See them there, smiling back at you? You thought you were clean, you dirty bird, but there they all are. Filthy. Filthy files. Dirty. Dirty.

Well, looking at them on the screen isn’t all that useful for us. What we really need is some way to generate a list of these files that we can then process for deletion, one at a time. Go go command line, go!

locate PACKAGE > /tmp/PACKAGE_files.txt

head to your /tmp folder and take a look – there should be a .txt file there that lists each of the files left behind. Check it out:

cat /tmp/PACKAGE_files.txt

It should look identical to the output of the locate command we used earlier.

Now, we use a little Command Line Magic©, and no, I’m not talking about cocaine. Sweet, sweet cocaine, gives us the go-go to make everything clean. Mmmm, clean. So clean.

We want a command that will pass each line of our new text file into the “rm” command, and give us the option to delete each one. Why, hello there xargs, so nice to see you.

cat /tmp/PACKAGE_files.txt | xargs -l1 -p rm -rf

What’s going on here? The “cat” command will output the content of our txt file. The pipe passes it along to the next command. “xargs” lets us input that data into a new command, in this case “rm”. The “-l1″ switch on xargs (that’s the letter “L” and the number “one”) executes the command on one line at a time, instead of the whole batch. The “-p” switch will ask us for permission on each file, so that we have some control over what we want to delete. The “-rf” switch on the “rm” command will remove files recursively, and will force the issue if there are warnings or errors.

If we did everything right, it should start ripping through the files, asking you if you want to delete each one. Y for yes, N for no, and Tada! you have a system clean enough to avoid those awkward OCD freakouts at 2am.

If you want to double check the process, run the locate command again:

updatedb && locate PACKAGE

It should come back clean. Not dirty. Clean. Like pure white linen sheets on a bed of unicorn feathers. So clean. So nice and clean. And now, the sleeping.

bash it!

Fear not, my young linux adventurers. There IS a better way! Pop that cold beer, pull up some sweats, and feast your eyes on my hand dandy little bash script for automatically setting up yon website. Here’s what it does, in a nutshell:

1. Asks for the new domain name
2. Creates a new folder in the user folder with the domain name (/home/user/DOMAIN.COM)
3. Creates a basic index.html file in the new domain folder that displays the name of the domain when accessed.
4. Rolls 2d6 for Hacker Shield, to prevent magic-based attacks against your website. (planned for version 0.2)
5. Generates a vanilla Apache vhost config file spelling out how Apache should handle requests for that domain.
6. Generates an access log and an error log
7. Generates a cgi-bin folder within the DOMAIN.COM folder

The script assumes you have Apache 2.2+ installed.

The non-compliance disclosure

Keep in mind that this script was written by me, for me, to help save me some effort. Because of that, it uses some non-standard locations for things. Why? Because I likes my shit where I likes my shit, that’s why!

I like having my apache vhost config files in my user folder, so that I don’t have to hassle with permissions. You can do the same thing with these two commands. First, make yourself a few new directories:

mkdir -p ~/www-config/sites-available
Then, link the apache site config folder to your new folder. Make sure this all goes on one line:

sudo ln -s /home/USERNAME/www-config/sites-available /etc/apache2/sites-available/

So where are things placed with this script?

config:
/home/USERNAME/www-config/sites-available/DOMAIN.COM

website documents:
/home/USERNAME/DOMAINNAME.COM

index page:
/home/USERNAME/DOMAIN.COM/index.html

access log:
/home/USERNAME/logs/DOMAINNAME.COM/access.log

error log:
/home/USERNAME/logs/DOMAINNAME.COM/error.log

cgi-bin:
/home/USERNAME/DOMAIN.COM/cgi-bin

The Script

Here ’tis. Click here to view or download a .txt file with the script.

http://commandlineidiot.com/scripts/siteup.txt

To use it, do the following:

mkdir ~/bin
cd ~/bin
wget http://commandlineidiot.com/scripts/siteup.txt
mv siteup.txt siteup
chmod 755 siteup


Now, to invoke the script, type the following:
. ~/bin/siteup

If you want to find out more about bash scripts, including how to handle permissions and setting paths so that your scripts can be called by name, I highly recommend the following tutorial by William Shotts Jr. at LinuxCommands.org: Writing Shell Scripts

Questions? Comments? Feck Off! I’m too busy drinking this cold beer and fiddling my diddly.

Christopher Haas has written what might be the best tutorial I’ve ever run across for linux. It’s accurate, complete, breaks things down into manageable steps, and explains what you’re doing while you do it. It also contains several “check” steps, where it shows you how to check your system logs to see if the previous steps went as planned.

This is what a tutorial should be!

Howto: ISP-style Email Server with Debian-Etch and Postfix 2.3

If you’re trying to get email up and running on your debian VPS, this is the place to start. It shows how to use postfix and dovecot, with secure login, spam and virus checkers. Everything you need for POP or IMAP.

Take note of the warning up front about the proper naming scheme for your host. Almost every VPS image that I’ve run across uses a default naming in /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname that is incorrect for proper configuration of postfix (or even apache!). This article explains why and what to do about it:

Naming Issues with Linux and xBSD

Happy installing of email!

It’s available through the repository on Debian Etch and Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install apt-show-versions
To see everything installed via apt, use the bare command
apt-show-versions
Or you can use it to check on a single package
apt-show-version nano

The Setup

Ubuntu 7.04, Apache2.2, MySQL, PHP5, running on a VPS from slicehost.com. All installed from apt-get, all working fine. Gave MySQL root user a password, the login to MySQL from the command line works just fine.

Installed phpmyadmin from apt-get, everything’s cool, it sets up the appropriate symbolic links so that www.MYURL.com/phpmyadmin points the browser to the phpmyadmin login page.

The Problem

I go to www.MYURL.com/phpmyadmin, and I get the login page. I enter the MySQL user root + password. Sometimes it logs in. Sometimes it bounces me back to the login with no warning. Sometimes it redirects me to the login page and says “root”@”localhost” not permitted [password=YES]. Sometimes it’s the same warning, but with [password=NO], even though I have entered a password.

Sometimes, if I click login 3 or 4 times after it keeps redirecting me, I actually get let in to phpmyadmin. As soon as I do anything requiring privileges (create new user, create new database), I get bounced back to the login page again.

Troubleshooting

Here’s what I tried to fix it

1) Tried all browsers at my disposal (OSX: Firefox, Opera, Safari, Camino; Windows: IE6, IE7). Same problem with all.

2) Assumed it was a cookie issue. Dumped all cache and cookies on my browser, reset safari, relaunched apache2, tried again. Same problem.

3) Same as step 2, but also did a shutdown -r of the entire server, just in case. Old habits die hard.

3) Sacrificed male goat by the light of a full moon. Sticky fingers, but still no persistent login.

Nothing worked.

The Solution

Turns out, in order to run phpmyadmin with php5 on a 64bit ubuntu machine, you need to have a little package installed called php5-mcrypt. It’s not listed in the dependencies, so if you just use apt-get, it gets left behind.

sudo apt-get install php5-mcrypt


the conclusion

aaaarrrrrgh.

Let the record show that it was at this precise moment in time that I switched from Ubuntu to Debian for my server needs. If I wanted to shed this much stomach bile on figuring out required dependencies, I would strap on a pocket-protector and go join the gentoo geeks. At least then I know it’s up to me.

Hint: want to start a flamewar in a linux chatroom? Just casually pop in and ask people which distro you should use. People will light up the channel with everything from the helpful,
Ubu4lif: There are a lot of beginner tutorials for Ununtu, you might want to start with that
… to the passionate,
DebCoreDev: Ubuntu is destroying linux! 4 out of 5 Ubuntu users are baby rapists! Do you love baby rape? DON'T USE UBUNTU!!1
… to the downright insane,
Blwinkl48: I compiled my own linux distro called ScurvyLinux. ScurvyLinux is the only distro that correctly handles packet addressing with Cyrillic text modifiers. You are completely vulnerable to attack from former Soviet hackers unless you use ScurvyLinux!
On the whole, not particularly helpful. Any conversation about linux distributions starts to very quickly sound like a fundamentalist tent revival. It’s all black-and-white, and any new user is a potential convert. The louder you shout, the more right you must be.

I started out on a simple quest: I need a basic LAMP server, capable of running multiple domain names on a single IP address, with some ftp access. That’s about as vanilla a setup as you can possibly get. Based on this simple setup, I sought some advice from the natives on which linux distro would be the best choice for me. I’ve summed up their advice here in this here handy list:

Debian

Pros: Debian places a high value on stability. If Debian tells you a package is going to work on their distro, it’s going to f’ing work. Like a Clydesdale. It has probably the largest user base, which just means that when you have a question, there are 50 arrogant pricks to mock you for being an idiot instead of 6. There are no tutorials for Debian. Debian users are too busy working for a living to write tutorials.

Cons: Debian refuses to support the GVideo Awesomo Force GX45800 Accelerator Card! Don’t they know that all L337 GaMerZ use the GX45800? Debian is so dumb for not supporting that card (repeat 50x, insert favorite obscure piece of hardware). Debian is the linux equivalent of your grandpa, sitting on his porch rocker muttering, “I just don’t think this new-fangled Frequency Modulation radio is going to be around for long. I’ll stick with AM. It’s a stable, mature technology …”

Ubuntu

Pros: Oooooooh, pretty! Ubuntu is Debian, with support for the GVideo Awesomo Force GX45800 Accelerator Card, and every other thing people complain about Debian lacking. It also includes support for new utilities and program upgrades sooner than Debian does, but sometimes that means they jack up the implementation. There are roughly 19 billion tutorials for how to do anything you would ever want to do with Ubuntu. Unfortunately, they are all written by a 12 year old who knows even less than you.

Cons: Every other distro talks about Ubuntu in the same condescending tone of voice that the Romans used when talking about those silly Vandals, right before the Vandals sacked and burned Rome to the ground. Admitting that you use Ubunutu is the linux equivalent of putting a spoiler on your Hyundai – the only people who think you’re cool are other people with spoilers on their Hyundais. Also, Debian developers keep bitching about Ubuntu developers … something … taking from the open-source community … never giving back … I dunno, I dozed off after a while.

Gentoo

Pros: Apparently, with Gentoo Linux, you have to build the whole operating system yourself. Yes, this is the big upside that every Gentoo user keeps touting. Oh, hooray, I not only have to build the website myself, now I have to handcode the damn OS too. Hang on, let me get my soldering kit and some steel framing and I’ll wire up my own power supply while I’m at it.

Cons: uhhhhh … you have to build the whole thing yourself?

CentOS

Pros: CentOS is NOT affiliated with any big name corporation. Not in anyway! Not us! It says so right on our website! If you’d like to try it out for yourself, you can downloaded our totally unaffiliated distribution at ftp://ftp.redhat.com. Not that there’s anything wrong with that …

Cons: Lying bitches. Also, according to one very helpful Gentoo evangelist, people who use CentOS are more likely to have unprotected sex. I am so completely not making this up. There are some batshit crazy ass people out there in linux land.

Fedora

Pros: see CentOS.

Cons: You remember that asshole who lived down the hall in your dorm, the one with the Che Guevara t-shirt who kept talking about freedom and the rights of the people, except for the right of the people to not have to listen to him playing Bob Marley’s Legends CD all night long? Fedora is kind of like that. It’s all about freedom. Freedom from copyright. Freedom from intellectual property restrictions. It’s all about freedom, until it comes to your own freedom to install whatever the hell you want on your own computer. Then, not so much with the freedom.

concluding thoughts

It’s an operating system, not a religious movement. I’m not looking to become a convert, I’m not going to give my 10%, sing your songs, fly your banner from my rooftop. I just want to setup my blog.

I was amazed at how hard it was to actually get decent, reliable, non-biased information about the differences between linux distros. Why can’t someone just say, “Debian is designed around this idea, Ubuntu around this idea, Fedora does this really well, but Gentoo is better at this.” After swimming through the muck for a few days, I’m left with this thought:

The Linux community needs fewer fundamentalists. I can’t hear you talk above the noise of your shouting.

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