[Techtalk] Why is life without X important? (was: Re: info)

[Maria Blackmore]

On 6 Sep 2002, Caitlyn M. Martin wrote:
> To anyone who has been a sysadmin for a long time, yes, it's a real
> issue.  If X stops working you need to be able to live at the command
> line.

The key here is to be flexible, you have to be able to work in what might
end up being extremely restricted environments when all you have is a 9600
baud serial connection to one of the only working pieces of equipment.

> > Are you working on the Last Computer On Earth? I 
> > always have a connected, functioning PC available. When I visit client
> > sites I bring my trusty notebook.  You can't depend on the sick PC to help!

It might not even be a PC :)

> Ah... but I administer many headless Sun boxen, as in no video card.

see? :)

> These are production servers.  I inherited one with filesystem
> corruption which died a week after I got here.  I had to use that
> notebook you mention to get a console terminal through a serial port. 
> So.. no X.  Also no network.  Just a serial port.  No command line=no
> fix.

ick, not a good situation
I've spent too many hours on an FM floor crouched over a 9600 baud serial
console.  Sometimes not even provided by a laptop (Nokia Communicator
series rock :)

> Oh, and on many administrative servers we deliberately don't even
> install X.  If someone hacks in why make their life easier?

I don't see how X would make a crackers life easier ...

>  Also, if the box is, say... a NIS/DHCP/NTP/Loghost server, why do I
> need to use the resources X takes up?  Why not leave the memory free
> for real work?

Except that X doesn't take up any resources at all when it's not running
:)

Personally, I have never installed X on a server, and never will, but I
have installed the X libraries alone on occasions where something requires
it, or so that X programs can be run on it to relieve the load from a
local workstation, or simply because the program *has* to run their for
some reason, but I need to see it on my desktop.

> Anyone who does serious systems administration needs to be able to live
> without X.  My examples are three of many.

For day to day work, I find X windows to be almost indispensible.  It is
simply the only way that I know of arranging that many text environments
in a logical and easy to use fashion and have them alongside the other
work I am doing or looking at.  Something else I find almost indispensible
is screen, once again from the point of view of arranging multiple text
environments.  I also frequently use screen from within xterm's in X.

All this gives me very great flexibility and makes my life orders of
magnitude easier.  I am perfectly capable of doing this without X and/or
screen, but I chose not to whereever I can.  Besides, if the situation has
deteriorated to the point where I am using a single command line console,
the chances are that X isn't going to help any.  Except when doing network
maintenance at a remote location, and the laptop you have been given does
indeed have a network card as promised, just no network dongle thing, ARG!

Well, if all else fails, my Nokia 9110 will function as a very good (but
very tiny) VT100 serial terminal.

Maria