[OT] Debian mailinglists [was: RE: Debian or Ubuntu?]

[Bart Silverstrim]

Mario Vukelic wrote:
> On Tue, 2008-05-20 at 14:23 -0400, Bart Silverstrim wrote:
>> No doubt, not disagreeing, I was pointing out that you can follow 
>> everything to the letter and still have something go glitch-wrong. Even 
>> 1:1 systems can suffer a data corruption or some other gremlin that 
>> *shouldn't* happen but can.
>>
>> Thus I find it more important to have contingencies in place.
> 
> Sure, I agree about that, who wouldn't. But I fail to see how this can
> be an argument _in _favor of GUI tools for complex configuration tasks.
> It just adds complexity into the process, and additional bugs. A
> sufficiently complex config file requires a very complex GUI with its
> own bugs, which is now trying to hand-hold an experienced admin.

Actually that was addressing the bank system requiring testing bit, not 
the GUI/CLI question.

> Let's put it this way, I trust a good unix database admin more than an
> MSCP with a GUI tool.

Which is a nice stereotype, I'll not get into the good or bad points of 
perpetuating those right now though...

>> I see 
>> notices that my online banking may not be available from 1AM to 5AM on a 
>> Sunday morning once in awhile.
> 
> :O Really?

Yes...not making it up. Well, the times are made up, but I know it's a 
several-hour window at some ungodly hour of the morning over the weekend 
for a sysadmin to be at work in our time zone, so I'm assuming it's a 
lull time in usage.

> Anyway, online banking for private customers is one thing. I was rather
> talking about the bank's connection to the huge global financial
> systems, like stock exchanges. They CANNOT go down.

No doubt that's the goal. But I'd also point out that it *has* gone down 
before. It's just rare. And being in the public, we probably aren't 
privy to the close calls and stinky-pants moments that their 
behind-the-scenes admins could talk about.