Connectivity problems With IBM

[Steve DeJarnett]

In article <6101 at hub.ucsb.edu> erickson at pollux.ncgia.ucsb.edu (Scott Erickson) writes:
>proot at ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Paul T. Root) writes:
>>I basically like the machine [RS6000] a lot. But the little things
>>like [sendmail] and the ypbind/inetd problem really leaves a bad taste
>>in your mouth.

	sendmail.cf files seldom, if ever, drop out of the box and work.  IBM
tried to make it so that you wouldn't have to change much, but anyone who has
anything other than a generic setup shouldn't be too surprised if they have to
install a new sendmail.cf file.

>And simple programs like "install" don't work right on the RS6000.
>All of my favorite switches like -o, -g, -m have been changed to
>upper case.  Now, I'm sure these some mode or path somewhere you can
>set to get the real install, but if you login to one of these systems
>with simple program source and type "make install", it won't!

	Well, /usr/ucb/install has everything you're asking for.  As a rule, 
if you used BSD or BSD-derived systems before, and that's what you want from 
your RISC System/6000 (RS/6000), then ALWAYS put /usr/ucb first in your path.
That's what all of us "BSD-bigots" here do. :-)

>Sure, each OS has its peculiarities.  I just find that AIX 3 seems to
>be too different in some of the *basic* programs (like install).
>I've had nothing but bad luck with the pre-releases OS's crashing the
>system, and now that at a fairly stable OS is out, I can't just bring
>my local software over without lots of pains.

	Again, most of the major programs that have incompatibilities have BSD
versions in /usr/ucb that should behave just the way you (and I) are used to.

>But being with the Geography Department, I'm just interested in getting
>a system up so that my users can get some work done.  My users just
>want a machine to help them with research.  They don't want to have to
>deal with all of these problems on a daily basis.

	Put /usr/ucb in the first position on their paths and they won't have
to worry about it.  I'm not saying this will solve 100% of your problems, but
it should go a long way towards it.

>Scott Erickson


Steve DeJarnett			Internet: ibmsupt!steve at uunet.uu.net
IBM AWD Palo Alto		UUCP:	  uunet!ibmsupt!steve
(415) 855-3510			VNET:     dejarnet at ausvmq
These opinions are my own.  I doubt IBM wants them.......