Enterprise Unix Roundup: Grazing the Linux World Feast – page 2

Recent Updates

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  The Apache Software Foundation released Apache 2.0.53. The new release includes a number of new fixes, including patches to a DoS vulnerability and a pair of SSL issues.

• Postfix 2.1.5 fixes a single issue: It "now sends the correct bounce message when a Delivered-To: loop is detected for a mailing list alias."

• HP released a patch to the ftp daemon on certain versions of HP-UX. It addresses a vulnerability that could allow remote users to gain privileged access.

• SCO has released a series of patches. One addresses a vulnerability in foomatic that could allow "local users or remote attackers with access to CUPS to execute arbitrar commands." The second fixes a buffer overflow in the enable command, which is used to grant subsystem privileges to users. A third addresses a vulnerability in the IPSec daemon racoon that could allow remote attackers to establish unauthorized IP connections or conduct man-in-the-middle attacks. And a pair of patches for OpenServer 5.0.6/5.0.7 and UnixWare 7.1.3/7.1.1 prevents DoS attacks against long-lived TCP connections.

• The CUPS-related vulnerabilities we've been following the past few weeks continue to receive distributor attention, with Fedora offering patches to xpdf for Fedora Core 3 and Fedora Core 2, as well as patches to the CUPS package itself (Core 3 and Core 2).

Tips of the Trade

RPM (RPM package manager)-based Linux distributions, such as Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, White Box Linux, and Mandrake are famous for trapping users in "RPM hell." This occurs when you try to install a program from an RPM, but it cannot be installed because of unresolved dependencies. So you find the necessary RPMs to resolve the dependencies, but they create an ever-growing series of unresolved dependencies. An RPM contains only the files and binaries that pertain to the program; it does not manage the dependencies between RPMs.

Debian users have apt-get for automatic dependency-resolving; Mandrake users have urpmi; and SUSE users have YaST. But one of the best dependency-resolving installers is YUM (Yellow Dog Updater, Modified.) It can be added to any RPM-based system, and it will automatically create a database of installed packages. Installing or removing a new program is as simple as this:

# yum install foo

# yum remove foo

This command upgrades an installed package:

# yum update foo

Local Yum repositories can also be shared over a LAN. Some RPM repositories, such as FreshRPMs, provide Yum RPMs that are already configured to include links to their package repositories. Visit the YUM home page and your favorite RPM sources to learn more.

Carla Schroder writes the Tips of the Trade section of Enterprise Unix Roundup. She also appears on Enterprise Networking Planet and Linux Planet, covering Linux from the desktop to the server room.

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