After installing your Red Hat Linux system, it's easy to think that the decisions you made during the installation are engraved in granite, never to be changed again. Nothing could be further from the truth!
One of the main strengths of Linux is that the operating system can be configured to do just about anything. Here at Red Hat Software, we've worked hard to try to make system configuration as easy and accessible as possible. To that end, we've worked hard on two fronts:
Anyone familiar with Red Hat Linux over the years has probably seen what we call our ``control panel'' system configuration tools. These tools have been developed by Red Hat Software to make system configuration easier. And while these tools do make life easier for the Red Hat Linux user, we began a search for a system configuration tool with even more flexibility and power.
Our search ended with the inclusion of linuxconf into Red Hat Linux 5.1 in June of 1998. Now, with this version of Red Hat Linux, we've been able to more fully document the more popular aspects of system configuration using linuxconf.
Note that we said ``more popular aspects''. One of linuxconf's greatest strengths -- the incredible range of configuration options under its control -- is actually a liability when it comes time to document them all. Rest assured however, that we will continue to expand linuxconf documentation as new versions of Red Hat Linux are released.
But what about the control panel tools? They're still there. While linuxconf at present can do nearly everything the control panel tools can, there are two areas in which the control panel still holds the upper hand:
To that end, we've left the control panel documentation in this manual as the second half of this chapter.
But now, let's take a look at linuxconf...