[olug] to X or not to X (on a server)?

[Brian Wiese]

try "make menuconfig" sometime (if you haven')... I find it much faster
and easier.

On Mon, 12 May 2003 07:35:52 -0500
David Walker <linux_user at grax.com> wrote:

|Since I don't like recompiling a kernel without "make xconfig",
|I like to put just enough X on the server to redirect a display to
|another machine, either through ssh or just setting
|"DISPLAY=192.168.217.4:0"
|
|On Monday 12 May 2003 01:49 am, Brian Wiese wrote:
|> On Fri, 9 May 2003 05:15:41 -0500
|>
|> Kenton Brede <xyf at nixnotes.org> wrote:
|> |On Fri, May 09, 2003 at 06:05:37AM -0500, Brian Wiese wrote:
|> |> So, my friend and I where having this little discussion about
|> |> setting up a debian stable server for basically samba file and print
|> |> serving. He says X should not ever be installed and I say it should.
|> |>  What do the fellow gnu/linux admins on the list recommend from
|> |>  experience... which has more benefit, to install X on a server or
|> |>  to not?  hard drive space is not a concern.
|> |>
|> |> reasons for X:
|> |> - provides productive usable environment for local system
|> |> administration(I like to have a couple of terminal windows open and
|> |> other GUI tools at hand (a webbrowser perhaps) when administrating a
|> |> system versus straight CLI)- will not be used/running normally,
|> |> standard runlevel = 2- could easily be uninstalled with 'apt-get
|> |> remove--purge xserver-common...'- security updates go along with
|> |> 'apt-get upgrade' so not much of a concern (and there are no remote
|> |> shell logins, just IT staff)
|> |>
|> |> reasons against X:
|> |> - another piece of software installed that could be a security
|> |> vulnerability- added difficulty for system backups?
|> |> - performance benefit by not being installed?
|> |>
|> |> so, to have the option of X or to not on a server, what's best?
|> |
|> |I can't say absolutely X should never be installed on a server but I
|> |haven't seen a reason to do so yet.  A few reasons why I wouldn't:
|> |
|> |* Possible security vulnerability that must be dealt with.
|> |
|> |* Don't have to track and install security updates for X and all the
|> |  stuff installed with it.
|> |
|> |* During your career you will more than likely find yourself in an
|> |  environment mostly without a graphical interface.  Relying on X
|> |  doesn't prepare you for that.
|> |
|> |* Most of the crashes / freezes I have personally seen on linux
|> |systems  have happened while running X.
|> |
|> |* Running a graphical browser on a server isn't a good idea due to
|> |  the inevitable runaway processes that occur while surfing.
|> |
|> |kent
|>
|> Yeah, this is kind of the same mentality I've had all along.  My own
|> webserver has been up for more than 2 separate ocassions of 210+ days
|> of uptime over the past 1 1/2 years (recently had to replace UPS for
|> last downtime)... and since it's all remotely managed/old slow system,
|> I've never installed X on it, just ssh.  If I have a local server
|> though, and therefore almost always hooked into a kvm somewhere, I go
|> ahead and install X though and just run it when I need it.  I
|> personally find that the functionality benefit of admin' a box from an
|> X environment far outways any other valid/potential concerns. (to copy
|> and paste, have multiple xterms/konsoles/... of an extremely
|> large/custom screen size and run a browser on localhost for testing
|> etc, it's what graphic environments are for - do interact with the
|> system more usefully...)  It's another one of those personal admin
|> choices I assume, but it is nice to not 'have to' run it all the time
|> (like in Windoze) and have the option to unistall it or turn it off at
|> will without loosing major functionality on the system.
|>
|> peace
|>
|>   Brian Wiese | bwiese at cotse.com | aim: unolinuxguru
|> ------------------------------------------------------
|>   GnuPG/PGP key 0x6BFF6681 | "FREEDOM!" - Braveheart
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  Brian Wiese | bwiese at cotse.com | aim: unolinuxguru
------------------------------------------------------
  GnuPG/PGP key 0x6BFF6681 | "FREEDOM!" - Braveheart 
------------------------------------------------------  
This is not about Napster or DVDs. It's about your Freedom.
  I'll see your DMCA and raise you a First Amendment.
              http://www.anti-dmca.org