New Messages
Hi Leor,
I just read your article "In-Line Input or Bust"
from the
November/December issue of Sys Admin and thought you
might
be interested in knowing that it is in fact possible
to do in-line
SQL scripts to isql. For example, this is one I use
for doing queries
on my phone database to allow me to quickly locate information
on
someone:
:
DBPATH="/u2/mfaurot/db/phone
export DBPATH
isql phone - < EOF 2&1 | more
select *
from ph_work
where name_last matches "*$1*"
order by name_last;
EOF
The key is an undocumented (at least it was the last
time I remember looking for this in a manual) switch:
the "-"
after the database name and before the << redirection.
You can also get a command line driven version of isql
by doing:
isql - -
Just send an EOF (^d) when you're ready to return to
your shell or calling program.
Michael Faurot,
mfaurot@bogart.UUCP
Yes, several folks have pointed this out, but yours
is the
most detailed explanation. I'm relieved to hear this
feature is indeed
undocumented, because I know I tried to look it up in
the manual at
one point. All I can say is that somewhere, out there,
must be an
application that really doesn't accept standard input
to which
one might apply my technique . . . Thanks, --lz
To: Laurie Sefton
Laurie,
I agree with much of what you have written in your article,
"UNIX
Security in a Networked Environment" from the Jan/Feb
issue of
Sys Admin. I've worked on the security of our Sun systems
here
at GMI and many of the holes you mentioned are almost
second nature
to me.
I do have one small improvement on searching for setuid
and setgid
files. In SunOS 4.1.2, the manpages for find describe
the -perm operator
this way:
-perm onum
True if the file permission flags exactly match the
octal
number onum (see chmod(1V)). If onum is prefixed by
a minus sign,
more flag bits (017777, see chmod(1V)) become significant
and the flags
are compared:
(flags&onum)==onum.
If the specified permissions are prefixed by a minus
sign, you can
search for files with permissions that match what you're
looking for,
but may also have other permissions set. For example,
this is how
I search for setuid files:
find / -perm -4000 -print
For setgid files:
find / -perm -6000 -print
Those commands will find any setuid or setgid file regardless
of how the user, group, or other permissions are set.
Also, on redirecting the output to a file, I find it
more convenient
to pipe it through mail:
find / -perm -4000 -print | mail
lsloan &
I liked your article and I would recommend to anybody
that they keep
a copy of it around for reference.
Lance Sloan
lsloan@nova.gmi.edu
Assistant Programmer
UNIX Support and Administration
GMI Engineering and Management
Institute
Flint, MI
We've forwarded your message to Laurie Sefton but wanted
to share it with our readers also. Thank you for writing.
--mm
Hello, Sys Admin mag:
Love your magazine so far (2 issues). Hope to see future
articles
specific to MIT X administration install/upgrades or
user support
from admin point of view. I am user support person at
a supercomputer
site running UNIX (crays and Sun minicomputers over
ultranet) where
X11R5 and X11R4 is available.
However, I've just entered a subscription and the expiration
date
on my mailer label is: May 93.
My question is: I just subscribed to Sys Admin in Oct,
1992.
If the subscription ends May 93 I only receive 1/2 year
of your most
excellent publication. Hoping for email reply (if this
is possible
) to skinman@pops.navo.navy.mil
Best Wishes for Success
John Skinner
popshelp@pops.navo.navy.mil
Thanks for the nice words -- we'll try to cover some
of the subjects you mention in upcoming issues. As for
the misleading
information included on your mailing label: it seems
that our label
program forgot that Sys Admin was a bimonthly magazine
-- thus
interpreted 2.5 (your actual expiration issue) as May
rather than
September/October. The actual data concerning your account
is all
in order, and I believe we've fixed the label problem.
Our apologies
to you and all others who were inconvenienced by this
glitch! --mm
To: rdpub!saletter
Subject: Hi
Status: RO
Congratulations on the new magazine. If your first issues
are any
measure, you folks look to have a winner on your hands.
It would be
nice if there was more coverage of stuff for Data Genera
AViiONs,
but I expect you can only print what someone's submitted.
Maybe this'll
nudge someone into writing something.
Have you ever considered running a regular feature that
covers system
management tools that are available over the Internet?
It looks like
there's a lot of useful public domain/freely redistributable
stuff
floating out there -- unfortunately, not only is it
all scattered
around and difficult to find out about, there are a
lot of us who
only have access via UUCP through UUNet. Even one-paragraph
descriptions,
along with file names and locations, would be a real
help.
Dan Sugalski
dan@msage.com
I think that's a good idea. In fact, it seems I've seen
a summary somewhere in one of the news feeds. Perhaps
one of our readers
can help me find it, or write one? --rlw
To: rdpub.com!saletter
Subject: Content
Status: RO
Hi,
I picked up your Nov/Dec 92 issue (my first) at a bookstore
and am
impressed. I would like to cast my vote for _NOT_ succumbing
to the
attitude voiced in the Russ Hill letter referenced by
J. Wojno. We
are all novices in some area of UNIX, and I feel the
level of writing
and the presentation of your magazine is excellent.
For instance,
I'm pretty good with BSD, but have little exposure to
System V unique
problems (I don't even want to hear about SCO). So don't
change anything!
Keith Hollister
uunet!griz!keith
Gee, I'll invite you to all my evaluations. Thanks.
--rlw
To: saletter@rdpub.com
Subject: Article suggestion
Status: RO
I'd like to see an article (or six) on how NetNews works.
I'm thinking
of topics such as nntp protocol, how news servers work,
what's involved
in setting up a server served by dialup, what's involved
in maintaining
a server. I realize that some of this is covered by
O'Reilly books,
but I'd like to see a capsule summary of these topics
to de-mystify
them for the sysadmin who's considering adding news
to a machine.
I've used nn a little, so I know what the user sees.
What I want to
know is what goes on under the hood.
Kenneth Porter
uunet!well.sf.ca.us!shiva
Another good suggestion, at least I'd certainly like
to
know more about how this stuff works. So, do we have
an author out
there? You write it, I'll print it. --rlw
To: rdpub.com!saletter
Subject: archive
Status: RO
Hi:
Assuming some (many? all?) of the programs in Sys Admin
are
of use to readers, could they perhaps be dumped into
some generally
available location, like ftp.uu.net? Or are they copyright
and thereby
not freely available?
Like the journal....keep the good stuff coming!
Mal Raff
DNA R&D
SysAdmin
Applied Biosystems, Inc
Foster City, CA 94404
mal@cosmid.apldbio.com
All the code is already available on uunet. For our
reader's
convenience, we run a small "house ad" in
every issue which
includes more details about network access. This ad
is indexed in
the "Departments" section of the table of
contents (on the
cover) under "Source Code Availability". --rlw
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