Re: flexfax: Hylafax rpm issues

[Steve Williams <steve@genie96.com>]

Hi,

First, let me say it is nice that someone is willing to spend the time to
put together a "rpm" for Linux.  

My second question would be..., are you willing to support it yourself
for the next eternity?

I have been involved with HylaFAX since the old FlexFAX days.  It has been
wonderful that for many of the issues involved, it didn't matter what
platform the software was installed on, because all platforms were basically
alike.  I have been the Beta Binary person for AIX for ages.

I knew where I could recommend someone to look if there was a problem, 
regardless of the operating system.

You are reducing the ability of the mailing list to support Linux users of
HylaFAX by arbitrairly deciding to do things that are specific to your 
implementation.

It might come down to the point of "I don't know, contact Ramana, the guy
who set up the RPM", because I have no idea where the "hfaxd.conf" file 
is installed when they use your RPM.

One MAJOR issue I have is that you are recommending that people NOT RUN 
FAXSETUP & FAXADDMODEM ???

WHAT???

These programs do EXTENSIVE testing of the system to ensure it is set up
properly.  They probe the modem & make most of the decisions for the end user.

IF THEY CAN'T PROBE THE MODEM, THEN THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM!!!
AND NOTHING WILL WORK PERIOD!!!.

As to editing modem scripts by hand, that is absolutely insane.  If people
accept the defaults to faxaddmodem, they will get a system that works.  If
the start playing with the files themselves, god knows what they are going
to change in a "desperate" attempt to get the modem working.

Granted, for many NO-NAME fax modems out there, the config files may have to 
be edited, but that is not what HylaFAX was designed for.  It is a ROBUST
fax package, that works with GOOD QUALITY fax modems.   I have NEVER had to
manually edit a modem config file unless I made a typo in faxaddmodem that
I didn't catch.  If you have had to manually edit a modem config file for 
anything other than the tagline or whatever, then I wonder why?

If you are looking for a simple fax package, people should be using some other
package.

Remember, a software package is only as good as the support that it gets,
and these (HylaFAX )non-standard locations and naming conventions would 
( in my opinion ) reduce the ability of the mailing list to support the 
package.

Also, were you aware that we are currently working on a new patch level 
for HylaFAX?

-- 
	Steve Williams, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
	Genie Computer Systems Inc.
	steve@genie96.com

"A man doesn't begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes that he is 
 no longer indespensable."
- Admiral Richard E. Byrd ( 1888-1957 )
----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I hope with this rpm release, hylafax is easier than before to setup.
> 
> The old annoyances of afm directories, entries in /etc/aliases, 
> /etc/inetd.conf, /etc/inittab, /etc/services, creating of the user
> fax are all taken care of.
> 
> To send and receive faxes all one needs to do is
> 
> 	(1) rpm -i hylafax-4.0-4.i386.rpm
> 	(2) reboot
> 	(3) Edit /var/spool/hyla/config and
> 		/var/spool/hyla/config.modem 
> 	    until one can send and receive faxes
> 	(4) Further customization can be done by editing
> 		/usr/lib/hyla/typerules
> 		/usr/lib/hyla/faxcover.ps
> 		/var/spool/hyla/bin/faxrcvd
> 
> 
> Let me answer some of the issues raised:
> 
> (1) /usr vs /usr/local
> 
> 	Traditionally unix systems put all the programs that were
> shipped with the machine /usr/bin. The programs that were installed
> by the sys admin went into /usr/local. Undoubtedly, this a very useful
> convention.
> 
> 	However, RPMs provide a new way of managing applications. /usr
> directory is no longer monolithic. It is composed of files from
> the RPM packages. The philosophy of Redhat has been to put the RPM
> files in /usr. /usr/local should be used for the .tar.gz packages. 
> Not all packagers follow Redhat convention. Redhat itself
> follows the convention meticulously and I hope Redhat will include
> the hylafax RPM in their next release.
> 
> 
> (2) fax vs hyla
> 
> 	I am sorry that I had to deviate from the convention
> and changed /var/spool/fax to /var/spool/hyla and /usr/lib/fax
> to /usr/lib/hyla. There are two other packages that are bundled with
> Redhat Linux: efax and mgetty+sendfax. mgetty+sendfax has two 
> directories, /var/spool/fax/incoming and /var/spool/fax/outgoing.
> I think it will be a major source of confusion to have 
> 6 directories of hylafax and 2 directories of mgetty+sendfax
> in the same /var/spool/fax. While removing all the other
> fax packages is an option, most people don't bother to
> remove them. To the extent possible, I think it is better to
> not to intrude into other's namespace.
> 
> (3) xferstats and xferlog
> 
> After a suggestion by Nico Garcia I changed it to the more descriptive
> xferfaxstats intstead of the confusing xferstat. Similarly I changed 
> xferlog to xferfaxlog. 
> 	
> 
> (4) default etc/config etc/config.modem
> 
> While one can use 'faxsetup' and 'faxaddmodem' to generate these
> files, I found it easier to edit these files directly. Especially
> 'faxaddmodem' can be a source of real frustration. It should be
> remembered that config and config.modem most likely need some editing
> to suit the particular modem at hand.
> 
> Ramana