Hi again,

We have just uploaded a new revision which contains a couple of bugfixes.

These issues only affected those installations using multipath rules and a language other than English.

Changelog eBox 0.9.3 [codename quickie]

network

• Use value() instead of printableValue() in protocol
• Add iptables rule to chain OUTPUT in mangle table to send traffic originated in eBox through the default router

Hi everybody,

Here we are again with a new release 0.9.2. This latest version, brought to you by your favourite development team, is mainly a bugfix release. No long paragraphs to show off cool stuff this time, just wait for 0.10.

We have added two features which we thought were worth releasing as soon as possible:

• Backups are accessible via samba. This is useful to deal with large files as many browsers can’t manage them properly
• Enable/disable logging per module. This is an interim solution until we provide a better mechanism to rotate and remove logs.

Change log eBox platform 0.9.2 [codename torito bravo]

ebox

• Add browser warning when uploading files
• Enable/disable logging modules

dhcp

• Check fixed ip’s name against domain name syntax

network

• Always add weighted routers when configuring routers. Instead of adding them when traffic balancing is enabled. Use iptables to send unmarked packets through the default router.

squid

• Add nasty workaround to try to stop and create swap directories for squid

samba

• Add ebox backup directory as a shared resource to download/upload
  files
• Create smbldap_bind.conf which contains password with mask 0600

openvpn

• Fix a bug related to unscaped characters
• Added support for hidden clients

mail

• Create sasl configuration which contains password with 0600 mask

Matt Willsher has developed a subversion module for eBox Platform, integrating this version control system into your favorite open source project It is not the first module developed by eBox community, but it is really interesting, well-coded and worth of blogging. By the way, it will be integrated in next official versions of eBox.

I took the liberty of sending a few questions to Matt, which he answered promptly. Here is the mini-interview:

Question: You just released the subversion module for eBox, adding a new feature to this platform. How did you take the decision of coding it? What was your motivation?

Answer: I was looking to set up a server at home and had evaluated various platforms for the task. Having built a box from the ground up for the job, I got tired of the amount of work required to add new services and servers, especially as the machine grew in complexity – LDAP, Kerberos, Netatalk, Samba. Adding new things got trickier. So I tried eBox and was very impressed with the ethos of the project – the ease of use, it being open source, uniformity of data use and broad range of well though out features. Plus I’ve never configured Samba so quickly!

One thing was missing for me though – Netatalk integration. I’ve been wanting to get back into coding for a while as I’ve not done any in some time. The OO nature of the framework was ideal and Perl is a language I used some time ago, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Q: How did you find the whole process of coding a new eBox module? Which aspects did you find outstanding and what things you think could be improved?

A: I started about two weeks ago working for a couple of hours every other day or so, working from the module template code and the Jabber module source. Considering I’ve not done any serious Perl in quite a number of years I was very pleasantly surprised with how easy it was. Most impressive to me has been the simplicity of using the framework. The final subversion package comes out at 9K, which I think says a lot about the framework. That’s all the user handling, configuration generation, GConf integration, web interface and daemon control.

In terms of the improvements, the developers guide is useful as a starting point but could do with more content. Things like the package building and autoconf side would be useful and would mean I didn’t have to bother the guys on the IRC channel so much. I’m really looking forward to the API docs as they will make things easier. There could be some streamlining in some of the supporting modules, especially the LDAP module, but these are minor issues and didn’t hinder development to any real degree.

Q: Was it fun?

A: Yes, it certainly was! I’ve done this in my spare time, which I don’t have huge amounts of, and it’s been great. Any short fall in the documentation has more than been made up by the guys on the #ebox IRC channel.

Q: What new features would you like added to eBox? Are you planning to develop other new modules?

A: There is a lot of things on the roadmap that have gotten me excited, especially RAID and LVM – while they can be set up via the installer it’ll be great to set them controllable via the web interface. I’d really like to see an SNMP server that exports a whole wealth of information and then have that used by the reporting engines. I think things like that make it more appealing to the larger SMEs and Enterprises, not to mention stats geeks like myself

As for my own plans, I’ve got to do a little code tidying and commenting of the subversion module, then I’m starting on a Netatalk module. After that is Moblock and after that perhaps Kerberos. At some point I’d also like to implement basic monitoring/graphing of remote SNMP devices but I’m waiting to see what you guys come up with on the reporting side before I start that one.

Q: Now that you know more deeply about eBox and its developers, what do you think about the project? Honestly?

A: Quite honestly it’s to me the most exciting open source projects I’ve come across in some time – the flexibility it provides is remarkable. The developers are great and happy to help. My first experience of coding for eBox has been thoroughly enjoyable. I’m looking forward to getting on with my next module now and learning more about eBox!