Drakxtools Future Directions

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Please, not that this page is for developers, and its purpose is to discuss the future development of drakxtools in ROSA. For a list of replacements already shipped in ROSA Marathon 2012, please, refer to Drakxtools Replacements instead!

Drakxtools is a set of scripts and modules unique to Mandriva written in Perl with GTK UI (more precisely - using own wrappers upon perl-GTK). Drakxtools development was started a dozen of years ago; however, year by year it becomes harder and harder to maintain and enhance them due to not very flexible internal structure and tons of legacy code. We believe that most of drakxtools do not satisfy modern needs and should be replaced with more convenient contemporary analogues.

Some thoughts about drakxtools replacement:

• for many tools, there are analogues in KDE4 control center
• ... however, some tools are really unique to Mandriva, and currently we don't have any estimates on how long will it take to develop their analogues
• for some tools KDE analogues exists, but they are separate applications (not part of KDE control center)
• some tools are bounded to Mandriva infrastructure (Mandriva Club accounts, wiki logins, etc.), so they should be dropped in ROSA in either case; the question is do we want to develop their analogues
• one more thing unique to ROSA/Mandriva is ROSA Control Center (Drakconf) which is just a wrapper that invokes appropriate tools with appropriate parameters

Possible replacements for current Drakconf configurators are listed in the table below.

Note that if some tool is not installed in the system, then corresponding menu entry in Drakconf is not displayed. So if some package is not installed by default, then users don't have corresponding Drakconf entry in a freshly installed system. Probably replacement of such packages should be considered as a low priority task.

Drakconf

Below is the table with Drakconf sections, corresponding MDV-specific tools and suggested replacements.

Drakconf section	Cmdline tool	Package (SRPM)	Replace with	Comments
Software Management
Software Management
Install & Remove Software	rpmdrake	rpmdrake	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012
Update your system	MandrivaUpdate	rpmdrake	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012
Configure updates frequency	mdkapplet-config	mdkonline	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012
Configure media sources for install and update	edit-urpm-sources.pl	rpmdrake	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012
Access to extended maintenance	mdkapplet-add-media-helper	mdkonline	Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS	This one is valuable for MDV only
Others
Package Stats	drakstats	drakstats	rosa-popularity-contest	the package is not installed by default
Hardware
Manage your hardware
Browse and configure hardware	harddrake2	drakxtools	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012 ? Kinfocenter	The tool provides user with a list of all hardware; for every device, it can run corresponding configurator (draksound for sound card, diskdrake for harddrives/cdrom, etc.) Kinfocenter can be used to display the hardware available, but not to configure it.
Sound Configuration	draksound	drakxtools	KDE System Settings -> "Multimedia" -> "Phonon" Gnome Control Center -> Sound
Configure graphics
Set up the graphical server	XFdrake	drakx-kbd-mouse-x11	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012 KDE System Settings -> "Display and Monitor" Gnome Control Center -> Monitors
Configure mouse and keyboard
Set up the keyboard layout	keyboarddrake	drakx-kbd-mouse-x11	KDE System Settings -> "Input Devices" Gnome Control Center -> Keyboard Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Set up the pointer device (mouse, touchpad)	mousedrake	drakx-kbd-mouse-x11	KDE System Settings -> "Input Devices" Gnome Control Center -> Mouse Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Configure printing and scanning
Set up the printer(s), the print job queues, ...	system-config-printer	system-config-printer	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012 system-config-printer-kde is not in a good shape atm, as wel as the new printer setup module for KDE CC	system-config-printer is a standalone tool written in Python, but we can try to use its KDE wrapper
Set up scanner	scannerdrake	drakxtools
Configure a fax server	drakfax_server	drakfax		the package is not installed by default
Others
Set up a UPS for power monitoring	drakups	drakxtools
Network & Internet
Manage your network devices
Network Center	draknetcenter	drakx-net	KDE System Settings -> "Network Settings" Gnome Control Center -> Network Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Set up a new network interface (LAN, ISDN, ADSL, ...)	drakconnect --wizard	drakx-net	KDE System Settings -> "Network Settings" Gnome Control Center -> Network Connections Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Remove a connection	drakconnect --del	drakx-net	KDE System Settings -> "Network Settings" Gnome Control Center -> Network Connections Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Personalize and Secure your network
Proxy	drakproxy	drakx-net	KDE System Settings -> "Network Settings" -> "Proxy" Gnome Control Center -> Network Proxy
Share the Internet connection with other local machines	drakgw	drakx-net	KDE System Settings -> "Network Settings"
Manage different network profiles	draknetprofile	drakx-net	NetworkManager Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS	Profile support is not perfect, to be improved in future. In any case, some functionality of draknetprofile was broken even in ROSA 2011
Configure VPN connection to secure network access	drakvpn	drakx-net	KDE System Settings -> "Network Settings" Gnome Control Center -> Network Connections Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Others
Hosts definitions	drakhosts	drakx-net	??? Drop In Gnome, this can be done in Gnome Control Center -> Network	If user wants to modify /etc/hosts, then he is probably an advanced user who can do it with any text editor
System
Manage system services
Authentication	drakauth	drakxtools	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012	Integration with Win domains - no replacement atm
Menu Style	drakmenustyle	drakmenustyle	KDE System Settings -> "Application Appearance"	the package is not installed by default
Manage system services by enabling or disabling them	drakxservices	drakxtools	system-config-services
Manage, add and remove fonts. Import Windows(TM) fonts	drakfont	drakxtools	KDE System Settings -> "Font Management"
Localization
Manage date and time	drakclock	drakxtools	KDE System Settings -> "Date and Time" Gnome Control Center -> Time and Date Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Manage localization for your system	localedrake	drakxtools	KDE System Settings -> "Locale" Gnome Control Center -> Keyboard -> Layout	Standard KDE configurator should be patched to edit ~/.i18n in order to affect all applications
Administration tools
View and search system logs	logdrake	drakxtools	ksystemlog	logdrake has two features not implemented in ksystemlog: mail alerts and logs of Mandriva-specific tools
Open a console as administrator	drakconsole	drakconf	Applications -> "Root Terminal" In Gnome: Applications -> Tools -> Root Terminal Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Manage users on system	userdrake, adduserdrake	userdrake, drakxtools	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012 kuser - doesn't satisfy all our need atm Gnome Control Center -> Users and Groups
Import Windows(TM) documents and settings	transfugdrake	transfugdrake
Backups	drakbackup	drakbackup	backuppc?	the package is not installed by default Probably desktop users will be satisfied with BackInTime or analogues, more powerful tools are in the scope of the Server distribution. so perhaps it is enough to have backuppc in contrib for those users who really want to have powerful backup program
Snapshots	draksnapshot-config	draksnapshot	BackInTime; luckybackup; fwbackups
Virtualization	drakvirt	drakvirt		the package is not installed by default
Network Sharing
Configure Windows(R) shares
Access Windows (SMB) shared drives and directories	diskdrake --smb	drakxtools	Dolphin (Network -> Samba Shares) Nautilus -> Network
Share drives and directories with Windows (SMB) systems	draksambashare	drakx-net	Dolphin (Right click on folder name -> Properties -> Share) Nautilus (Right click on folder name -> Share Folder)	Should we configure the system to enable file sharing for users by default? (currently one should enable samba sharing for users in the KDE control center)
Configure NFS shares
Access NFS shared drives and directories	diskdrake --nfs	drakxtools
Share drives and directories using NFS	draknfs	drakx-net	In Gnome: Gnome Control Center -> NFS
Configure WebDAV shares
Access WebDAV shared drives and directories	diskdrake --dav	drakxtools	Dolphin (Network -> Add Network Folder) Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Local disks
Local disks
Manage disk partitions	diskdrake --hd	drakxtools	? gparted KDE Partition Manager qtparted	gparted supports LVM in 'read-only' mode. gparted launched in ROSA displays a strange (very small) unallocated space at the end of every disk. KDE Partition Manager looks nice, though it has received no activity since 2010. qtparted is currently developed by bero
Configure CDROM mount options	diskdrake --removable	drakxtools	KDE System Settings -> "Removable Devices"
Share your hard disk partitions	diskdrake --fileshare	drakxtools	This item is obsolete. In ROSA, users can just share their folders using Dolphin (or Nautilus in Gnome). Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS
Security
Security
Configure system security, permissions and audit	msecgui	msec-gui	leave	standalone tool written in Python; the package is not installed by default
Configure TOMOYO Linux policy	tomoyo-gui	tomoyo-gui	leave	standalone tool written in Python; the package is not installed by default
Set up your personal firewall	drakfirewall	drakx-net
Configure authentication for Mandriva tools	draksec	drakxtools	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012	!!! Probably we will have to rework this one if we replace some MDV tools
Advanced setup for network interfaces and firewall	drakinvictus	drakx-net
Parental Controls	drakguard	drakguard	Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012
Boot
Configure boot steps
Set up boot system	drakboot --boot	drakxtools	GRUB2 Editor Grub Customizer Dropped ROSA Desktop 2012
Set up display manager	drakedm	drakxtools	Dropped in ROSA 2012 LTS there is no need in this for many users; experienced ones can just change DM value in the /etc/sysconfig/desktop file

Unused Sections

The following tools are mentioned in Control_Center.pm, but it seems that they are absent in modern repos and we should not bother about them:

• "Manage park" => park-rpmdrake
• "Programs scheduling" => drakcronat
• "Remote Control" => rfbdrake

Drakbug

drakxtools also provide the 'drakbug' tool which is invoked when some drak* program is crashed. Users do report bugs using this tool in MDV bugzilla, it would be nice for us to have a replacement.

Drakdvb

One more standalone tool provided by drakxtools is drakdvb which currently lacks icon in the Control Center.

Moved to KDE CC in ROSA Desktop 2012.

Packages

Drakxtools is not the only package with MDV-specific configuration tools and accompanying scripts. The complete list of packages looks like the following:

SRPM	RPMs
drakbackup	drakbackup
drakconf	drakconf drakconf-icons
drakfax	drakfax
drakguard	drakguard
drakmenustyle	drakmenustyle
draksnapshot	draksnapshot
drakstats	drakstats
drakvirt	drakvirt
drakx-kbd-mouse-x11	drakx-kbd-mouse-x11
drakx-net	drakx-net drakx-net-text drakx-net-applet libdrakx-net
drakxtools	drakxtools drakxtools-backend drakxtools-curses drakxtools-http drakx-finish-install harddrake harddrake-ui
mdkonline	mdkonline
rpmdrake	rpmdrake
transfugdrake	transfugdrake
userdrake	userdrake

There are also several standalone non-Perl packages (see the table above), they are not mention in this list.

Dependent Packages

The following packages depend on the ones listed above:

RPM	SRPM	Description	Comments
a320raid	a320raid	a320raid pcitable entries for Adaptec HostRAID support	Dependency on drakxtools seems to be superfluous and can be safely dropped. Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2007
adp94xx	adp94xx	adp94xx pcitable entries for Adaptec HostRAID support	Dependency on drakxtools seems to be superfluous and can be safely dropped. Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2007
adpahci	adpahci	adpahci pcitable entries for Adaptec HostRAID support	Dependency on drakxtools seems to be superfluous and can be safely dropped. Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2007
bcd	bcd	Tool to build Mandriva ISO	??? Drop, ABF possibilities to build ISO images are enough for us?
bootloader-utils	bootloader-utils	Utilities needed to install/remove a kernel. Also for updating bootloaders	Used by kernel, dracut, pm-tools. We'll have to rewrite this in any case when switching to Grub2
drak3d	drak3d	3D desktop effects tools	??? Drop and use KDE System Settings instead Required by harddrake
drakbt	drakbt	The Mandriva Linux Bittorrent link and status checker	Drop. Current implementation is highly bounded to MDV infrastructure (Mandriva Club & co.).
drakcluster	drakcluster	Graphic interface to admin and setup the server cluster
drakcowsay	drakcowsay	Graphical interface for cowsay
drakfirsttime	drakfirsttime	The Mandriva Linux First Time Wizard	??? Should go away if we develop a new installer. It is hard to get rid of drakxtools in the current installer, we can't use KDE tools there
draklive-install	draklive-install	Live installer
drakoo	drakoo	This wizard is run on first run of OpenOffice.org and enables to select the default file format (either native OpenOffice.org one or Microsoft(R) Office)	Drop. The way suggested in the drakoo (set DOC_DEFAULTS* variables in ~/.oofficerc) doesn't seem to work with LibreOffice. It is easier for users to choose default format in the LibreOffice itself (Tools - Options - Load/Save - General - Default file format and ODF settings).
drakpxelinux	drakpxelinux	Quick configuration of PXE menu parameters
draktermserv	draktermserv	Terminal server configurator	Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2009.0 Required by terminal-server2 ("Terminal Server - Unionfs version") which was also not rebuilt after 2009.
drakwizard	drakwizard	drakwizard allows you to launch : - server wizard: configures basic services. - global wizard: wizard that launch each other. - dhcpd, dns, ftp, apache, time wizards, ssh.
gdm	gdm	The GNOME Display Manager	Requires drakx-kbd-mouse-x11 to ensure XFdrake is always installed. Can we just drop this dependency if we drop XFdrake itself?
gdm-220	gdm-220	The GNOME Display Manager	Why do we need both gdm-2.20 and gdm-2.32? According to Mattew, gdm-2.32 has some troubles with GNOME3, while gdm-220 works fine.
grub2	grub2	GNU GRUB is a Multiboot boot loader	Grub2 itself doesn't require draktools, but its current postinstall and preuninstall scripts invoke /usr/sbin/bootloader-config from drakxtools-backend This dependency will be dropped once we use grub2 as the only supported bootloader. Fixed in grub2 in ROSA - dependency is no longer needed and has been dropped.
hsfmodem	hsfmodem	Conexant HSF controllerless modem driver for Linux	Dependency on drakxtools seems to be superfluous and can be safely dropped. Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2010.1
hwdb-clients	hwdb-clients	Hardware database clients	Mandriva-specific package
ipw3945d	ipw3945d	Regulatory daemon for the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 (IPW3945ABG) Wifi adapter	Dependency on drakxtools seems to be superfluous and can be safely dropped. Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2009.0
ipw3945-ucode	ipw3945-ucode	Firmware for the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 (IPW3945ABG) Wifi adapter	Dependency on drakxtools seems to be superfluous and can be safely dropped. Last time the package was rebuilt for MDV 2009.0
memtest86+	memtest86+	A stand alone memory test for i386 architecture systems	The package itself doesn't require draktools, but its current postinstall and preuninstall scripts invoke /usr/sbin/bootloader-config from drakxtools-backend
mklivecd	mklivecd	Builds a LiveCD from an existing Mandriva Linux installation
mountloop	mountloop	Allow users to mount files (in particular, encrypted filesystems) via loopback	drakxtools are used by drakloop - a graphical frontend for mountloop
nautilus-filesharing	nautilus-filesharing	Filesharing extension for Nautilus	Drop. This is a Mandriva-specific Nautilus wrapper which invokes "diskdrake --fileshare" and accompanying scripts from drakxtools. However, Nautilus is able to share folders using Samba by itself.
old_rpmdrake	old_rpmdrake	Mandriva Linux graphical front end for sofware installation/removal	Drop. Was used to compare behavior of new rpmdrake with the old one.
suspend	suspend	Userland tools for suspend-to-disk and suspend-to-RAM	The package itself doesn't require draktools, but its postinstall script invokes /usr/sbin/bootloader-config from drakxtools-backend
task-ede	task-ede	Metapackage for EDE (Equinox desktop environment)	??? Drop, doesn't seem to work in either case.