Date: October 2, 2012

Introduction

There are some things I always do after every Fedora install. Or maybe I should say things I forget to do, and later trip over and end up doing. May as well make a list, could be that others will find it useful.

Get rid of Gnome 3

This sucks in the worst way. Happily you can customize packages, select xfce, deselect xfce, and be happy. This is by far the best route. If you mistakenly install gnome, you might be better off reinstalling.

Get rid of selinux

This always is getting in the way, and nobody has convinced me that it is useful in any way. Edit the file /etc/selinux/config and change the setting for SELINUX from enforcing to disabled. This won't take effect until you reboot.

Get rid of rhgb

Rather than seeing some cute graphic, I would much rather see the parade of services being started, with happy green OK next to them. Most importantly I really want to see the red FAILED, when something doesn't start up. If I do see something red scroll by, I can go back later and see what isn't starting up properly.

With grub2, the thing to do is to edit the file /etc/default/grub and find the word "rhgb" in the boot line -- and remove it! Then type: 

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

Get rid of NetworkManager

You probably don't want to get rid of this if you are using some portable device that uses wireless, but on any other system, your are far better off getting rid of this stupid thing. Start by doing this: 
yum erase NetworkManager
I find that after doing this, when I reboot I will have lost my network setup, to fix (or avoid this), do the following:
  1. Edit /etc/sysconfig/network and add a GATEWAY entry.
  2. Edit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 and change the line that says "NM-managed" from yes to no (or some such). While there, verify the rest of the settings.
  3. Issue the command chkconfig network on, or whatever the moral equivalent is these days.
  4. Take a look at /etc/resolv.conf and make sure it is sane.
One reason NetworkManager needs to go, is that it has a bad habit of overwriting /etc/resolv.conf -- if you edit this, you may be well served to keep a copy /etc/resolv.conf_BAK or some such, in case NetworkManager somehow gets reinstalled and mangles the file. Another reason is that there is something called modem-manager that is for some brain-dead reason hopelessly tangled up with NetworkManager and will compete with you for use of serial ports (and various USB devices). There seems to be no partial solution to get rid of just this, you have to pitch NetworkManager (which doesn't cause me to loose any sleep).

Once this is done, reboot and ensure you still have a valid network setup so you don't get surprised at some later date if you don't catch everything.

Install yum-cron

I find this to be the right way to live. This will check each day for package updates and install them automatically.
Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org