Re: how to find out what install of linux is running?

From: Jean-David Beyer (jdbeyer_at_exit109.com)
Date: 07/31/04 

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 21:38:17 -0400

Juhan Leemet wrote:
> On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 11:53:58 +0100, Alex Hunsley wrote:
>
>>Davide Bianchi wrote:
>>
>>>The question is... why you need?
>>
>>Often I see pages on the net saying things like "how to install X on
>>redhat7.0", or the same for redhat8.0 etc. There's a machine at work and people
>>aren't sure what version of redhat is on it so it would help to know!
>
>
> If the machine is being badly admin'ed (you haven't kept track of what is
> installed and running) you could have anything in there. It could even be
> "cracked" with all kinds of trojans or bad stuff waiting to pop out.
>
> Who's in charge of the machine? Go kick their ***!
>
> If you've inherited it, and you don't know what's in there. The best
> solution might be to reinstall everything to clean it up. Backup first,
> of course.

It may be too late for that. The files that make it to the backup tape may
already be corrupted by trojans, viri, and other delights of crackers. So
by all means do the backup, but be very careful just what you restore.
Depending on the politics and economics of the situation, the best bet may
be to not restore anything, since you cannot know its provenance as the
art dealers would say. 

-- 
   .~.  Jean-David Beyer           Registered Linux User 85642.
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