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ON TEST SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT
WhatifLinux Personal Edition
LICENSED TO
MANAGE
JULIAN MOSS
WhatifLinux is a web-based software management system for computers
that run Linux. It will tell you if there are newer versions of packages to be
installed, let you see the dependencies and assess the effect of
uninstalling a package, and will alert you to important issues  such as
security matters  affecting the packages you use. The recently launched
Personal Edition is designed for users of standalone computers. We took a
look at it.
WhatifLinux consists of a Java-based agent that information it provides may not be accurate.
Info
runs on your computer and communicates with Installation is fairly straightforward, but with a
WhatifLinux Personal the server at whatiflinux.com. The agents use the couple of obstacles that would probably defeat
Edition information contained in your system s RPM inexperienced users. From the web site you
http://www.whatiflinux.com/ database, in conjunction with the WhatifLinux download a small install script which you must then
Cost: $49 Knowledge Base, to determine what updates or run from a console window. This downloads the
30-day free trial available alerts are of interest to you. Therefore, agent software and runs InstallAnywhere to set up
prerequisites to using the service are that you run WhatifLinux on your system. You must also register
an RPM package-managed distribution and have a with WhatifLinux, supplying an email address,
Java run-time environment 1.2.2 or later installed. password and a few other details.
If you are prone to update the software on your Registration failed in our case because the user
system by other means than installing a we used to run the installation did not have write
precompiled binary RPM package, WhatifLinux access to a Java security file. A suggested script
Installation is performed by running
won t know what has happened and the modification didn t work either, perhaps because
a script from a console window
the instructions as to how to modify it weren t clear
enough. In the end we chose the alternative
workaround, which was to complete this part of the
process with root privileges. Some people may be
uncomfortable with the idea of allowing a remote
system full access to the details of their system while
running as root.
Once installation has been completed you must
edit a script and also the crontab file, to ensure that
the Whatif Agent is running. Inexperienced users
may find this a bit difficult, and there is a risk of
them messing up an important system file. Of
course, you can simply start the agent manually
when needed and stop it when finished. This is
probably a good idea if you use a dial-up Internet
connection as we found that connections were
regularly opened whilst the agent was running.
Once an agent is running you can log on at
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SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT ON TEST
www.whatiflinux.com using your email address and
password and start the WhatifLinux Console. The
server connects to the agent and displays an
alphabetically indexed list of all the RPM packages
installed on your system. After selecting a package
from the list you can view details about it, including
a full list of the package contents, dependencies,
known conflicts and any alerts. You can also see if
there would be any undesirable effects if you
uninstalled the package and find out if there are any
newer versions of it.
In our tests the list of newer packages seemed
not always to be accurate. For example, all the
newer versions of wine listed appeared older than
the one we had installed. Version 0.60 of the mail
client Mahogany was shown as available although
we could find no trace of its release at the time of
testing either by using rpmfind or by looking on the
developers web site.
If you select one of the newer versions of a
package listed by WhatifLinux you can view the
possible conflicts and unsatisfied dependencies that
might arise if you installed it. What you can t do,
unfortunately, is actually install it. This option is
apparently available in the Workgroup Edition,
which also claims to let you update packages
simultaneously on many computers across a
network. We consider it surprising that this facility
has been omitted from the Personal Edition as it is
probably the most useful feature for the ordinary
user and would be a significant incentive to
subscribe to the service.
The ability to be alerted of security problems,
updates, patches and other important issues
affecting the software you are running is another
benefit that will be especially useful for
administrators of web servers and other business
critical systems. The information provided online is
detailed, giving an explanation of the problem as
well as a recommended fix. Links are also provided
if you want more information. You don t have to
keep checking the WhatifLinux web site to get this
information in a timely fashion as you can have it
emailed directly to you as soon as it happens.
However, there s a price to pay. WhatifLinux
Personal Edition costs $49 a year and the question
most people will be asking is: is it worth it? After all,
a package manager such as rpm or one of its
graphical equivalents will let you install and uninstall
packages and help you avoid dependency problems
and conflicts. WhatifLinux goes further than this. It
will keep you updated with the latest information [top]
The Console displays a list of
related to the packages you use and let you check service. It would have more value for newbies  but
packages newer than the one
for possible conflicts and dependency problems to be accessible to them the installation procedure
installed on your system  but you
can t initiate an update!
associated with updates before you even download should be fully automatic and more bullet proof. If
them. It can also do this for new packages you you need to be running as root in order to install the
[below]
Alerts concerning security and
haven t installed, as long as they are in the software, the installer should say so. We also think
other important issues can also be
WhatifLinux Knowledge Base. that the facility to install packages using the system
sent to you
Most Linux users are technically self-reliant and should be part of the Personal Edition. Without this,
are used to getting things for free, so we can t see it isn t likely to be of sufficient use to most personal
too many personal users wanting to pay for this Linux users.
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