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Looking for Free Alternative to Ubuntu

I have been using Ubuntu and managed to get rid of the Unity desktop. However, I have now found that there are instances where files cannot be removed even by root. An example is /var/log/snort. This is unacceptable so I am looking for an OS that does not have this problem. I need an OS where root has full control over all files and directories. However, being of limited means I am looking for a free OS and would welcome recommendations.

Thanks,
Peter.

Hi,

I'm no great fan of Ubuntu, but I don't think the reasons you have stated for not using it are particularly valid. Are you interested in keeping Ubuntu if you could solve these perceived problems?

Evo2.

If snort is running you will not be able to delete the log file , it is being used .

Shut down snort first .

I would recommend opensuse or mint.

Snort is there to protect you, but if you don't like it, uninstall it.

But rather than have to replace Unity every time you get a new Ubuntu, wouldn't it be easier to get Mint? You get all of Ubuntu's software, any bugs in the installation disk are filtered out, and you get extra configuration tools.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMcCann (Post 4955866)

Snort is there to protect you, but if you don't like it, uninstall it.

And don't forget to restart the logger after you delete the log file. It won't start logging again until you do.

(Why do you want to delete the logfile anyway?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtagoHarbour (Post 4955374)

This is unacceptable so I am looking for an OS that does not have this problem. I need an OS where root has full control over all files and directories.

If you're just looking to get root in Ubuntu, that's easy:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtagoHarbour (Post 4955374)

I have been using Ubuntu and managed to get rid of the Unity desktop.

There's probably not much point in running 'buntu if you don't like the unity shell. Maybe switch to one of the KDE, Xfce or LXDE, spins or have a look for another distribution (plenty out there).

Why not go to the actual start of over 300 distros, including Ubuntu and Mint, and use Debian? If you are used to the Ubuntu (read Debian) system of working then use the original system and try Debian.

Linux Mint feels very similar to Ubuntu

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtagoHarbour (Post 4955374)

This is unacceptable so I am looking for an OS that does not have this problem.

If snort is in fact running on the host, then you would not be able to rm /var/log/snort until you shut down the snort daemon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OtagoHarbour (Post 4955374)

so I am looking for an OS that does not have this problem.

The problem is not the OS.

http://www.manpagez.com/man/8/snort/
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CommandLineResources

Quote:

Originally Posted by evo2 (Post 4955376)

There is a lot to be said for "better the devil you know". While I don't like Unity, it has been easy to get rid of. The root permissions problem is my overriding concern. Would it exist in any Linux distro.?

Thanks,
Peter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV (Post 4955378)

If snort is running you will not be able to delete the log file , it is being used .

Shut down snort first .

I restarted the computer and went into recovery mode. I still could not delete the files as root. I did find that

Code:

sudo chattr -i snort/*

enabled me to remove the contents of /var/log/snort although the i attribute did not appear to have been set.

However

Code:

sudo chattr -i snort

did not allow me to remove /var/log/snort itself.

Thanks,
Peter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H (Post 4955542)

I would recommend opensuse or mint.

I have used OpenSUSE and liked it a lot less than Ubuntu, even fatoring in Unity. I might look at Mint.

Thanks,
Peter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMcCann (Post 4955866)

Snort is there to protect you, but if you don't like it, uninstall it.

I had installed Snort but uninstalled it in order to install a later version. The installation did not complete, even using sudo, because of the files in /var/log/snort. I managed to remove the contents of /var/log/snort, as I described above, but not the directory itself. I was then able to run the installation of snort a bit further but I got error messages. Running

Code:

sudo apt-get install snort

resulted in

Code:

Reading package lists... Done

Building dependency tree      

Reading state information... Done

Suggested packages:

  snort-doc

The following NEW packages will be installed:

  snort

0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Need to get 0 B/473 kB of archives.

After this operation, 1,339 kB of additional disk space will be used.

Preconfiguring packages ...

(Reading database ... 402348 files and directories currently installed.)

Unpacking snort (from .../snort_2.8.5.2-9.1_i386.deb) ...

usermod: no changes

Processing triggers for man-db ...

Processing triggers for ureadahead ...

ureadahead will be reprofiled on next reboot

Setting up snort (2.8.5.2-9.1) ...

 * Stopping Network Intrusion Detection System  snort                                                            *  - No running snort instance found

 * Starting Network Intrusion Detection System  snort                                                    [fail] 

invoke-rc.d: initscript snort, action "start" failed.

dpkg: error processing snort (--configure):

 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already

                                                              Errors were encountered while processing:

 snort

E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Subsequently,

Code:

sudo snort -d -l ./log -c snort.conf

resulted in

Code:

ERROR: Unable to open rules file "snort.conf": No such file or directory.

Code:

sudo snort -d -l ./log -c /etc/snort/snort.conf

resulted in

Code:

ERROR: /etc/snort/snort.conf(45) Unknown rule type: ipvar.

Fatal Error, Quitting..

So it looked like the new version of snort was installed but the installation was incomplete.

Quote:

But rather than have to replace Unity every time you get a new Ubuntu, wouldn't it be easier to get Mint? You get all of Ubuntu's software, any bugs in the installation disk are filtered out, and you get extra configuration tools.

I have not updated to the newest Ubuntu (still use 11.10) because I am not optimistic that there will be any improvements.

Thanks,
Peter.