I have two installations of Debian on the same machine, one Etch and one Sid.

On the Etch install, the Wordbiz game (java based) has no problem connecting to the game server. On the Sid install, it fires up but never connects.

I have determined it is the firewall by disabling it for a test on Sid and it connects fine. I configure my firewall on both with Guarddog and looking there, I didn't note any differences in protocols allowed.

I was wondering if there was a utility that I could compare the two iptables files with and identify the difference? Could someone point me to the correct iptable file(s) to compare?

I am behind a router that doesn't allow forwarding and has a strong password so I suppose it isn't a biggie to drop the firewall for just playing the game but I don't feel right about that.

You need the diff command. Copy the iptables rules from both distro's to a separate folder and read the man page for diff. Redirect the output to a separate file for easy reading The command should look like

OK, Dutch, thank you for helping!!! but I am a little lost (I did man diff and I think I can handle that) but the iptables file I can't find?

My Googling told me to look for /etc/sysconfig/iptables or iptables config.

well on the Sid install I do have sysconfig but no iptables

My etch install I don't even have /etc/sysconfig

your assistance is really appreciated, rilly

Hmmm.... There is no file of all rules for iptables. Well, make your own:As I don't have any iptables rules I can't test this, but it should work. Execute as root, then change ownership and/or permissions of the file in such a way that a regular user can access it (run diff as normal user) Also, read the iptables man-page on it's options.

# iptables -Ln >> iptables_etch/sid.txt

returns

bash: iptables_etch/sid.txt: No such file or directory

I think I am stuck

First: name the resulting file either iptables_etch.txt or iptables_sid.txt according to the distro you're running it on. Did you check if the iptables command is present? Just iptables -L should give you output (on screen) It lists all rules present for iptables. If it doesn't, iptables isn't present (although I doubt that'll be the case as it's a dependency for Guarddog) or not (properly) configured.

If iptables -L does produce output, retry my original command but omit the n option. (thus only the -L option)