I am relatively new to Linux. I have SUSE Version 9.3 at home running on a Dell Dimension v400c, which used to run (or should I say crawl?) on Windows 98. I have used it for more than a year now and I really love it! (Look ma, no crashes!)

I am having trouble removing available services from the firewall using YaST. I can see the services list, which includes many services that I don't need. I can select a service from the list but when I click on the "Remove" button the selection simply moves to the top of the list. I am sure there is a way to remove those services manually, can anyone help me? Or is there some trick that I am missing in YaST?

I am also having trouble updating Firefox extensions under SUSE. It identifies the updates but it gets stuck in the downloading process.

I am not sure that these two problems are related but just in case...

Thanks for your help

Yes, you can edit the firewall config file manually. In fact, there are some options in there that are not available in the GUI yet (the firewall gui has grown over the versions that I have seen).

The file you are looking for is /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall. You will want to look at the FW_SERVICES_EXT_TCP and FW_SERVICES_EXT_TCP lines. Anything that you have added from the drop down list or through the advanced dialog will show up on these lines. I believe the 'SuSEfirewall2 start' command will unload old rules before loading new ones (essentially acting as a restart).

I am of course assuming that you are trying to remove the services from the box, and not from the drop down list.

As far as your problem with firefox, I don't know. It sounds weird. I'd try reloading firefox from YaST software management, and then make sure you have the latest version available by using YOU. You can, of course, install the latest firefox version into your users home directory, leaving the system firefox alone, or uninstalled.

PS. That last is assuming that you don't feel like messing up the package management. Firefox really isn't hard to install system wide either.

Thanks, I will try that. There seems to be something odd with my firewall, Firefox installation, or both.

I checked the /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 file and found these lines, which I assume have to do with the Samba server and the SSH server. No sign of the other services that appear in the YaST drop list. Is there a separate file from which YaST reads the available services?
FW_SERVICES_EXT_TCP="137:139 http microsoft-ds netbios-dgm netbios-ns netbios-ssn ssh"
FW_SERVICES_EXT_UDP="bootpc netbios-ns"
FW_SERVICES_EXT_RPC=""
FW_SERVICES_EXT_IP=""

Thanks