Linuxconf is distributed in a tar.gz format (binary distribution) which may be installed on almost any distribution. Distribution specific packages (RPM for one) are also available, see below.
The version 1.10r34 is known to be stable. Check here to get it here.
RedHat 5.1 users must use the 1.11 release from RedHat. Version 1.12 will be available shortly and will be the recommend version for all distributions, including RedHat 5.1. So for now, all distribution must use 1.10, except RedHat 5.1. A small FAQ was written to explain how linuxconf works on redhat 5.1 and what is the story with linuxconf 1.11. You will find it here .
To install the tar.gz package, just do (assuming you put the package in /tmp the 1.9r25-9 release)
cd / tar zxvf /tmp/linuxconf-1.9r25-9.bin-elf.tar.gz /install/doinst.sh
The install script is quite verbose and ask quite a few questions. Answering yes to all is the recommend practice. When installing from the source distribution, the "make install" command does the same thing and run the /install/doinst.sh script at the end.
Slackware users should read the "installation issues" at the end of this page. This is especially important for Slackware systems because most of the networking configuration is buried in rc.inet1 and rc.inet2. Linuxconf has no way to probe those files and the operation done in those files are sometime conflicting with linuxconf. So under linuxconf, those scripts are not executes anymore.
To install the RPM version, simply do (like any RPM)
rpm -i linuxconf-1.9r27.2-1.i386.rpm rpm -i linuxconf-gui-1.9r27.2-1.i386.rpm
To uninstall linuxconf, simply do (as any other RPM)
rpm -e linuxconf rpm -e linuxconf-gui
To upgrade to a new linuxconf release, simply do
rpm -U linuxconf-xxxxx.i386.rpm rpm -U linuxconf-gui-xxxxx.i386.rpm
Since linuxconf 1.9r25, linuxconf fully supports Sysv style startup scripts used by redhat (and other distribution as well). This let linuxconf seamlessly integrate in RedHat.
The RPM for redhat is now maintained by Jacques Gélinas. Production of the RPM is now a builtin feature of the standard linuxconf source. This means that since 1.9r26.17, linuxconf is always distributed as a tar.gz package and RPM, side by side.
linuxconf-1.10r7-1.i386.rpm
And for Red Hat 5, you have
linuxconf-1.10r7-1rh5.i386.rpm
Use the same command as with a RedHat system. Again, this is the same RPM file which works on both.
The tar.gz distribution is also Debian aware, but has not been tested as much on Debian.
This DEB package is getting older and older now.
Use the same command as with a RedHat system. Again, this is the same RPM file which works on both.
A quick note for SuSE users. YaST does not collaborate well with other administration system. To avoid conflict, you should edit the file /etc/rc.config and modify the line
ENABLE_SUSECONFIG=yes to ENABLE_SUSECONFIG=no
Unless you do that, YaST will happily overwrite many configuration changes you have done with linuxconf, making its usage pointless.
Linuxconf goes further than simple configuration. It is an activator. It fully controls the boot process, providing all kind of added value to it, including full logging, errors logging and operator bypass. You can even change the configuration of your system while it is booting...
Linuxconf supports the native boot strategy of the various distributions as much as possible, but it is possible that one custom service is not enabled after installing linuxconf. So installing linuxconf on a heavily customised linux system should be done carefully. When installing on such servers. the following steps should be done. This is important to avoid unpleasant surprise. Most glitches you may find are easily fix in a minute using linuxconf. If you don't pay attention, the glitches may be left unfixed for a long time.
Linuxconf does quite a lot of stuff. Take the time to read the first help screen, then browse in the various menus. You will find out that linuxconf covers much more than expected. You will find out that reconfiguring some service with linuxconf is much easier and nicer than doing it by hand.
When leaving linuxconf, it computes what should be done to bring the state of your computer current with the state of the configuration as seen by linuxconf. Use the preview option to see everything that linuxconf is about to do on your system.
The installation process is trying to extract as much information as possible from your current setup, but often this information is quite difficult/impossible to extract. See the list of things that may be worth checking.
You may choose not to activate those changes and get back in linuxconf to install the missing configuration features with linuxconf.
Check that all services are back online.
Linuxconf fully manage IP aliases. You may wish to reenter the IP aliases in linuxconf configuration screens.
Linuxconf won't manage firewalling rules that it does not set itself. So your rules manually installed won't be affect. Just make sure that the activation script is still executed successfully.
Like firewalling, linuxconf won't interact with routes that were installed using a different tool. Just make sure your special route are activated after the boot. Linuxconf provides a nice frontend to setup route. You may wish to use that instead of using a custom script.