!!! Warning: Read this through to the end. These tools can be dangerous. !!!

Guidance 0.4.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by Simon Edwards <simon@simonzone.com> & Sebastian Kgler <sebas@vizzzion.org>

Introduction
------------
Guidance is a collection of system administration tools for Linux/KDE systems
that is designed to be:

  * Update to date
  * High quality, designed with user friendliness as high priority. (That is
    to say that the tools should get the job done quickly, accurately and with
    as little effort as possible.)
  * Use KDE and "fit in" with KDE.
  * Maintainable. 
  * Free Software

  
Warning
-------
These tools often require root access and modify important system files in
order to do their job. There is a very real chance that these tools can
destroy your computer and your data. Backup your data! Also especially
backup up /etc/passwd, /etc/shadow and /etc/fstab. If you don't know what
I'm talking about now then you probably shouldn't try using Guidance yet.
You should have some idea how to fix 

I accept no responsibility in the event that something goes terribly wrong.
You have been warned.


Status
------
The tools that make up Guidance are in different stages of development and
have only been tested on Mandrake.

* userconfig - Mostly feature complete. Only supports /etc/passwd and
  /etc/shadow right now. LDAP may be added later.
  
* serviceconfig - Feature complete. But probably only works on Mandrake, Debian,
  Gentoo and maybe Red Hat out of the box.

* mountconfig - Almost feature complete. Should work ok on most distributions
  although it may not recognise some of the more rare filesystem types.
  (Let me know which filesystems it doesn't recognise!)

* displayconfig - Also feature complete except for multi-head support. Only
  works on Mandriva and Debian right now.


  
Requirements
------------
* Linux.

* Python. 2.3 or 2.4 recommended. Hasn't been tested on Python 2.2 but it
  might work. You probably already have Python installed, and if not then it
  will most definately be available for you distribution of choice.

* PyQt / PyKDE. Version 3.7 or higher. PyQt and PyKDE are distributed with
  KDE as part of kde-bindings since version 3.3. 
  
  For versions of KDE before 3.3 it is possible to install PyQt/PyKDE
  directly. The homepage for PyQt and PyKDE is:

    http://www.riverbankcomputing.co.uk/pykde/index.php
    
  Packages for most popular distributions are available here:
  
    http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=61057

* KDE 3.

* "PyKDE Extensions" is needed for installation. It is available here:
  http://www.simonzone.com/software/pykdeextensions/

Installation
------------
As root run:

  ./setup.py install

This will test for a working installation of PyQt/PyKDE and automatically
install the files using the same installation prefix as KDE. You will need
to have a working Python install before you can even run the setup.py script.


Running
-------
Installation should add a couple of entries to the KDE Control Center in the
System section (displayconfig will show up in Peripherals). It is also possible 
to run the commands outside of the KDE Control Center from the shell as root:

  * serviceconfig
  * userconfig
  * mountconfig
  * displayconfig

  
Reporting Bugs
--------------
Bug reports and feedback can be sent to simon@simonzone.com . Do make sure
that say which version of Guidance you are using and also what Linux
distribution you are using, and also how you installed SIP, PyQt, PyKDE. Also
if any error messages are printing to the console, email those too. By
running these tools from the command line you can often get useful (to me)
debug information. That kind of information is valuable.


Deinstallation
--------------
As root run:

  ./setup.py uninstall

  
Thanks go to
------------
Jim Bublitz
David Boddie
Sebastian Kgler
Theo Houtman
Pete Andrews (gamma correction system)
  

-- 
Simon Edwards 
<simon@simonzone.com>
