Trouble-Maker

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Running trouble-maker

Common use

The default mode for trouble-maker is easy to use. Simply run trouble-maker with the version flag. For example, on RedHat Enterprise Linux 3, run /usr/local/trouble-maker/bin/trouble-maker.pl --version=RHEL3 . This will randomly select a trouble from the kitbag and apply it to your system. The following versions exist:

• RHEL_3 - Covers Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and associated clones
• Fedora_2 - Covers Fedora Core 2
• SUSE_9 - Covers Novell SUSE 9
• FreeBSD_5 - Covers FreeBSD 5.x (currently untested)
• FreeBSD_4 - Covers FreeBSD 4.x (currently untested)
• Slack_10 - Covers Slackware 10 (currently untested)

Once the system has run, it will display a message on the console as if the user were reporting the problem. At this point, you should reboot your system and attempt to solve the problem. If you get stuck, the /tmp/trouble-maker directory exists to help you out. The following files are used:

• /tmp/trouble-maker/backup/ - Contains any files that were backed up before the trouble packet was applied to your system. Not all modules will backup files.
• /tmp/trouble-maker/rescue/DESCRIPTION - Contains the error message displayed when the system was first run.
• /tmp/trouble-maker/rescue/DETAILS - Contains details about what was actually done to your system. Over-reliance on this file will hamper the learning process, try to figure it out yourself first.
• /tmp/trouble-maker/rescue/CHECK - Running this script will confirm whether or not you have fixed the problem. Not all modules will have a check script.
• /tmp/trouble-maker/rescue/TROUBLE-SCRIPT - This is the actual script that was run to apply the problem. Again, try not to rely on this file.

After running trouble-maker and solving the problem, be sure to remove /tmp/trouble-maker/ so that you may re-run trouble-maker later. This prevents trouble-maker from accidentally overwriting key backup files from an earlier problem. The burden is on the user to verify that a problem is actually solved before re-running trouble-maker.

Fancy options

The --selection switch allows you to select troubles in different ways. If it is not specified, or specified as random, it will randomly select a trouble module. conversely, you may specify a file name as the argument. If the file name matches a file in /usr/local/trouble-maker/kitbag, it will load that module. If the file name matches that of a YAML configuration file, it will take those arguments as an ordered list of problems to apply. As each problem is applied, it will be marked as inactive. This behavior can be used in training scenarios.

The --backupdir switch can be used to change the location of the backup directory. If it is not specified, it defaults to /tmp/trouble-maker/backup.

The --rescuedir switch can be used to change the location of the rescue directory. If it is not specified, it defaults to /tmp/trouble-maker/rescue.

The --kitbag switch can be used to change the location of the kitbag. If it is not specified, it defaults to /usr/local/trouble-maker/kitbag.

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