Control panel: Activate configuration

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## 1. Activate configuration

Changing the configuration of your computer is a two steps process. You must first enter the parameters of the new configuration and then perform whatever is needed to make those configurations effective. On many operating systems, this is generally done by rebooting the system.

## 1.1 Principles

Linuxconf lets you probe your computer and compare step by step the current configuration (how your computer is performing now) and the intended configuration. This implies, for example, the following operations:

- Read some kernel state and compare it with the new configuration. Information compared includes
  - network interface status
  - routing table
  - firewall rules
  - rarp table
  - availability of a given device driver
- Read the start up time for a given daemon and compare it with the associated configuration file modification time.

The Activate configuration menu produces a small report showing exactly what has to be done to make the new configuration operational. At this point you will be allowed to either let Linuxconf implement the change or do nothing.

If you decide against activating the configuration, all is not lost. You can select this menu again and Linuxconf will report the same results, even if you have quit Linuxconf in the mean time.

## 1.2 Implicit "activate configuration"

Each time you quit Linuxconf, it triggers the same process as this menu item and lets you accept the changes (make the new configuration operational) or not.

This "activate configuration" menu will be used infrequently with the interactive mode of Linuxconf. It is essential with the html mode where there is no such a thing as quitting Linuxconf: Each html page is in itself a small Linuxconf's session.

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