sherpa v0.1.4 - a system security configuration tool
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PREREQUISITES

In order to install and use this package you will need Perl version 5.004
or later. sherpa uses the File module that comes with the above version
of Perl. If you don't have it, it is available on CPAN. While you might
be able to get sherpa to work with earlier versions of Perl, there is
no guarantee that it will work nor can I support these earlier versions.


INSTALLATION

1) Extract the archive file (sherpa-<ver>.tar.gz) into a directory
   where sherpa will live. A good place might be /usr/local/sherpa
   (default location). Set permissions on this directory to 750, with
   root being both the UID and GID for the archive file contents.

   NOTE: You should run sherpa as superuser since it can make
   changes to system files in terms of permissions and ownership.
   If you set the permissions to 750, then the average user will
   not be able to access sherpa (which is probably what you
   want).

2) Read through the README file. Read through the enclosed copy
   of the AUSCERT Unix security checklist. Many of it's suggestions
   are incorporated in sherpa where appropriate.

3) Edit the perms.lst file based on your local needs. Included
   are sample files for RedHat 5.x/6.x and SuSE 6.0 installs. 

4) Edit find.lst based on your local needs. Only first-level
   directory entries are possible (this will likely change in
   future versions).

5) Edit sherpa.pl for local information needs. All configurable
   options are found in sherpa.pl near the beginning of the
   script and are demarcated accordingly.

6) Run sherpa.pl as root. By default, sherpa will use a verbose
   mode for results of its running. You can always turn this off
   if you like (-V commandline option). You must specify at least
   one of the three system checks (-s, -c, or -p); otherwise,
   sherpa will exit with an error message.

7) Examine sherpa's output file to see if you need to change any
   options and to see how the first run was completed. 

8) If you would like sherpa to automatically enforce the permissions
   as outlined in your perms.lst template, run sherpa with the
   -f option on the commandline.

NOTE: Once you have sherpa running the way you like, feel free
to add it as a cron job for periodic system scanning. Depending upon
your site needs, sherpa can be cron-ed to run as often you like.