As usual there are many methods of installing Tripwire depending on the distribution and source of your package. But here in this article we will deal only with the *.tar.gz s and the RPMs. You could always obtain the latest version of Tripwire (2.3) from www.tripwire.org. At the site you would find the latest version for download in the form of a tarred and gzipped file ( tripwire-*.tar.gz).

Using Tarred and gzipped files ( *.tar.gz )

Copy the file to a location of your choice and unpack the tarred file using the following command.

bash# tar -xvzf tripwire-*.tar.gz

Having untarred the package, go through the complete INSTALL files and README.* files so as to make sure that there aren't any incompatibility issues with your system. Before installing any of the binaries you should go through the file ninstall.cfg . This file contains the configuration information for your install and tweaks it if necessary. Tripwire' s download package is made to run out of the box for a Red Hat machine. If you using a distribution apart from Red Hat, don t worry, things should work out fine if you are planning on running things just out of the box. Just run the script:

bash# ./install.sh

This should begin the installation process for you. These are a few points to be noted. At the start of the installation process, the installer will open a GNU GPL license in the VI text editor. Therefore, for whose of you who would prefer otherwise forget it unless you want to tweak the install.cfg script. When the GNU GPL has been displayed, you have to follow these steps.

1.It will ask you to hit "Enter to view the License Agreement. Do it.

2.Having viewed the License agreement hit, :q in succession. This should exit you from the VI text editor and get you to a prompt asking you to key in accept or do not accept. Thus make your decision and continue. Rest of the install of just a piece of cake. But one point to be remembered is, Tripwire will ask you for a PASSPHRASE which it will make use of in encryption of the file system snapshot that it will generate on your machine. Make sure to enter at least an 8-character passphrase consisting of both numbers and alphabets. This is just to make things difficult for the wannabe cracker. Thus, the script walks you through the processes of installation, setting passphrases and signing the Tripwire policy and configuration files.