Editing Webmin

{{Short description|Web-based control panel for Unix-like systems}}
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{{Infobox software
| name                 = Webmin
| logo                 = Webmin_Logo.svg
| logo size            = 50x50
| caption              = Webmin 2.010 with Authentic Theme 20.10
| developer            = Jamie Cameron<br>Ilia Rostovtsev and the Webmin community<ref name="intro">{{cite web |url=http://www.webmin.com/intro.html | title = Introduction to Webmin | work = Webmin | access-date = 11 February 2007}}</ref>
| released             = October 5, 1997 (version 0.1)
| programming language = [[Perl]]
| operating system     = [[Linux]] ([[Red Hat Enterprise Linux|RHEL]], [[Fedora Linux|Fedora]], [[CentOS]], [[AlmaLinux]], [[Rocky Linux]], [[Oracle Linux]], [[Debian]], [[Ubuntu]]), [[FreeBSD]], [[OpenSUSE]] and other [[Unix-like]] operating systems<ref>{{cite web |url=http://webmin.com/download.html | title = Webmin Installation | work = Webmin | date = 2 October 2017 | access-date = 7 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://doxfer.webmin.com/Webmin/Installation | title = Installation - Webmin Documenation | work = webmin }}</ref>
| language             = English, and other 41 languages<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.webmin.com/lang.html | title = Supported Languages | work = Webmin| date = 2 October 2017 }}</ref>
| genre                = [[Control panel (Web hosting)|Control panel]]
| license              = [[BSD license|BSD 3-clause "New" or "Revised" License]]
| website              = {{URL|http://www.webmin.com/}}
}}

[[File:Webmin 2.010 - Dashboard.png|thumb| ]] [[File:Webmin 2.010 - Terminal.png|thumb| ]] [[File:Webmin 2.010 - File Manager.png|thumb| ]] [[File:Webmin 2.010 - BIND Config Editor.png|thumb| ]]

'''Webmin''' is a web-based server management control panel for [[Unix-like]] systems. Webmin allows the user to configure operating system internals, such as users, disk quotas, services and configuration files, as well as modify and control [[open-source software|open-source apps]], such as [[BIND]], [[Apache HTTP Server]], [[PHP]], and [[MySQL]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Federico Kereki |url=http://www.linuxjournal.com/magazine/graphic-administration-webmin |title=Graphic Administration with Webmin |publisher=Linux Journal |date=2008-04-01 |access-date=2014-04-08}}</ref><ref name="lj-11309">{{cite web |author=[[Shawn Powers]] |url=http://porky.linuxjournal.com:8080/LJ/219/11309.html |title=Webmin—the Sysadmin Gateway Drug |work=The Open-Source Classroom |publisher=Porky.linuxjournal.com |date=July 2012 |access-date=2014-04-08 |archive-date=2014-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408225733/http://porky.linuxjournal.com:8080/LJ/219/11309.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== History ==
Webmin, developed by Jamie Cameron, was first released as version 0.1 in October 1997. It was initially created while Cameron was administering a DNS server and needed a user-friendly interface that would allow users to modify DNS records without granting them root access to the server.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Introduction - Webmin Documentation |url=http://doxfer.webmin.com/Webmin/Introduction |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=doxfer.webmin.com}}</ref> Over time, various themes, a dashboard that displays CPU, RAM, and disk space usage with visual gauges, and a sidebar with a search function were also added.<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2021-12-02 |title=What is Webmin and Why Use it? |url=https://www.inmotionhosting.com/blog/what-is-webmin/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=InMotion Hosting Blog |language=en-US|last1= Contributor|first1= Inmotion Hosting}}</ref>

Financial support for the Webmin project came from the Linux distribution companies Caldera and MSC Linux, as well as many user contributions of code patches, hundreds of modules, language translations, and user suggestions.<ref name=":0" />

In 2019, a backdoor was discovered which would allow a remote attacker to execute malicious commands with root privileges on the machine running Webmin. This backdoor exploit was present on versions 1.882-1.921, when a network admin would enable the password expiration policy. Developers of Webmin believed that the backdoor being introduced was the result of a malicious injection to the code via the online source code repository [[SourceForge]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Backdoor found in Webmin, a popular web-based utility for managing Unix servers |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/backdoor-found-in-webmin-a-popular-web-based-utility-for-managing-unix-servers/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=ZDNET |language=en}}</ref>

Since its release, the Webmin user interface, its appearance, and its many features have changed dramatically using code that has been completely rewritten over the subsequent versions.This includes the overhaul brought by Webmin 2.0, which enforced strict [[HTTP Strict Transport Security]] policy for SSL, and gave options to users upgrading from older versions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Webmin 2.0 Released For Open-Source Web-Based Server Management/Administration |url=https://www.phoronix.com/news/Webmin-2.0-Released |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=www.phoronix.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kocher |first=Laveesh |date=2022-08-24 |title=Webmin 2.0 Is Now Available For Open Source Web-Based Server |url=https://www.opensourceforu.com/2022/08/webmin-2-0-is-now-available-for-open-source-web-based-server-administration/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=Open Source For You |language=en-US}}</ref>

== General description ==
Webmin is largely based on [[Perl]], running as its own process and [[web server]]. It defaults to [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]] port 10000 for communicating, and can be configured to use [[Secure Sockets Layer|SSL]] if [[OpenSSL]] is installed with additional required [[Perl]] modules. Webmin is built around over 110 standard [[module (programming)|modules]], which have an [[Interface (computer science)|interface]] to the [[configuration file]]s and the Webmin server, which makes it simple to add new functionality. Due to Webmin's modular design, it is possible for anyone who is interested to write plugins for [[Desktop computer|desktop]] configuration. Webmin allows for controlling many machines through a single interface, or seamless login on other Webmin hosts on the same subnet or [[Local area network|LAN]].

Webmin is released under the [[BSD license]].

If a plugin for certain tasks is not available, it is possible to open a [[Computer terminal|terminal]] and perform various task through a [[command line interface]] (CLI). This is especially useful if using [[SSH]] (or similar) is not an option.

== Inclusion in distributions ==
While Webmin was included in the official repositories of some [[Linux distribution]]s ([[Debian]] and [[Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]]), it was removed from those because Webmin was not compatible with the way that the distributions' packages handled configuration files and caused unexpected issues with systems.<ref>[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WebMin Ubuntu documentation] Webmin</ref>

== Related software ==
Webmin can be expanded by installing modules,<ref name="lj-11309" /> which can be custom made. Aside from this, there are two other major projects that extend the functionality of Webmin:

# [[Usermin]] presents and controls a subset of the features available in Webmin, such as webmail and other user-level tasks, rather than administrator-level tasks.
# [[Virtualmin]], which is a web hosting control panel. Virtualmin enables users to host websites under domains, and gives the server admin and the end user a simple interface for managing their websites.

Webmin released [[Minecraft]] Server Module 1.0 in January 2013, and version 1.1 in March 2013. The module presents a very basic GUI for server administration. The Webmin Minecraft server is free and open source with no limitations on simultaneous players.

== See also ==
* [[Virtualmin]]
* [[Usermin]]
* [[YaST]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.webmin.com/}}
* [http://doxfer.webmin.com/ Webmin documentation wiki]

{{WebManTools}}
{{Perl}}

[[Category:Free software programmed in Perl]]
[[Category:Software using the BSD license]]
[[Category:Unix configuration utilities]]
[[Category:Web server management software]]