Great, well done

iptables is next..
It can be a pain coz the package and the custom version can be separate, but you need to be sure the command line finds the correct version.
My box has /sbin/iptables = old version & /usr/sbin/iptables = new version
When I do which -a iptables I get
gate:~# which -a iptables
/usr/sbin/iptables
/sbin/iptables

The PATH variable decides which one I get first..
PATH = PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11

This can be changed for a user in their .profile file..
Depending on how you access iptables, via su- or sudo, you will have to change at least root user's .profile and any others who need access to iptables.
The system default PATH is in /etc/profile
However, it may be even better if you can uninstall iptables.
Woody has dependency issues, yours may not..
Make a copy of /etc/init.d/iptables before uninstalling ..
This file needs to be edited to show the correct locations for iptables.

The locations are selected in the build commands for iptables.
do ./configure --help for the options.
If you can't uninstall the package you will need to specify a location that works with the PATH settings to find the new version first..
They have to be separate to stop a package upgrade from overwriting the custom ones..
And coz you've made a copy of /etc/init.d/iptables, the apt-get package upgrade scripts will ask which config file to use during upgrading.

which version you want me to uninstall - the old one (got with apt-get which is 1.2.11 - can do an apt-get remove - *presume* you mean this one...?) or the new one (which is 1.3.0, which i downloaded and make'd - dont know how to install that one

confused as ever....

Oops, sorry, the package one, from apt-get..

apt-get remove iptables

ive uninstalled it - now the only version which remains is 1.3.0 .

when i type iptables i get:
/sbin/iptables: No such file or directory
...even tho if i type /usr/local/sbin/iptables
it runs.
should i put a symlink to it in /sbin/iptables/ ?

What is your PATH setting?

set | grep PATH

PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin

And which -a iptables ?

I'm not aware of any caching system for filenames..

/usr/local/sbin/iptables
...wierd...

That's sure strange..

Keep trying tho'
You can always copy the 3 files into /sbin..
Better to fix the PATH variable tho', put /usr/local/sbin first on the list..

What are you going to do for an iptables ruleset?
What I prefer is to have several scripts, but save them using the /etc/init.d/iptables save active (& inactive) options. And only use that for starting/stopping.
Usually when scripts start, they have a rule clearing section first to be sure only their rules exist.
Choice is open, but for me I get a known good script that I can turn on/off while playing with more complicated scripts from other tools..

am i being stoopid here (probably) - my PATH (after i su) is :
set | grep PATH
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin

...but if i look in /root/.profile it says:
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin/X1

...and if i look in /etc/profile i get:
PATH="/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/games"

... which is what my PATH is before i su..

So where is the system getting my current PATH from ?

Depending on how you su..
either su or su -

You would carry your login environment with just su
and take the root environment with su -

So you would have a user's .profile in that user's home directory..

I just noticed that PATH is also being set in /etc/init.d/iptables

Didn't answer your question, did it..

I'm just looking through the startup scripts from initrd & inittab , /etc/rcS.d/* etc
and there are several PATH reassignments..
I would expect the last one, ie login would be the active one..

In your /root/.profile do you have
export PATH after the PATH statement?

whoops sorry yeh - i did an su instead of an su - now I get /usr/local/sbin 1st and everything is hunky-dory

Ok, next is /etc/init.d/iptables..

Change the location of iptables to match 'which -a iptables'

Then some final checks and lilo..