[Mageia-dev] Proposal: Deprecate draknetcenter+network init scripts after systemd becomes default.

Tue Aug 23 10:55:07 CEST 2011

'Twas brillig, and Thierry Vignaud at 22/08/11 13:32 did gyre and gimble:
+> On 22 August 2011 11:57, Colin Guthrie <mageia at colin.guthr.ie> wrote:
+>> This is just a heads up to suggest that we officially adopt a policy of
+>> moving to NetworkManager after systemd becomes our default (and likely
+>> only) init system - i.e. likely for mga3.
+>>
+>> As you may know, GNOME is moving towards a systemd user session and
+>> systemd itself is very much aligning itself to be the one true init
+>> system on linux.
+>>
+>> I also have it on good authority that many of the features lacking in
+>> NetworkManager (such as bridging configuration) will be available in the
+>> not too distant future and many other more advanced networking features
+>> such as fast-start DHCP, per-interface DNS, 4-8's DNS fallback and
+>> several other nice features will ultimately be possible too.
+>>
+>> So with all this in mind, I think the writing is very much on the wall
+>> with regards to the future integration of NetworkManager into the
+>> desktop. I believe we will be able to concentrate our resources better
+>> by going along with the rest of the world in this regard. I have
+>> personally switched to it now (as I do not need advanced features of
+>> draknetcenter et al) as a step towards this.
+> 
+> err... drakx-net's code is heavily used by other tools such as:
+> - drakx-installer
+> - mgaonline
+> - ...
+> 
+> So I think we still want to keep drakx-net
+
+Perhaps, but then a more interesting question is "what bits of drakx-net
+are used in mgaonline and drax-installer?" Just stating that they are
+used there as a reason to keep it isn't really a good argument IMO.
+
+Asbestos is used in fire retardant wall insulation, but it's not a good
+argument to keep it considering the world has moved on and we now know
+the dangers of working with that material.
+
+
+So what does mgaonline need to work with drakx-net? Does it just need to
+know if you are online or not? If so why not use NM's dbus service to do
+that? It could eventually know whether you are on a paid/metered
+connection (this is not yet supported by NM but there has been some talk
+about it) or a "free" connection - a fast vs. slow connection etc. It
+could make intelligent, informed decisions, not just "is the user online
+- no matter how crappily?"
+
+Then of course the wider question... should mgaonline be deprecated in
+favour of more integrated options suck as package-kit? Should we focus
+resources on that? This is IMO a more open question, even if I do feel
+the writing is ultimately on the wall here too.
+
+I'd very much like to use much more standard things. I think some of the
+mdv tools were differentiators in the past but those days are pretty
+much slipping by. Some of the tools are still best of bread, but things
+like network management and handling updates etc. is perhaps something
+that has no progressed to the stage that us having independent update
+mechanisms is a hindrance to users rather than a benefit.
+
+It's all too easy to get stuck in a rut and get emotionally attached to
+such things (I do it all the time in my day job) but sometimes it helps
+to look at things from a slightly detached view point.
+
+Cheers
+
+Col
+
+
+-- 
+
+Colin Guthrie
+mageia(at)colin.guthr.ie
+http://colin.guthr.ie/
+
+Day Job:
+  Tribalogic Limited [http://www.tribalogic.net/]
+Open Source:
+  Mageia Contributor [http://www.mageia.org/]
+  PulseAudio Hacker [http://www.pulseaudio.org/]
+  Trac Hacker [http://trac.edgewall.org/]
+