Linux distributions

Posted Aug 27, 2025 1:23 UTC (Wed) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266)
Parent article: Linux's missing CRL infrastructure

> Ellie Kanning, who started the discussion, filed follow-up bug reports with OpenSSL, NetworkManager, and Freedesktop's desktop specifications, but none of the projects thought that maintaining a system-wide CRL was in-scope for them.

To me, that sounds like the sort of job traditionally done by Linux distributions. A Linux distribution can invent a shared mechanism, and patch all relevant software it distributes to conform to that. For instance, Debian invented a shared menu system, to which all applications distributed by Debian added menu entries, and all desktop environments distributed by Debian were patched to display these menu entries.

Once it's proven to work, it can be copied by other distributions (like RPM-based distributions copied the Debian "alternatives" mechanism, even though it was originally closely tied to Debian's package manager), and even standardized (like systemd standardized on Debian's /etc/hostname over other distribution's equivalents).

Linux distributions

Posted Aug 27, 2025 8:23 UTC (Wed) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

> like systemd standardized on Debian's /etc/hostname over other distribution's equivalents

I'm pretty certain that convention pre-dates Debian, heck it pre-dates linux.

I remember using it on some Unix that was a bastardised SysV/BSD.

Cheers,
Wol