Distribution quote of the week
If we have to tell our users and sysadmins to do "X" on Debian server systems (using ifupdown or potentially sd-networkd), while doing "Y" on Debian desktop systems (using NetworkManager), while doing "Z" on Debian cloud systems (using Netplan), while doing something totally different on RaspberryPi (or alike) boards that run a Debian server setup, but using WiFi as their primary network interface, that's just a really bad user experience.
Using Debian should NOT feel like using different distros. And we really need a common way to do network configuration. With Netplan we can tell people to just use use the "dhcp4: true" setting (for example), which will work on all Debian systems and is automatically translated to the corresponding backend for server/desktop/cloud/embedded usecases.
All while giving sysadmins the [flexibility] to fully utilize the underlying network daemon directly, if they feel like writing native configuration for it (or don't like Netplan).
Posted Jul 18, 2024 11:16 UTC (Thu)
by smoogen (subscriber, #97)
[Link]
The second one is https://xkcd.com/1782/ which I think hints at the underlying human dynamics at play. [I expect we can find another 8 or 9 xkcd's also.]
In general the 'problem'* is that distributions like Debian are built around a level of confederacy which does not allow for many 'we will do X by default' decisions. Each set of systems has its own 'freehold' of developers who are self-organized to do the things they want to do within the overall rules of the organization.. but each group has its own identity formed by the choices that group has made. Trying to get them to change generally goes as well as telling a French speaking district of Switzerland that the national language is now Italian and everyone needs to speak it by default.
* I put 'problem' in quotes because it isn't a problem except to people wondering why things are so 'chaotic' in Debian land compared to some other distributions. :)
There are 2 XKCD's on this