5 ms·

I like the haphazardry but I think systemd veered too far into dadaism.

by actionfromafar 11mo ago

arthurfirst 11mo ago
THIS. As bad as launchctl on Macs. Solution looking for a problem so it causes more problems -- like IPv6
- dralley 11mo ago
  You can't be serious thinking that IPv4 doesn't have problems
  - arthurfirst 11mo ago
    Of course not. But IPv6 is not the solution to Ipv4's issues at all. IPv6 is something completely different justified post-facto with EMOTIONAL arguments ie. You are stealing the last IPv4 address from the children! - Dual stack -- unnecessary and bloated - Performance = 4x worse or more - No NAT or private networks -- not in the same sense. People love to hate on NAT but I do not want my toaster on the internet with a unique hardware serial number. - Hardware tracking built into the protocol -- the mitigations offered are BS. - Addresses are a congintive block - Forces people to use DNS (central) which acts as a censorship choke point. All we needed was an extra pre space to set WHICH address space - ie. '0' is the old internet in 0.0.0.0.10 --- backwards compatible, not dual stack, no privacy nightmare, etc I actually wrote a code project that implements this network as an overlay -- but it's not ready to share yet. Works though. If I were to imagine my self in the room deciding on the IPv6 requirements I expect the key one was 'track every person and every device every where all the time' because if you are just trying to expand the address space then IPv6 is way way way overkill -- it's overkill even for future proofing for the next 1000 years of all that privacy invading.
    - bluGill 11mo ago
      > All we needed was an extra pre space to set WHICH address space - ie. '0' is the old internet in 0.0.0.0.10 --- backwards compatible, not dual stack, no privacy nightmare, etc That is what we have in ipv6. What you write sounds good/easy on paper, but when you look at how networks are really implemented you realize it is impossible to do that. Networks packets have to obey the laws of bits and bytes and there isn't any place to put that extra 0 in ipv4: no matter what you have to create a new ipv6. They did write a standard for how to send ipv4 addresses in ipv6, but anyone who doesn't have ipv6 themselves can't use that and so we must dual stack until everyone transitions.
      - deleted 11mo ago
        [deleted]
      - arthurfirst 11mo ago
        Actually there is a place to put it... I didn't want to get into this but since you asked: My prototype/thought experiment is called IPv40 a 40bit extension to IPv4. IPv40 addresses are carried over Legacy networks using the IPv4 Options Field (Type 35) Legacy routers ignore Option 35 and route based on the 32-bit destination (effectively forcing traffic to "Space 0". IPv40-aware routers parse Option 35 to switch Universes. This works right now but as a software overlay not in hardware. Just my programming/thought experiment which was pretty fun. When solutions are pushed top down like IPv6 my spider sense tingles -- what problem is it solving? the answers are NOT 'to address address space limitations of IPv4' that is the marketing and if you challenge it you will be met with ad hominen attacks and emotional manipulations.
        bluGill 11mo ago
        You didn't save anything as everyone needs to know the new extension before anyone can use it. Hardware is important - fast routers can't do work in the CPU (and it was even worse in the mid 90's when this started), they need special hardware assistance.
        arthurfirst 11mo ago
    - hylaride 11mo ago
      I almost completely agree with you, but IPv6 isn't going anywhere - it's our only real alternative. Any other new standard would take decades to implement even if a new standard is agreed on. Core routers would need to be replaced with new devices with ASICs to do hardware routing, etc. It's just far too late. I still shake my head at IPV6's committee driven development, though. My god, the original RFCs had IPSEC support as mandatory and the auto-configuration had no support for added fields (DNS servers, etc). It's like the committee was only made up of network engineers. The whole SLAAC vs DHCP6 drama was painful to see play out. That being said, most modern IPv6 implementations no longer derive the link-local portion from the hardware MAC addresses (and even then, many modern devices such as phones randomize their hardware addresses for wifi/bluetooth to prevent tracking). So the privacy portions aren't as much of a concern anymore. Javascript fingerprinting is far more of an issue there.
      - arthurfirst 11mo ago
        > still shake my head at IPV6's committee driven development, though. My god, the original RFCs had IPSEC support as mandatory and the auto-configuration had no support for added fields (DNS servers, etc). It's like the committee was only made up of network engineers. The whole SLAAC vs DHCP6 drama was painful to see play out. So true. > That being said, most modern IPv6 implementations no longer derive the link-local portion from the hardware MAC addresses (and even then, many modern devices such as phones randomize their hardware addresses for wifi/bluetooth to prevent tracking). So the privacy portions aren't as much of a concern anymore. Javascript fingerprinting is far more of an issue there JS Fingerprinting is a huge issue. Honestly if IPv6 was just for the internet of things I'd ignore it. Since it's pushed on to every machine and you are essentially forced to use it -- with no direct benefit to the end user -- I have a big problem with it. So it's not strictly needed for YOU, but it solves some problems that are not a problem for YOU, and also happens to address space. I do not think the 'fixes' to IPv6 do enough to address my privacy concerns, particularly with a well-resourced adversary. Seems like they just raised the bar a little. Why even bother? Tell me why I must use it without resorting to 'you will be unable to access IPv6 hosted services!' or 'think of the children!?' -- both emotional manipulations.
- Someone 11mo ago
  > Solution looking for a problem Two clear problems with the init system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Init https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Init) are - it doesn’t handle parallel startup of services (sysadmins can tweak their init scripts to speed up booting, but init doesn’t provide any assistance) - it does not work in a world where devices get attached to and detached from computers all the time (think of USB and Bluetooth devices, WiFi networks). The second problem was evolutionary solved in init systems by having multiple daemons doing, basically, the same thing: listen for device attachments/detachments, and handling them. Unifying that in a single daemon, IMO, is a good thing. If you accept that, making that single daemon the init process makes sense, too, as it will give you a solution for the first problem.
  - actionfromafar 11mo ago
    Yes, ”a solution”. We need a thing. Systemd is a thing. Therefore, we need systemd.
    - hylaride 11mo ago
      Not to get into a flame war, but 99% of my issues with systemd is that they didn't just replace init, but NTP, DHCP, logging (this one is arguably necessary, but they made it complicated, especially if you want to send logs to a centralized remote location or use another utility to view logs), etc. It broke the fundamental historical concept of unix: do one thing very well. To make things worse, the opinionated nature of systemd's founder (Lennart Poettering) has meant many a sysadmin has had to fight with it in real-world usage (eg systemd-timesyncd's SNTP client not handling drift very well or systemd-networkd not handling real world DHCP fields). His responses "Don't use a computer with a clock that drifts" or "we're not supporting a non-standard field that the majority of DHCP servers use" just don't jive in the real world. The result was going to be ugly. It's not surprising that most distros ended up bundling chrony, etc.
      - pezezin 11mo ago
        > (this one is arguably necessary, but they made it complicated, especially if you want to send logs to a centralized remote location or use another utility to view logs) It is not complicated at all. Recent enough versions of systemd support journal forwarding, but even without it, configuring rsyslog is extremely easy: 1. Install rsyslog 2. Create a file /etc/rsyslog.d/forwarding.conf $ActionForwardDefaultTemplate RSYSLOG_ForwardFormat *.* @@${your-syslog-server-here}:514 3. Restart rsyslog 4. Profit.
helterskelter 11mo ago
C'mon that just rude to Dada.

I like the haphazardry but I think systemd veered too far into dadaism.

arthurfirst 11mo ago

THIS. As bad as launchctl on Macs. Solution looking for a problem so it causes more problems -- like IPv6

dralley 11mo ago
You can't be serious thinking that IPv4 doesn't have problems
- arthurfirst 11mo ago
  Of course not. But IPv6 is not the solution to Ipv4's issues at all. IPv6 is something completely different justified post-facto with EMOTIONAL arguments ie. You are stealing the last IPv4 address from the children! - Dual stack -- unnecessary and bloated - Performance = 4x worse or more - No NAT or private networks -- not in the same sense. People love to hate on NAT but I do not want my toaster on the internet with a unique hardware serial number. - Hardware tracking built into the protocol -- the mitigations offered are BS. - Addresses are a congintive block - Forces people to use DNS (central) which acts as a censorship choke point. All we needed was an extra pre space to set WHICH address space - ie. '0' is the old internet in 0.0.0.0.10 --- backwards compatible, not dual stack, no privacy nightmare, etc I actually wrote a code project that implements this network as an overlay -- but it's not ready to share yet. Works though. If I were to imagine my self in the room deciding on the IPv6 requirements I expect the key one was 'track every person and every device every where all the time' because if you are just trying to expand the address space then IPv6 is way way way overkill -- it's overkill even for future proofing for the next 1000 years of all that privacy invading.
  - bluGill 11mo ago
    > All we needed was an extra pre space to set WHICH address space - ie. '0' is the old internet in 0.0.0.0.10 --- backwards compatible, not dual stack, no privacy nightmare, etc That is what we have in ipv6. What you write sounds good/easy on paper, but when you look at how networks are really implemented you realize it is impossible to do that. Networks packets have to obey the laws of bits and bytes and there isn't any place to put that extra 0 in ipv4: no matter what you have to create a new ipv6. They did write a standard for how to send ipv4 addresses in ipv6, but anyone who doesn't have ipv6 themselves can't use that and so we must dual stack until everyone transitions.
    - deleted 11mo ago
      [deleted]
    - arthurfirst 11mo ago
      Actually there is a place to put it... I didn't want to get into this but since you asked: My prototype/thought experiment is called IPv40 a 40bit extension to IPv4. IPv40 addresses are carried over Legacy networks using the IPv4 Options Field (Type 35) Legacy routers ignore Option 35 and route based on the 32-bit destination (effectively forcing traffic to "Space 0". IPv40-aware routers parse Option 35 to switch Universes. This works right now but as a software overlay not in hardware. Just my programming/thought experiment which was pretty fun. When solutions are pushed top down like IPv6 my spider sense tingles -- what problem is it solving? the answers are NOT 'to address address space limitations of IPv4' that is the marketing and if you challenge it you will be met with ad hominen attacks and emotional manipulations.
      - bluGill 11mo ago
        You didn't save anything as everyone needs to know the new extension before anyone can use it. Hardware is important - fast routers can't do work in the CPU (and it was even worse in the mid 90's when this started), they need special hardware assistance.
        arthurfirst 11mo ago
  - hylaride 11mo ago
    I almost completely agree with you, but IPv6 isn't going anywhere - it's our only real alternative. Any other new standard would take decades to implement even if a new standard is agreed on. Core routers would need to be replaced with new devices with ASICs to do hardware routing, etc. It's just far too late. I still shake my head at IPV6's committee driven development, though. My god, the original RFCs had IPSEC support as mandatory and the auto-configuration had no support for added fields (DNS servers, etc). It's like the committee was only made up of network engineers. The whole SLAAC vs DHCP6 drama was painful to see play out. That being said, most modern IPv6 implementations no longer derive the link-local portion from the hardware MAC addresses (and even then, many modern devices such as phones randomize their hardware addresses for wifi/bluetooth to prevent tracking). So the privacy portions aren't as much of a concern anymore. Javascript fingerprinting is far more of an issue there.
    - arthurfirst 11mo ago
      > still shake my head at IPV6's committee driven development, though. My god, the original RFCs had IPSEC support as mandatory and the auto-configuration had no support for added fields (DNS servers, etc). It's like the committee was only made up of network engineers. The whole SLAAC vs DHCP6 drama was painful to see play out. So true. > That being said, most modern IPv6 implementations no longer derive the link-local portion from the hardware MAC addresses (and even then, many modern devices such as phones randomize their hardware addresses for wifi/bluetooth to prevent tracking). So the privacy portions aren't as much of a concern anymore. Javascript fingerprinting is far more of an issue there JS Fingerprinting is a huge issue. Honestly if IPv6 was just for the internet of things I'd ignore it. Since it's pushed on to every machine and you are essentially forced to use it -- with no direct benefit to the end user -- I have a big problem with it. So it's not strictly needed for YOU, but it solves some problems that are not a problem for YOU, and also happens to address space. I do not think the 'fixes' to IPv6 do enough to address my privacy concerns, particularly with a well-resourced adversary. Seems like they just raised the bar a little. Why even bother? Tell me why I must use it without resorting to 'you will be unable to access IPv6 hosted services!' or 'think of the children!?' -- both emotional manipulations.
Someone 11mo ago
> Solution looking for a problem Two clear problems with the init system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Init https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Init) are - it doesn’t handle parallel startup of services (sysadmins can tweak their init scripts to speed up booting, but init doesn’t provide any assistance) - it does not work in a world where devices get attached to and detached from computers all the time (think of USB and Bluetooth devices, WiFi networks). The second problem was evolutionary solved in init systems by having multiple daemons doing, basically, the same thing: listen for device attachments/detachments, and handling them. Unifying that in a single daemon, IMO, is a good thing. If you accept that, making that single daemon the init process makes sense, too, as it will give you a solution for the first problem.
- actionfromafar 11mo ago
  Yes, ”a solution”. We need a thing. Systemd is a thing. Therefore, we need systemd.
  - hylaride 11mo ago
    Not to get into a flame war, but 99% of my issues with systemd is that they didn't just replace init, but NTP, DHCP, logging (this one is arguably necessary, but they made it complicated, especially if you want to send logs to a centralized remote location or use another utility to view logs), etc. It broke the fundamental historical concept of unix: do one thing very well. To make things worse, the opinionated nature of systemd's founder (Lennart Poettering) has meant many a sysadmin has had to fight with it in real-world usage (eg systemd-timesyncd's SNTP client not handling drift very well or systemd-networkd not handling real world DHCP fields). His responses "Don't use a computer with a clock that drifts" or "we're not supporting a non-standard field that the majority of DHCP servers use" just don't jive in the real world. The result was going to be ugly. It's not surprising that most distros ended up bundling chrony, etc.
    - pezezin 11mo ago
      > (this one is arguably necessary, but they made it complicated, especially if you want to send logs to a centralized remote location or use another utility to view logs) It is not complicated at all. Recent enough versions of systemd support journal forwarding, but even without it, configuring rsyslog is extremely easy: 1. Install rsyslog 2. Create a file /etc/rsyslog.d/forwarding.conf $ActionForwardDefaultTemplate RSYSLOG_ForwardFormat *.* @@${your-syslog-server-here}:514 3. Restart rsyslog 4. Profit.

helterskelter 11mo ago

C'mon that just rude to Dada.