[Gllug] Sluggishness and confusion

[Bruce Richardson]

On Wed, Feb 09, 2005 at 06:30:14PM +0000, Tethys wrote:
> Really? If RH/Fedora is a mess, then maybe I should take another look at
> Debian[1], because I find it to be simple, intuitive and well thought out.
> Yes, there are a few expections to that, but on the whole I've been very
> impressed with it. Debian must be truly outstanding if it makes that look
> like a mess...

To take a specific example, /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts is a damn
mess and poorly considered.  I'll take Debian's interfaces file (and the
associated scripts) over that any day of the month.  For instance, if I
want to add some extra actions when an interface is brought up or down
on Debian I can set this up all in the interfaces file:

iface inet eth0 static
	address x.x.x.x
	netmask x.x.x.x
	broadcast x.x.x.x
	pre-up /usr/local/sbin/action-before-up
	up /usr/local/sbin/action-on-up
	down /usr/local/sbin/action-on-down
	post-down /usr/local/sbin/action-on-down


Now, with Red Hat or Fedora I first have to read through all the many
scripts in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts, because much of it (including
what I want to do here) just isn't documented at all (and documentation
that keeps saying "Do not edit these config files, please use the GUI
tools" does not fill me with admiration).  After digging, I'll discover
that I have to create /sbin/ifup-local, /sbin/ifup-pre-local,
/sbin/ifdown-local and /sbin/ifdown-pre-local.  Each of these scripts
will have to parse the (mostly undocumented) parameters that the
network-scripts pass around, to work out which interface is being
changed.  And after all that I still have to create my own method for
associating actions with specific interfaces (funnily enough, just
re-editing the /sbin/if* scripts isn't what I call a good solution).

I call that shit.  I really do.  And this isn't some obscure nit I'm
picking; adding custom actions to interface up/down events is a fairly
common requirement in a network of any scale and complexity.

-- 
Bruce

I see a mouse.  Where?  There, on the stair.  And its clumsy wooden
footwear makes it easy to trap and kill.  -- Harry Hill
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