Fedora 38 will still support framebuffer X11 and NIS+

The shape of Fedora 38 continues to get clearer as next month's planned release approaches. The latest meeting of the Steering Committee (FESCo) has decided some stuff just isn't ready to remove yet. Back in January, we wrote about what new things will be in Fedora 38. The minutes of the last FESCo meeting in February revealed …

[TVU]

"but there is some concern that it's not ready for prime time just yet"

When is a Poettering product ever ready for prime time use? (Well, someone had to say it)

[A Non e-mouse]

NIS+

I last played with NIS+ back in the early naughties. Back then Sun were pushing everyone very hard to get off NIS+ ASAP as it's so broken. Not sure why Fedora feels they have to keep it.

[John Riddoch]

Re: NIS+

In the 90s they were pushing everyone onto it, at least officially. In reality, no-one used it or recommended it because it wasn't unknown for it to break horrifically and irrecoverably so most folk stuck with NIS (with its extensive security issues - the product of a more civilised age when you could get away with that kind of thing).

I'm also surprised it's being kept, I can only assume someone is still using NIS+ somewhere they need to integrate into Fedora (or possibly Redhat, since removal from Fedora would lead to removal from RHEL eventually). That someone presumably has a loud enough voice to guide Fedora into retaining it.

[simpfeld]

Re: NIS+

To be honest following the link to Fedora on this they say removing NIS(+). So presumably/possibly the biggest issue was removing NIS support, as opposed to NIS+ support.

NIS+ being nothing like NIS at all.

I can imagine a number of sites might still use NIS, was used a lot in HPC. Can't imagine NIS+ is used now by anyone, no one really used it when it launched. Sun Solaris originally only provided a NIS+ server, but so few people used it later versions came with a NIS server too.

[thule]

"The Linux world has never fully assimilated the benefits of distributed authentication mechanisms"

There is one comprehensive auth system for Linux: FreeIPA. Just as FreeIPA was getting solid, everyone went all-in on the cloud.

One of the things that helped kill NIS+ (beyond the complexity) is the Sun Directory Server. Now some of that code lives on in the 389 Server project.

[Gene Cash]

FreeIPA? Is that the free beer I hear about constantly with open source?

[Liam Proven]

[Author here]

> There is one comprehensive auth system for Linux: FreeIPA.

I think that's mainly for the Red Hat world.

Authentication is one small thing that a network directory does. Saying it's a comprehensive system is like saying that because 1980s UNIX could open one FTP connection and retrieve one named text file, there was no need for HTTP or the Web to be invented.

(I choose this example because that was _my_ take when I first saw prototype Web browsers in about 1993.)

It is missing the point by about half a dozen whole rotations. As I did back then. If I'd seen it, I'd be a billionaire now, and could own the Reg rather than work for it. :-D

[Robert Halloran]

>> One of the things that helped kill NIS+ (beyond the complexity) is the Sun Directory Server. Now some of that code lives on in the 389 Server project.

"Sun Directory Server" was rebranding of the Netscape Directory Server (written in part by Tim Howes who co-wrote the LDAP spec) they acquired when Sun & AOL jointly took down the Mighty Mozilla late 90s. When "iPlanet" broke up a few years after, AOL took their copy of said code and eventually released it to the world as the 389 Server.

[Abominator]

X11 just works for remote usage. Most of my development I use X11 to servers from Windows desktops.

Wayland does not support this and says it's outside of its scope. So that makes it fucking useless in a work environment unless you have the PC or server under your desk.

Yes, I know I can VNC or NoMachine etc, but X just works. The others need various extra steps to setup or worse you have to get someone to install the packages from another repo in a corporate environment.

Also, they are all desktop focused, whereas I can run my X11 apps like a local desktop application and use all my screens easily. The other approaches are all very sub-optimal for shared workstations.

[Anonymous Coward]

Gnome

Wayland does not support this and says it's outside of its scope. So that makes it fucking useless in a work environment unless you have the PC or server under your desk.

I thought the gnome crowd had made it very clear years ago that if you're not running stuff locally on fast systems and graphics cards then you're not their target audience and they don't want you.

Can we have wireframe move and resize.

No go away

It's not our fault if your system isn't fast enough to keep up so leave us alone.

My server is 3000 miles away and Einstein won't let me reduce the latency.

Then raise an bug fix with Einstein , this isn't our problem everything works fine on my new laptop so that's all that matters.

Just sorry I can only give you one up vote