ArchLinux and tcp_wrappers

[Jim Cheetham]

I've been thinking about giving a different distro time on my desktop
recently, and having heard positive things about ArchLinux (as well as
seeing good-quality documentation show up in random google searches) I
thought I'd have a look.

I haven't got past their front-page, to be honest. I don't quite know
how to evaluate this news item ;-

https://www.archlinux.org/news/dropping-tcp_wrappers-support/
"""
News: Dropping tcp_wrappers support

2011-07-16 - Dan McGee

tcp_wrappers support is being dropped from all packages and the
package removed from [core]. This is due to upstream not having
released a new version since April 1997. Additionally, newer daemons
and applications are inconsistent in their support for libwrap,
leading to confusion as to whether an application supports the
library.

If you currently use /etc/hosts.allow or /etc/hosts.deny for security
or logging purposes, you will need to adjust accordingly and use
another tool such as iptables, or other firewall helper programs.

Additionally, the denyhosts package will be dropped as it depends on
tcp_wrappers to enforce the banned hosts list. A useful alternative is
fail2ban.
"""

I don't quite understand their stated reasons -- they're dropping the
code because it's stable? Or is there a long stack of bugs with
libwrap that are unaddressed by upstream? Or because it isn't popular
enough?

Can someone help me decide whether ArchLinux are rational or not over
this issue?

-jim

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[Jethro Carr]

Post by Jim Cheetham
Can someone help me decide whether ArchLinux are rational or not over
this issue?

tcp_wrappers is generally a PITA IMHO, because a lot of programs don't
use it, I try to avoid it when possible.

Much easier to use iptables and do firewalling on an IP level which
works with any application.

Dropping it makes sense to me....

regards,
jethro

[Jim Cheetham]

Post by Jim Cheetham
tcp_wrappers support is being dropped from all packages and the
package removed from [core].

An offlist query reveals that I don't know whether 'dropping from
[core]' in ArchLinux-speak means "not installed by default" or "cannot
be installed from repository". Can anyone clear that one up?

-jim

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[Tomislav]

Post by Jim Cheetham

Post by Jim Cheetham
tcp_wrappers support is being dropped from all packages and the
package removed from [core].

An offlist query reveals that I don't know whether 'dropping from
[core]' in ArchLinux-speak means "not installed by default" or "cannot
be installed from repository". Can anyone clear that one up?
-jim

[core] is part of the official repository. There is a user repo called
AUR that is sort of like the BSD ports or the Gentoo build system. I'm
sure tcp_wrappers can be installed from AUR if you really need them.

aur.archlinux.org

Arch is a beautiful distro. All the power of Gentoo without the
awfulness of i-guess-ill-grab-a-lunch-while-firefox-compiles of the
portage system. Not for begginers though.

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[Ryan McCoskrie]

Post by Tomislav
Arch is a beautiful distro. All the power of Gentoo without the
awfulness of i-guess-ill-grab-a-lunch-while-firefox-compiles of the
portage system. Not for begginers though.

Agreed, except that it is not for busy experts either. I'm expert-ish
and I simply grew tired of the time that configuring took away from
hacking. Still a valuable learning experience however.

--
Ryan McCoskrie
North Canterbury, New Zealand

sourcelinksnotes.comyr.com

[Volker Kuhlmann]

Post by Jim Cheetham
Can someone help me decide whether ArchLinux are rational or not over
this issue?

openSUSE hasn't had it in the repos for at least 2-3 years, so it seems
they're not only alone but may also be late.

Volker