ZeroConf in Ubuntu Edgy

[Patrick McFarland]

On Monday 03 July 2006 20:29, you wrote:
> Patrick McFarland wrote:
> > So, basically, I haven't quite figured out how to yet.
>
> So you're saying that "if [you] had some sort of large pull in the
> Ubuntu project, [you] would have tried to delay a Ubuntu release
> indefinitely until such a tool appears," except you have no idea how
> such a tool can be produced?

Unfortunately, yes. I've been trying to solve this problem for a fair bit of 
time, and I've gotten nowhere. Someone must know the solution to this!

> This is a complex issue, and one largely centered around the UI. Adam
> and I have a lot of people screaming at us on IRC about the lack of
> quality administration tools for Ubuntu Server, but the reason we don't
> ship any is because no one wrote any -- good GUI tools for system
> administration are notoriously difficult to write. A proper firewall
> management tool falls into this category.

Frankly, those people on IRC need to shush. They should try doing it first 
before bitching. Its damn difficult. :/

> A helpful way for you to contribute -- that doesn't involve producing
> code -- would be to produce a review of existing firewall interfaces,
> akin to what Colin did for the new Ubiquity partitioner:
>
>  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ubiquity/AdvancedPartitionerRewrite

I assume this hasn't been implemented yet, but this is another really sore 
spot for Linux desktops.

> Looking at the products that accomplish this on OS X and Windows, and
> providing screenshots and short writeups about them, would make the
> basis of an excellent spec on producing the killer firewall management
> tool for Linux. I don't think this will conflict with Carsten's work,
> either, as there's always room for UI improvement, and I believe the UI
> wasn't the focus of his work.

Windows basically doesn't, unless you install XP with one of the service 
packs, and the UI isn't even worth considering... all it does is have a 
shoddy UI that allows you to turn ports on and off. Its a good example of 
what not to do imo.

As for OSX, I don't have access to an OSX box.

> Let me point out that we also had a couple of excellent usability people
> in Paris who would, I'm sure, be happy to take a look at such a spec and
> produce some mockups of a nice, usable GUI for this. If the GUI was
> nailed down, writing the actual iptables logic just wouldn't be such a
> daunting task anymore, and it's possible Carsten's work could be plugged
> in directly.

Someone should send them a pizza or something ;)

-- 
Patrick McFarland || www.AdTerrasPerAspera.com
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids,
we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and
listening to repetitive electronic music." -- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo,
Inc, 1989