Ubuntu is under attack

[Jan Moren]

sön 2005-12-18 klockan 12:35 +0000 skrev Eamonn Sullivan:

> Just to add one more voice to this ever-growing thread, I *do* use
> postfix on my (7-member) family PC, but I realise that I'm unusual. I
> couldn't care less, really, if it's installed by default or not. It's
> just an apt-get away. But I have trouble understanding the position of
> the people who believe a PC should have just the minimum bits on it at
> all times. My breezy PC has a 250GB hard drive, as does the "other"
> unix in the house, Mac OS X. OS X also comes with postfix installed by
> default, I don't use it and I don't care. I'm not losing any sleep
> over Apple "cluttering up" my Mac with unused stuff.
> 
> So, I guess, in sum: I don't care either way and I don't think it's
> the end of the world, either.

The basic issue is that it isn't cost-free to include by default.
There's two points I can see:

First, Ubuntu comes on one CD. That is a pretty big selling point,
actually, that you get a fully usable system without having to download
multiple CD:s. That also means you can have a Live CD with all the same
features and applications as the full install. But in the vast unverse
of available Linux packages, one CD (650Mb) is but a drop in a bucket.
Any package that is included means some other package needs to be
relegated to Universe (and an optional install). The packages that are
included right on the CD need to be chosen very carefully; if there is a
different package with more widespread usability for people, that should
be substituted.

Second, any daemon running on a system, listening on a port, is another
potential security hole - and an MTA is such a daemon. It's one more
package that may get people into trouble if there turns out to be a
security issue that they haven't downloaded an update fotr. If most
installs do not need an MTA - and if getting it is one apt-get away in
any case - then it makes a great deal of sense not to have it enabled by
default, and thus also not to have it included on the CD.



-- 
Dr. Jan Morén (mr)              
Japan:  090-3622 8920           jan.moren at lucs.lu.se
Sweden: 031-360 7723            http://lucs.lu.se/people/jan.moren