ipv6 firewall?

[Rashkae]

Derek Broughton wrote:

> 
> It's the default in Ubuntu, too.  You don't need a firewall if you don't 
> open ports to the Internet.  If you open ports to the Internet, you should 
> know what you're doing.

I don't really agree with that.  It's very easy for someone to
unwittingly open a port who has no business doing so.  Here's a good
example I observed recently on Jaunty.

Suppose someone is having strange system behaviour, and as part of the
diagnosis, wants to check the hard drive S.M.A.R.T.  This is something I
think should be available by default on any Linux distro, but in Ubuntu
you have to install smartmontools, which in Jaunty, also installs
Postfix.  I don't know if the MTA is actually 'required' or 'suggested',
but in Jaunty, it doesn't matter.  If the user is not entirely aware of
what is happening and just keeps accepting defaults, user ends up with
port 25 wide open, when all he/she wanted to do was verify hard drive
diagnosis.