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Date:      Sat, 26 Jan 2002 23:40:25 -0700
From:      Nate Williams <nate@yogotech.com>
To:        Bob K <melange@yip.org>
Cc:        Patrick Greenwell <patrick@stealthgeeks.net>, stable@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Firewall config non-intuitiveness
Message-ID:  <15443.41177.259786.242696@caddis.yogotech.com>
In-Reply-To: <20020125203328.A454@yip.org>
References:  <000c01c1a5ff$a4539870$0101a8c0@cascade> <20020125165307.C54729-100000@rockstar.stealthgeeks.net> <20020125203328.A454@yip.org>

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> > You know, I continue to be amazed at the attitude that says that things
> > should be kept counter-intuitive and anyone who doesn't like it that way
> > is ignorant. What possible benefit is there in perpetuating mislabeled
> > behavior?
> > 
> > To me, it's very simple: there's this "firewall_enable" option in rc.conf,
> > and I think that reasonable people would infer that if you set it to "no"
> > it meant that you didn't want a firewall enabled(based on the name of the
> > variable), yet that is not what happens.
> > 
> > All the documentation reading in the world isn't going to make me think it's a
> > good idea to have "no" mean "yes" and I certainly don't think it's useful or
> > helpful to cast aspersions on individuals who want "no" to actually mean "no."
> 
> The problem is that you're not taking into account the installed base of
> users who twiddle this knob.  How many angry firewall admins will come
> into being when the behaviour suddenly stops being, "don't load any
> firewall rules" and starts being, "disable the firewall"?

I'm guessing the number of firewall admins who have 'firewall_enable=NO'
in their configuration file is 0.

No-one in their right mind has configured a firewall with no rules, and
those that have are using the wide-open ruleset, which is the same as
having no firewall.

Methinks you're exaggerating the effects of changing the default just a
tad bit. :) :) :)



Nate

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