Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2013 21:34:07 +0400 From: Gleb Smirnoff <glebius@FreeBSD.org> To: Scott Long <scottl@samsco.org> Cc: Rui Paulo <rpaulo@FreeBSD.org>, current@FreeBSD.org, net@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: ipfilter(4) needs maintainer Message-ID: <20130413173407.GY76816@glebius.int.ru> In-Reply-To: <E2F803DD-1F3A-430E-957F-7AB1904CDF42@samsco.org> References: <20130411201805.GD76816@FreeBSD.org> <7D8ACD5C-821D-4505-82E4-02267A7BA4F8@FreeBSD.org> <E2F803DD-1F3A-430E-957F-7AB1904CDF42@samsco.org>
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Scott, On Fri, Apr 12, 2013 at 11:31:09PM -0600, Scott Long wrote: S> One thing that FreeBSD is bad about (and this really applies to many open source projects) when deprecating something is that the developer and release engineering groups rarely provide adequate, if any, tools to help users transition and cope with the deprecation. The fear of deprecation can be largely overcome by giving these users a clear and comprehensive path forward. Just announcing "ipfilter is going away. EOM" is inadequate and leads to completely justified complaints from users. S> S> So with that said, would it be possible to write some tutorials on how to migrate an ipfilter installation to pf? Maybe some mechanical syntax docs accompanied by a few case studies? Is it possible for a script to automate some of the common mechanical changes? Also essential is a clear document on what goes away with ipfilter and what is gained with pf. Once those tools are written, I suggest announcing that ipfilter is available but deprecated/unsupported in FreeBSD 10, and will be removed from FreeBSD 11. Certain people will still pitch a fit about it departing, but if the tools are there to help the common users, you'll be successful in winning mindshare and general support. The task to write a migration guide is already a task for maintainer, and the thread is to search one. If lack of migration guide doesn't allow us to remove in 10.x cycle, I doubt the guide will appear in 11.x cycle, 12.x, etc. So we will live with ipfilter forever. What I can do, is to resend email to the stable@ list. Also, I can add the deprecation WARNING to stable/9 unless we find maintainer prior to 9.2 branching. -- Totus tuus, Glebius.
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