[arch-projects] netcfg release rfc

[Jouke Witteveen]

> On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Jouke Witteveen <j.witteveen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> - Configuration has moved out of 'rc.conf'. Please move your
>> configuration to '/etc/conf.d/netcfg'.
>
> Does this mean that the old config will stop working?

Not yet, a warning is issued. But since all connections with
initscripts have become optional (systemd is equally well supported
now), rc.conf is no longer the appointed place and although rc.conf
was one of the things that drew me to Arch some 8 years ago, I think
this is the right thing to do.

>> - Connection types ending in '-old', '-dbus' and '-iproute' are
>> discontinued. Remove the suffix if you still have it: you didn't need
>> it.
>
> Does this mean that things will stop working for people who don't
> update their config?

Yes, but it has been deprecated for a long time. In fact, it was never
really supported in the first place :-P. The -old connections were
properly deprecated (warnings and all), the -dbus and -iproute
connections are short-lived and didn't work well back then. They were
symlinked to the normal connections for a long time now.

> If at all possible, it is usually for the best if we let old configs
> continue to work, but remove their documentation and print warnings
> when they are used (but maybe that's what you have done :-) ). As a
> comparison, the old network syntax in rc.conf still works, even though
> we complain when it is used.

I totally agree and have learned the hard way :-P. However, I do want
to simplify netcfg. The code has become a bit bulky and dropping
rc.conf support for non-initscript users is something I do intend to
do in the near future it removes 19 somewhat cryptic lines. That might
not seem much, but it is the difference between an rc.d script that is
a bit difficult to understand and one that is blatantly obvious.
For initscript users, rc.conf will keep working even after that,
because the output hook sources it.

Thanks for helping out!
- Jouke