[arch-projects] [netctl][HEADSUP] systemd-networkd

[Jouke Witteveen]

Hi Tom,

On Thu, Nov 28, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Tom Gundersen <teg at jklm.no> wrote:
> In case any netctl developers have not yet seen/heard about networkd,
> I thought I'd give you a heads-up about it.

Thanks for this heads-up. I did notice your work on networkd.

> networkd is an (at the moment) very basic network solution for
> statically configured networks, and probably shares some usecases with
> netctl. It will ship with systemd v209.
>
> I wrote a bit about the background/status on G+:
> https://plus.google.com/+TomGundersen/posts/bDQCP5ZyQ3h (there are a
> few more posts with more details). If any of you have any feedback, or
> would like to contribute, let me know.

This work is certainly relevant to netctl. I even think you somewhat
misrepresented netctl in you announcements, as netctl ticks quite a
few of your boxes: it is rather minimal, it has an easy to use
plain-text configuration format, and on top of that it harnesses as
much of the power of systemd as possible (netctl even mimics the
syntax of systemctl for completely intuitive usage). More or less the
only difference between networkd and netctl is that networkd targets
static configurations, while netctl targets dynamic configurations
(profiles).

I do think netctl can benefit from networkd. There are a few things
I'd like to get a response on. This list might not be the right place
for them, so maybe I repost these things to the systemd list soon.

The first thing I would like a response on is actually a statement. I
would like to know how far off it is. As I see it, networkd implements
the functionality of the ip utility of iproute2 inside systemd and
adds a dhcp client to it.

Next are a couple of questions, where I will pretend the above
statement holds some truth. The questions are basically just one
question asked a couple of times.

Will the functionality that networkd shares with ip (link and address
management) be exposed by a script-friendly (non-dbus) command?
Will the dhcp server be exposed?
Will beat detection be exposed, for instance by starting/stopping a
systemd service when a cable is plugged/unplugged?

If the answer to the last question is yes, this would finally make
ifplugd a thing of the past.

Thanks,
- Jouke