this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
166 points (95.1% liked)

Linux

48693 readers
1417 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm curious how software can be created and evolve over time. I'm afraid that at some point, we'll realize there are issues with the software we're using that can only be remedied by massive changes or a complete rewrite.

Are there any instances of this happening? Where something is designed with a flaw that doesn't get realized until much later, necessitating scrapping the whole thing and starting from scratch?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] limelight79@lemm.ee 35 points 8 months ago (3 children)

We haven't rewritten the firewall code lately, right? checks Oh, it looks like we have. Now it's nftables.

I learned ipfirewall, then ipchains, then iptables came along, and I was like, oh hell no, not again. At that point I found software to set up the firewall for me.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 11 points 8 months ago

Damn, you're old. iptables came out in 1998. That's what I learned in (and I still don't fully understand it).

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 8 points 8 months ago

UFW → nftables/iptables. Never worry about chains again

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 7 points 8 months ago

I was just thinking that iptables lasted a good 20 years. Over twice that of ipchains. Was it good enough or did it just have too much inertia?

Nf is probably a welcome improvement in any case.