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r* Programs Being Removed from OpenBSD -current

Posted by timothy on from the but-it's-still-an-important-letter dept.

moonboy writes: "This post over at OpenBSD Journal tells of the r* programs (rsh, rlogin, rcopy, etc) being removed from the -current tree. Can Telnet and FTP be far behind? I say good riddance."

3 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. BSD is not dying, it's busy cleaning by ObviousGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Removing redundant, unnecessary, and potentially dangerous programs from the distro is a really good idea.

    Creating the symlinks just adds complexity to a system that doesn't need it.

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    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
    1. Re:BSD is not dying, it's busy cleaning by sigwinch · · Score: 5, Interesting
      And, as another poster pointed out, telnet and (to a lesser extent) ftp have to be next on the chopping block.
      I disagree. FTP is a fine way to serve files to anonymous clients. A lot of data traffic simply doesn't benefit (much) from security. Unless you are going to replace it with HTTP over SSL and institute a person-to-person key fingerprint distribution process, you might as well keep using FTP.

      As for telnet, using it to run login shells is idiocy, but it's the only standardized way to run interactive services. It comes disabled by default, so including it is not a security risk. And when you someday need a little interactive network program *right now*, it's damn convenient. E.g., if you needed to stick a load monitor on your database server, just write a little program that talks on standard input and output, and tell telnet to use it instead of a shell. Instant results, little risk of breaking anything, and any client can access it.

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    2. Re:BSD is not dying, it's busy cleaning by Arandir · · Score: 5, Informative

      Perl hasn't been removed. Please read the other article. Perl is being removed from the *base* system. It is still available in the ports. It sounds like it will also be installed by default anyway, just like X11R6 (which isn't in the base system, but still installed by default).

      The reasons they are getting rid of it in the base system are numerous. The top reason in my mind is that Perl is growing enormous. It's a damn useful tool, but it isn't necessary for the base system, especially with the size it's getting. If you need it, install it. Simple.

      --
      A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned