Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre schreef op 21-06-2017 2:58:
Hi,

Since Friday, netplan is now the default in artful. It is now included
in the minimal seed, and thus part of all installs by default (if you
find it missing, it's a bug I encourage you to report and let me know).
It's a direct replacement for ifupdown: I'm still working on making
ifupdown properly disappear from default installs (you will still be
able to install it if you really want to).

To me this is just a sad day once more.

If netplan is only a front-end to either systemd-networkd or NetworkManager, then it does not replace ifupdown because ifupdown was not a frontend to either.

Rather it replaces ifupdown as the still-existing 3rd path.

If someone has a preference for either NetworkManager or systemd-networkd they probably will want to learn its syntax; so now they have to learn two?

UCI had the same 'flaw'; it was meant as an abstraction but it was so complicated to configure e.g. bridges (in OpenWRT) that you still had to study the underlying mechanics and learn how the full system worked; before you could really understand what you needed to do in the abstraction; rendering the purpose of the abstraction void.

What I see happening now is that anyone really interested in building somewhat more complex network setups to either conclude that NetworkManager is too complicated or that netplan is unnecessary.

If netplan is a frontend that leaves no persistent configuration (for NetworkManager for example) then it becomes very hard to understand the relationship. It also begs the question of whether or why NetworkManager syntax wouldn't suffice, unless the move is simply meant to get rid of /etc/network/interfaces.

Since understanding the capabilities of networkd-systemd vs. NetworkManager requires an understanding of its formats and capabilities, again it seems as though this understanding is required prior to using the abstraction of netplan.

Again, rendering its value void except for automatic replacements of the backend, which only can happen if both backends have the same full feature set.

So now the system administrator is not only required to understand NetworkManager and its format and capabilities, but netplan is now added to the mix.

I see no provision for any kind of scripting (the "up" syntax of /e/n/i) nor is their obviously support for the "mapping" feature of /e/n/i so for my use cases it won't work (unless I were to script this using e.g. NetworkManager itself).

"Customization parameters for special bonding options. Using the
NetworkManager renderer, parameter values for intervals should be
expressed in milliseconds; for the systemd renderer, they should be in
seconds unless otherwise specified."

So you need a rather detailed understanding of the backend in order to know how to use the frontend...

Now if the end goal is really to provide a front-end to systemd-networkd, then it probably serves its purpose, as nobody really wants to know the syntax of that backend.

Regards.

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