Re: Proposal: DNS change irc.gnome.org becomes A record and irc.gimpnet.org starts getting phased out.

[Guilherme de Siqueira Pastore <gpastore gnome org>]

On Thu, May 09, 2013 at 05:37:52PM +0200, Andrea Veri wrote:
> The IRCD ran by the GIMPNET team has all the configuration files pointing
> to their specific subdomains, that obviously won't change by just moving
> the CNAME to an A record. But that's actually expected since we don't run
> an IRCD server "in house" on the GNOME Infrastructure. (and that could be
> the only way for 'Your host is $hostname' to match with irc.gnome.org)

There actually are some ircd implementations providing a feature of virtual
hosts. Although debatable in many aspects, it could allow anyone connecting
to any GIMPNet server to be shown, to themselves and others, as connected to
irc.gnome.org, as long as that was the server informed in the USER command.

I do not believe that the ircd behind GIMPNet has this feature, though.
 
> I'm not sure if the GIMPNET team will agree to fix their MOTD et all to
> show the user connected to irc.gnome.org successfully for one main reason:
> GIMPNET is not only the GNOME IRC Network, but it currently serves many
> other irc channels not strictly GNOME-related.

The MOTD has no mention to *gimp*, if you take a closer look. Neither do the
server names, as a matter of fact. People are still connected to "GIMPNet",
however, as the network identifier.

Anyway, that was exactly the point of my last e-mail.

I was simply trying to argue that it is sure possible to switch from a CNAME
to an A DNS record. This is a technicality with little practical effect (as
long as GNOME keeps track of any changes in servers and their IP addresses).
We can also direct people to irc.gnome.org instead of irc.gimp.org, which may
be good in terms of public relations, but I think that is already the case.

But doing all that will not change the fact that they will still see
themselves connected to GIMPNet - which is a problem well outside the scope
of DNS changes.

To be honest, I am not even convinced there is indeed a problem, or at least
one we can solve (particularly while The GIMP continues to be an important
piece of any free desktop and continues to be called The GIMP).

I was just pointing out that, although the proposed change can be put into
effect without much further consideration, the original issue remains an
issue.


> 2013/5/9 Guilherme de Siqueira Pastore <gpastore gnome org>
>
> > On Thu, May 09, 2013 at 01:43:45PM +0200, Andrea Veri wrote:
> > > The current DNS entry is setup as a CNAME, that means connecting to
> > > irc.gnome.org will redirect your client to irc.gimp.org. The idea here
> > is
> > > to switch the DNS entry for irc.gnome.org to be an A record pointing to
> > the
> > > irc.gimp.org's IP and listing the new entry (irc.gnome.org) as the
> > official
> > > place contributors should connect to.
> > >
> > > That said, any of the irc.*.gimp.* entries will remain as it is (really
> > > there's no need to update / delete the relevant entry for the solely
> > reason
> > > that GIMPNET doesn't host only GNOME channels, we can't define GIMPNET as
> > > the *Official* GNOME network as of now), what will change is how the DNS
> > > record for the irc.gnome.org subdomain will look like, from a CNAME
> > (plain
> > > DNS redirect) to an A record.
> >
> > Then, with all due respect, I am not sure the proposed solution
> > sufficiently
> > addresses the initial concern (or which I was also originally not aware,
> > not
> > being a native speaker of English myself).
> >
> > IRC servers provide the server name in the 004 message upon connection and
> > in
> > the 351 reply to the VERSION command. They also (commonly) inform the
> > network
> > name in the de facto standard 005 numeric.
> >
> > That is the case for GIMPNet. Please note that, in the (stripped)
> > transcript
> > below, I specifically informed the server that I was trying to connect to
> > irc.gnome.org (third argument to the USER command):
> >
> > gpastore neodymium:~$ telnet irc.gnome.org 6667
> > Trying 82.99.16.155...
> > Connected to irc.gimp.org.
> > Escape character is '^]'.
> > NICK fatalerror
> > USER gpastore neodymium.pastore.eng.br irc.gnome.org :Guilherme Pastore
> > :irc.eagle.y.se 001 fatalerror :Welcome to the Internet Relay Network
> > fatalerror
> > :irc.eagle.y.se 002 fatalerror :Your host is irc.eagle.y.se[
> > irc.eagle.y.se/6667], running version 2.8/gimpnet-0.1beta3
> > :irc.eagle.y.se 004 fatalerror irc.eagle.y.se 2.8/gimpnet-0.1beta3
> > oOiwszcrkfydnxb biklmnopstve
> > :irc.eagle.y.se 005 fatalerror WALLCHOPS PREFIX=(ov)@+ CHANTYPES=#&
> > MAXCHANNELS=20 MAXBANS=50 NICKLEN=39 TOPICLEN=500 KICKLEN=90
> > NETWORK=GIMPNet CHANMODES=be,k,l,imnpst EXCEPTS MODES=4 :are supported by
> > this server
> > VERSION
> > :irc.eagle.y.se 351 fatalerror 2.8/gimpnet-0.1beta3(20020217_2).
> > irc.eagle.y.se :ACeGHiMpZ TS5ow
> > :irc.eagle.y.se 005 fatalerror WALLCHOPS PREFIX=(ov)@+ CHANTYPES=#&
> > MAXCHANNELS=20 MAXBANS=50 NICKLEN=39 TOPICLEN=500 KICKLEN=90
> > NETWORK=GIMPNet CHANMODES=be,k,l,imnpst EXCEPTS MODES=4 :are supported by
> > this server
> >
> > This is what all IRC clients I know will show and, as a consequence, what
> > the
> > user will see: GIMPNet - irc.eagle.y.se, as informed by the server, and
> > not
> > irc.gnome.org, solely because it is an A instead of CNAME DNS record.
> >
> > Just my two cents.
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Guilherme
>
>
> -- 
> Cheers,
>
> Andrea
>
> Debian Developer,
> Fedora / EPEL packager,
> GNOME Sysadmin,
> GNOME Foundation Membership & Elections Committee Chairman
>
> Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/~av