Changes/NetworkScriptsRemoval

Removing network-scripts package

This is a proposed Change for Fedora Linux.
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.

Summary

network-scripts package will be removed in Fedora 41. By removing the package, we also remove support for legacy ifup/ifdown network scripts that have been deprecated since 2018.

Owner

• Name: Jan Macku
• Name: Lukáš Nykrýn

• Email: jamacku@redhat.com
• Email: lnykryn@redhat.com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 41
• Last updated: 2024-06-11
• Announced
• Discussion thread
• FESCo issue: #3221
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

network-scripts will be removed in Fedora 41. It provides legacy ifup/ifdown scripts as well as network.service.

The network-scripts were deprecated in 2018, and since then, upstream has provided only limited support.

The main reason for removing network-scripts is that ISC dhcp has not been maintained upstream since the end of 2022. There is plan to remove it upcoming Fedora release. Network scripts heavily depend on the DHCP client, and since Network Scripts are no longer developed, there is no chance of updating them to use an alternative client.

Benefit to Fedora

We don't deliver software that has been deprecated for many years, unmaintained upstream, and for which we don't have resources to maintain downstream. Additionally, it simplifies networking tasks for users and administrators because NetworkManager will be used more uniformly across Fedora environments.

Scope

• Proposal owners: Removing of network-scripts rpm package.

• Other developers: Make sure that dependency on network-scripts package is removed (see #Dependencies).

• Release engineering: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

• Alignment with Community Initiatives: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Upgrade/compatibility impact

ifup/ifdown command are no longer available. Use nmcli connection up/down or networkctl up/down instead.

Old ifcfg network configuration should still work thanks to NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh package. No migration is needed, but it is recommended to migrate from ifcfg to keyfiles configuration.

You can use one of the following articles on how to migrate:

• https://fedoramagazine.org/converting-networkmanager-from-ifcfg-to-keyfiles/
• https://opensource.com/article/22/8/migrate-networkmanager-keyfiles-configuration

How To Test

Networking should work as before the removal of network-scripts package.

Dependencies

RPM packages that depends in some form on network-scripts:

• libteam - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2262986
• NetworkManager - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2275295
• openvswitch - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2262982
• ppp - https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2262981

Note that this will also affect all users with local custom network-scripts that require functionality from network-scripts package.

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Since dhcp client is no longer maintained and is going to be deprecated in Fedora, there is currently no contingency mechanism.
• Contingency deadline: beta freeze
• Blocks release: No

Documentation

• Upstream Deprecation notice - https://github.com/fedora-sysv/initscripts/commit/b748244cf9905696baf1bc16e0432f85093414c2