Changes/retire NIS user space utils

Retire the NIS(+) user-space utility programs

Summary

This change is about retiring the ypbind, yp-tools, and ypserv packages, and removal of the {nis,yp}domainname user-space utility programs from the hostname package.

Owner

• Name: Björn Esser
• Email: besser82@fedoraproject.org

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora Linux 36
• Last updated: 2021-10-21
• FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
• Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

Those utility programs used to be present on virtually any UNIX system for decades, but are starting to become more and more deprecated. Also NIS(+) is known for not being secure at all. As we are going to remove the support for NIS(+) in PAM during this development cycle, we also should get rid of those.

Feedback

There was some discussion on the fedora-devel mailing-list. Some people are reluctant about the removal of NIS(+) user-space support, while most are okay with it as there are more secure alternatives (LDAP, FreeIPA, etc.) available. The FPL is +1 on doing so.

Benefit to Fedora

With this change we start directing our users and developers to move away from NIS(+) to secure alternatives like LDAP and/or FreeIPA.

Scope

• Proposal owners:
  • Retire the ypbind, yp-tools, and ypserv packages from Fedora.
  • Remove the {nis,yp}domainname user-space utility programs from the hostname package.

• Other developers:
  • Test this change.

• Release engineering: #10352

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

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

• Alignment with Objectives: N/A

Upgrade/compatibility impact

Users that were relying on support for NIS(+) will need to move to secure alternatives like LDAP and/or FreeIPA.

How To Test

Check whether the named utility programs are still installed on your system after upgrading. If they are gone, everything is fine.

User Experience

For some users this change may be a bit disruptive and it may require some learning curve for switching to alternative solutions.

Dependencies

There are actually no external dependencies.

Contingency Plan

• Contingency mechanism: Unretire the packages and build them for Fedora 36.
• Contingency deadline: At beta freeze.
• Blocks release? Yes.

Documentation

The documentation about those utility programs should be dropped, if there even is any.

Release Notes

The NIS(+) user-space utility programs have been removed from the distribution.