Debcamp NBD work

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 15:07:26 +0200

I had planned to do some work on NBD while here at debcamp. Here's a progress report:

Task | Concept | Code | Tested
Change init script so it uses /etc/nbdtab rather than /etc/nbd-client for configuration | ✓ | ✓ | ✗
Change postinst so it converts existing /etc/nbd-client files to /etc/nbdtab | ✓ | ✗ | ✗
Change postinst so it generates /etc/nbdtab files from debconf | ✗ | ✗ | ✗
Create systemd unit for nbd based on /etc/nbdtab | ✓ | ✓ | ✓
Write STARTTLS support for client and/or server | ✓ | ✗ | ✗

The first four are needed to fix Debian bug #796633, of which "writing the systemd unit" was the one that seemed hardest. The good thing about debcamp, however, is that experts are aplenty (thanks Tollef), so that part's done now.

What's left:

Testing the init script modifications that I've made, so as to support those users who dislike systemd. They're fairly straightforward, and I don't anticipate any problems, but it helps to make sure.

Migrating the /etc/nbd-client configuration file to an nbdtab(5) one. This should be fairly straightforward, it's just a matter of Writing The Code(TM).

Changing the whole debconf setup so it writes (and/or updates) an nbdtab(5) file rather than a /etc/nbd-client shell snippet. This falls squarely into the "OMFG what the F*** was I thinking when I wrote that debconf stuff 10 years ago" area. I'll probably deal with it somehow. I hope. Not so sure how to do so yet, though.

If I manage to get all of the above to work and there's time left, I'll have a look at implementing STARTTLS support into nbd-client and nbd-server. A spec for that exists already, there's an alternative NBD implementation which has already implemented it, and preliminary patches exist for the reference implementation, so it's known to work; I just need to spend some time slapping the pieces together and making it work.

Ah well. Good old debcamp.