Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

roy.marples.name

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 233 posts

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#51

Post by einpoklum »

winfred wrote: post #31
sjtindell wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just in my personal opinion, things like a UBI move us towards that world. It wound allow people flexibility.

The way I see it, we already have that world, with capitalism functioning as a filter. I worked my ass off to reach financial independence, now I'm dedicating the rest of my life towards helping other people. I've proven to be capable of using the system to a degree where I can do whatever I want, which allows me the freedom to help other people full time. It's not a perfect system, but I doubt UBI will be much bette…

> I worked my ass off to reach financial independence

This is a false pursuit, and in a sense a vacuous statement.

You are never independent of society around you. You are in constant need of others doing that invisible and visible labor - in production and in services - to maintain your way of life.

It's only with Capitalism being the way it is that you need to "work your ass off" to not be financially dependent on your parents, or at the risk of a crisis and collapse upon losing your job etc.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#52

Post by spijdar »

userbinator wrote: post #50

That's sad to hear, but to think about the situation a bit more deeply, is DHCP software really something that needs "maintenance"? The protocol is decades old and stable, and no doubt the implementations in equally-old routers and other equipment continues to function unchanged and interoperate with much newer equipment.

Yes, without a doubt -- network software especially needs at least some maintenance to deal with security vulnerabilities. I'll say that not all software needs constant security supervision, but I think DHCP client/servers should. Among the other duties of maintainers. Bless all those who take up the thankless job...

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#53

Post by einpoklum »

numbsafari wrote: post #19
aeturnum wrote: post #9

This is a sad reminder of the masses of invisible labor (unpaid and paid) that hold up our world. Social scientists have been studying how labor becomes visible (or invisible) for a while without finding obvious solutions to "the situation." How can we build a world where an infinite procession specialists like Roy can get the care they need and also find and train successors in their important work? Not just because…

Is there anything like an “Open Source Hall of Fame”, for recognizing and remembering significant contributors? It’s not perfect, but perhaps it is a way to at least preserve the memory and the history.

Who is "significant"? If you make many people significant, you have a hall of fame so big that nobody can remember anybody. If you make few people significant, then most FOSS labor is again performed by unsung heroes.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#54

Post by genewitch »

vmception wrote: post #34
shadeslayer_ wrote: post #21

This is so sad because if you read his blog post from January 2021, he sounds so very hopeful and happy at the prospect of the immunotherapy working. It sounds like he discovered a new lease of life. Being thrown from that situation to the new prognosis which is infinitely worse, sounds like a hammer blow.

Cancer requires clinging to glimmers of hope. Yes, he felt that way at the time and yes, he wrote it down, but these improbabilities are all anyone ever has, its not over till it’s over. I read that post too, going from a tiny undetectable bump under the skin that only his partner noticed, to unbearable pain pressing against his spine making him unable to sleep and think clearly. It seems like 4 months were wasted ju…

There's a progression that is "forced" when you get a cancer diagnosis, especially if they have to surgically remove anything. They won't start chemo or anything else for several weeks post-op. It seems like you're trying to get appointments or whatever, but realistically, they're getting you in as soon as their liability (or patient care laws) says they can. Stage III, stage IV, doesn't matter. If they operate first, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting.

If you're an american, remember that FMLA only lasts a quarter, so if you can go back to work after the surgery but before the chemo i strongly suggest you do that if there's any concern about insurance or whatever, since you're probably going to want to sleep for the first few weeks worth of chemo dosing. Good luck to 1/2 of the american population, because that's the rate of cancer in the US.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#55

Post by bartvk »

userbinator wrote: post #50

That's sad to hear, but to think about the situation a bit more deeply, is DHCP software really something that needs "maintenance"? The protocol is decades old and stable, and no doubt the implementations in equally-old routers and other equipment continues to function unchanged and interoperate with much newer equipment.

Of course it needs maintenance. Architectures change, packaging methods change, software is started differently or earlier in the boot process, etc.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#56

Post by xianwen »

kblev wrote: post #32
1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #15

He came over to NetBSD from Gentoo a number of years ago, bringing dhcpd with him. An excellent acquisition for NetBSD. He has been a dedicated and thoughtful BSD developer. This is very sad news.

Was this a paid job or volunteer?

Volunteer.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#57

Post by wizzwizz4 »

winfred wrote: post #31
sjtindell wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just in my personal opinion, things like a UBI move us towards that world. It wound allow people flexibility.

The way I see it, we already have that world, with capitalism functioning as a filter. I worked my ass off to reach financial independence, now I'm dedicating the rest of my life towards helping other people. I've proven to be capable of using the system to a degree where I can do whatever I want, which allows me the freedom to help other people full time. It's not a perfect system, but I doubt UBI will be much bette…

Much of that “desperate need” is created, or worsened, by capitalism.¹

It isn't just a matter of “working hard”. Say you're a brilliantly capable developer for three months out of every year, have around four months of chronic pain and bad mental health unpredictably breaking up the remaining time. Unless you're wealthy, capitalism doesn't let you get to a situation where your bad mental health doesn't disrupt that five month stretch where you could be doing worthwhile things – even if you would make enough money in those three months to support yourself, when most of it's going into paying off the debt you got into because you lost your job and had to eat, it's difficult to do so.

Think this is a bit much? Okay, how about this: you're in jail on suspicion of committing some crime or other. This lasts 1½ weeks, before they realise that no, actually, you weren't guilty. But in the meantime, you've lost your job, and without the savings you'd usually gather prior to job-hopping… what then?

You might've worked really, really hard to get where you are. For many, working really, really hard simply isn't enough.

---

¹: “Capitalism” here is shorthand for “society being structured under the assumption that capitalism is a fully-general ideal solution for allocating all resources, and there are only a handful of narrow examples where it makes sense to do something else”. There's nothing inherent to capitalism that causes these things, any more than a chainsaw is responsible for felled trees. But this is pedantry, so I kept it out of the first sentence.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#58

Post by smitty1e »

sjtindell wrote: post #24
aeturnum wrote: post #9

This is a sad reminder of the masses of invisible labor (unpaid and paid) that hold up our world. Social scientists have been studying how labor becomes visible (or invisible) for a while without finding obvious solutions to "the situation." How can we build a world where an infinite procession specialists like Roy can get the care they need and also find and train successors in their important work? Not just because…

Just in my personal opinion, things like a UBI move us towards that world. It wound allow people flexibility.

Perhaps you're correct, and my cynicism misplaced.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#59

Post by mnd999 »

userbinator wrote: post #50

That's sad to hear, but to think about the situation a bit more deeply, is DHCP software really something that needs "maintenance"? The protocol is decades old and stable, and no doubt the implementations in equally-old routers and other equipment continues to function unchanged and interoperate with much newer equipment.

It probably doesn’t need many new features. But it needs someone to release bug fixes, and ports to new architectures, deal with CVEs etc.

Re: Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer

#60

Post by 1996 »

vmception wrote: post #34
shadeslayer_ wrote: post #21

This is so sad because if you read his blog post from January 2021, he sounds so very hopeful and happy at the prospect of the immunotherapy working. It sounds like he discovered a new lease of life. Being thrown from that situation to the new prognosis which is infinitely worse, sounds like a hammer blow.

Cancer requires clinging to glimmers of hope. Yes, he felt that way at the time and yes, he wrote it down, but these improbabilities are all anyone ever has, its not over till it’s over. I read that post too, going from a tiny undetectable bump under the skin that only his partner noticed, to unbearable pain pressing against his spine making him unable to sleep and think clearly. It seems like 4 months were wasted ju…

> It seems like 4 months were wasted just getting appointments.

That's the NHS "free" healthcare at play.

Remember, you get what you pay for!

Post reply on HN