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Bug 128538

Summary: sys-apps/coreutils: /bin/hostname should be installed from coreutils not sys-apps/net-tools
Product: Gentoo Linux Reporter: xiaokj
Component: Current packagesAssignee: Gentoo's Team for Core System packages <base-system>
Status: UNCONFIRMED ---    
Severity: enhancement CC: alexander, alex_y_xu, blackrabbit, manday, mattst88, ne3dle, pastas4, steffen.weber, yaroslav.isakov, zerochaos
Priority: Normal    
Version: unspecified   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   
See Also: https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=645024
Whiteboard:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---
Bug Depends on:    
Bug Blocks: 645024    

Description xiaokj 2006-04-02 09:59:10 UTC
WARNING: NEWBIE ALERT!

! I do not know if this belongs here, and I've searched. Please bear with me.

As people start to migrate from net-tools (ifconfig, route and the likes) to iproute2, I think many will find it stupid to have to have net-tools in the system profile just for /bin/hostname.

Moreover, /bin/hostname is a program from coreutils, and should rightly be installed as part of coreutils.

Problem is, Gentoo's portage system seems to filter away /bin/hostname from coreutils and require net-tools to be installed for /bin/hostname.

Thus, the logical path would be to return /bin/hostname to coreutils and create a virtual package for inet support that is supported by either net-tools or iproute2.

Thank you.
Comment 1 SpanKY gentoo-dev 2006-04-02 12:16:24 UTC
except net-tools provides a hell of a lot more than just `hostname`
Comment 2 xiaokj 2006-04-03 01:30:57 UTC
Dear all,

Please do read my request. Of course I know net-tools provides much more than hostname.

But right now, my system requires absolutely nothing in net-tools (ifconfig, arp and route are replaced by ip in iproute2).

And anyway, hostname BELONGS to coreutils, NOT net-tools.

Please return hostname to coreutils, and provide a virtual for net-tools to be replaced by iproute2. I simply do not wish to be bugged by system to install net-tools anymore. I do not need it at all, and I foresee that, in the future, many people will find net-tools (ifconfig, arp, route and friends) extra and space wasting. I'm not asking for removal of net-tools, but rather allowing something else to replace net-tools if people want to.

Thanks you for your attention. I know I am a little long-winded. But after force  installing hostname from coreutils (ebuild) and installing iproute2, I'm super irritated by system's dependancy for net-tools when I know I do not need it.
Comment 3 SpanKY gentoo-dev 2006-04-03 07:47:12 UTC
i dont recall any document saying who "owns" hostname

if you dont want net-tools on your system, add it to /etc/portage/profile/package.provided

net-tools cannot be removed from the default profile as it also provides the domainname binary which coreutils does not provide a replacement
Comment 4 xiaokj 2006-04-03 09:56:41 UTC
Ok, I understand you.

But its a shame that package.provided does not work. And also a shame because domainname is part of net-tools, not separate.

Thank you.
Comment 5 Alex Xu (Hello71) 2014-09-06 00:48:20 UTC
*** Bug 444232 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 6 Rick Farina (Zero_Chaos) gentoo-dev 2014-09-06 02:12:54 UTC
It may be time to reassess this.  There has been a lot of talk about changes to @system, so I'm reopening this for a fresh lot at our options.
Comment 7 Samuli Suominen (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2014-09-17 06:13:18 UTC
(In reply to Rick Farina (Zero_Chaos) from comment #6)
> It may be time to reassess this.  There has been a lot of talk about changes
> to @system, so I'm reopening this for a fresh lot at our options.

I second this. Looking at what other distributions are doing, is exactly this, move to hostname from coreutils
Comment 8 Mike Gilbert gentoo-dev 2014-09-17 23:14:40 UTC
hostname from net-tools accepts a --file argument. coreutils does not. So it would not be a drop-in replacement.

Probably not critical, but I wanted to point it out.
Comment 10 Dainius Masiliƫnas 2016-09-28 22:11:50 UTC
Indeed, it would be nice if net-tools was no longer in @system, since iproute2 is there already.
Comment 11 Matt Turner gentoo-dev 2017-07-04 23:48:59 UTC
Can we try switching the defaults yet? It does seem like a good plan to remove net-tools from @system.
Comment 12 needle 2024-01-18 11:38:01 UTC
(In reply to xiaokj from comment #0)
> WARNING: NEWBIE ALERT!
> 
> ! I do not know if this belongs here, and I've searched. Please bear with me.
> 
> As people start to migrate from net-tools (ifconfig, route and the likes) to
> iproute2, I think many will find it stupid to have to have net-tools in the
> system profile just for /bin/hostname.
> 
> Moreover, /bin/hostname is a program from coreutils, and should rightly be
> installed as part of coreutils.
[...]

Hi,

I have now this, on my system. net-tools is not installed anymore, and hostame is built from the coreutils package.

------

hostname --help
Usage: hostname [NAME]
  or:  hostname OPTION
Print or set the hostname of the current system.

      --help        display this help and exit
      --version     output version information and exit

GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
Full documentation <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/hostname>
or available locally via: info '(coreutils) hostname invocation'

------

eix -I net-tools
No matches found

------

net-tools is still part of the system package but I am running gentoo now using iproute2 only. no net-tools needed.

I hope this helps speeding up closing this bug report.
Comment 13 Sam James archtester Gentoo Infrastructure gentoo-dev Security 2024-01-19 05:13:45 UTC
(In reply to needle from comment #12)
> I hope this helps speeding up closing this bug report.

Unfortunately, not really. As discussed above, one issue is risking breakage when we change implementations for hostname (https://bugs.gentoo.org/128538#c8).