#49 cross edition collaboration on default/fallback hostname
Closed: upstream 2 years ago by dustymabe. Opened 2 years ago by dustymabe.

In the Fedora IoT working group meeting today I met with the team to discuss collaborating on a possible change to the default/fallback hostname in Fedora IoT in the future.

The pitch for the change/collaboration is as follows:


Back in Fedora 33 the default hostname was changed from localhost to fedora on instances that didn't get the hostname set in any other way (i.e. it's the fallback if it's not set anywhere else). As far as I know this change came in in systemd and was never proposed as a change in Fedora itself.

Here's the original enablement upstream https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/5175 and the BZ requesting the change in Fedora: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1392925

Unfortunately, this initiallly caused us in FCOS some pain because setting the hostname via reverse DNS lookups (via NetworkManager) stopped working along with breaking 3rd party tools that set the hostname. The NM problem was subsequently fixed, but it still remains that a lot of third party software will check to see if an instance's hostname is "unset" by checking the current hostname against the string "localhost". Additionally it even seems that this change will never be picked up by CentOS/RHEL (see https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/systemd/c/13d1341b108a24d13f5922054307b5c2efc6836a?branch=rawhide).

The open question is, what do we think the fallback hostname should be for server like instances? And.. Should we do anything to change it for a subset of Editions/Working Groups in Fedora?


The meeting attendees today seemed to believe we should make a change. Here is a transcript of the chat:

<details>

11:30:17        coremodule | #topic default/fallback hostname in Fedora
11:30:17                -- | zodbot has changed topic for #fedora-meeting from "4) ====   
                           | Fedora 37/Rawhide status ==== (Meeting topic: Fedora IoT Working
                           | Group Meeting)" to "default/fallback hostname in Fedora (Meeting
                           | topic: Fedora IoT Working Group Meeting)"
11:30:27        coremodule | Okay, *now* the floor is all yours dustymabe :)
11:30:33         dustymabe | hi all! 
11:30:54           pwhalen | howdy dustymabe :)
11:32:04         dustymabe | sorry my connection dropped
11:32:06         dustymabe | back now 
11:32:21         dustymabe | so i'm here to discuss a pain point we had in FCOS a little
                           | while back
11:32:35         dustymabe | Back in Fedora 33 the default hostname was changed from
                           | `localhost` to `fedora` on instances that didn't get the
                           | hostname set in any other way (i.e. it's the fallback if it's
                           | not set anywhere else). As far as I know this change came in in
                           | systemd and was never proposed as a change in Fedora itself. 
11:32:50         dustymabe | Here's the original enablement upstream
                           | https://github.com/systemd/systemd/pull/5175 and the BZ
                           | requesting the change in Fedora:   
                           | https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1392925
11:32:52               <-- | odra (~odra@2804:431:c7e0:b023:68ae:3fab:e4af:7bee) has quit
                           | (Remote host closed the connection)
11:32:57         dustymabe | Unfortunately, this initiallly caused us in FCOS some pain
                           | because reverse DNS lookups for hostname stopped working. This
                           | was subsequently fixed I believe, but it still remains that a
                           | lot of third party software will check to see if an instances
                           | hostname is "unset" by checking the current hostname against the
                           | string "localhost".
11:33:22               --> | odra [odra] (Leonardo Rossetti)
                           | (~odra@2804:431:c7e0:b023:dd2f:9072:ec49:df2d) has joined
                           | #fedora-meeting 
11:33:27         dustymabe | The question I have here today is, what do we think the fallback
                           | hostname should be for Server like instances?
11:35:23           pwhalen | right, I recall the unexpected change. Good question, has coreos
                           | decided on a short list? 
11:35:36         dustymabe | pwhalen: "short list" being?
11:35:53           pwhalen | short list of options being considered
11:36:19         dustymabe | we have an open ticket to discuss future steps:
                           | https://github.com/coreos/fedora-coreos-tracker/issues/902
11:36:42         dustymabe | right now mainly being to figure out what other working groups
                           | think. If we can find agreement we'll propose a change and
                           | discuss with FESCO
11:38:12        coremodule | dustymabe, what do you think the fallback should be? back to
                           | 'localhost'?
11:38:23         dustymabe | the option I'm pursuing is to get the groups to agree that we
                           | want `localhost` as our fallback hostname and somehow implement
                           | that at the distro level (maybe fedora-release subpackages or
                           | something) 
11:39:03         dustymabe | but open to other options.. basically what we're looking for is 
                           | backwards compat with what third party software expects, which
                           | is `localhost`. 
11:39:20           pwhalen | yea, I tend to agree
11:39:43           pwhalen | as it was
11:39:52        coremodule | +1 to that
11:40:39           tdawson | Beyond scripts ... all the documentation that would have to
                           | change and be updated if it isn't "localhost" ... +1 to go back
                           | to "localhost"
11:40:53         dustymabe | what's the best way to proceed to get an official answer from
                           | the IoT group on collaaboration on this effort? 
11:41:02         dustymabe | open a ticket and have people voice suppot there? 
11:41:44         dustymabe | and if so, which repo is best for that? 
11:42:22        coremodule | dustymabe, that's probably the most official way, yeah. could
                           | you send the ticket and a brief proposal to the iot list too?
11:42:32        coremodule | probably here is the best play to open an issue:
11:42:32        coremodule | https://pagure.io/fedora-iot/issues

However, let's get input from people who weren't present today.

The current proposal is that we should work to get back to the default/fallback being localhost for IoT. This matches what FCOS is currently doing (see https://github.com/coreos/fedora-coreos-tracker/issues/902). How we achieve that goal together is an implementation detail that can be discussed after it's decided that's the way we want to go.


+1, let's go back to what most people expect

Agreed, I think going back to 'localhost' makes the most sense. +1

@pwhalen or @coremodule - would you be willing to be a co-sponsor of a change proposal?

@pwhalen or @coremodule - would you be willing to be a co-sponsor of a change proposal?

Sure :)

The change proposal was accepted for Fedora 37 (see the FESCO issue).

I'll close out this issue and we can all follow the tracking BZ for updates.

Metadata Update from @dustymabe:
- Issue close_status updated to: upstream
- Issue status updated to: Closed (was: Open)

2 years ago

The change proposal was accepted for Fedora 37 (see the FESCO issue).

I'll close out this issue and we can all follow the tracking BZ for updates.

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