[announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Laurent Bercot]

  Hello,

  New versions of all the skarnet.org packages are available.
  This is a big one, fixing a lot of small bugs, optimizing a lot behind
the scenes, adding some functionality. Some major version bumps were
necessary, which means compatibility with previous versions is not
guaranteed; updating the whole stack is strongly recommended.

  Also, tipidee is out! If you've been looking for a small inetd-like
Web server that is still standards-compliant and fast, you should
definitely check it out.

skalibs-2.14.0.0             (major)
nsss-0.2.0.4                 (release)
utmps-0.1.2.2                (release)
execline-2.9.4.0             (minor)
s6-2.12.0.0                  (major)
s6-rc-0.5.4.2                (release)
s6-linux-init-1.1.2.0        (minor)
s6-portable-utils-2.3.0.3    (release)
s6-linux-utils-2.6.2.0       (minor)
s6-dns-2.3.6.0               (minor)
s6-networking-2.6.0.0        (major)
mdevd-0.1.6.3                (release)
smtpd-starttls-proxy-0.0.1.3 (release)
bcnm-0.0.1.7                 (release)
dnsfunnel-0.0.1.6            (release)
tipidee-0.1.0.0              (new!)


  * skalibs-2.14.0.0
    ----------------

  This version of skalibs adds a lot of new sysdeps, a lot of new
functions, and changes to existing functions, in order to support
the new features in other packages.
  The most important change is the new cspawn() function, providing
an interface to posix_spawn() with support for most of its options
with a fork() fallback for systems that do not have it.
  What this means is that on systems supporting posix_spawn(), the
number of calls to fork() in the whole skarnet.org stack has been
significantly reduced. This is important for programs where spawning
a new process is in a hot path - typically s6-tcpserver.

  Updating skalibs is a prerequisite for updating any other part of
the skarnet.org stack.
  Once you've updated skalibs, you probably don't *have to* update
the rest; old versions of packages should generally build with the new
skalibs as is, and if indeed they do, nothing should break. But it is
a major update, so there are no guarantees; please update to the
latest versions at your convenience.

  https://skarnet.org/software/skalibs/
  git://git.skarnet.org/skalibs


  * execline-2.9.4.0
    ----------------

  - execlineb now has a dummy -e option (it does nothing). This is so
it can be used as a replacement for a shell in more environments.
Also, execline programs use fork() a lot less, so overall execline
script performance is better.
  - The multicall setup did not properly install symbolic links for
execline programs; this is fixed, and is fixed as well as in other
packages supporting a multicall setup (s6-portable-utils and
s6-linux-utils).

  https://skarnet.org/software/execline/
  git://git.skarnet.org/execline


  * s6-2.12.0.0
    -----------

  - s6 programs use fork() less.
  - New -s option to s6-svc, to send a signal by name or number.
  - s6-svscan has been entirely rewritten, in order to handle logged
services in a more logical, less ad-hoc way. It should also be more
performant when running as init for a system with lots of s6-supervise
processes (improved reaping routine).
  - The obsolete (and clunky) s6lockd subsystem has been deleted.
s6-setlock now implements timed locking in a much simpler way.

  https://skarnet.org/software/s6/
  git://git.skarnet.org/s6


  * s6-linux-init-1.1.2.0
    ---------------------

  - New -v option to s6-linux-init-maker, setting the boot verbosity.
  - Several small bugfixes, one of them being crucial: now your
systems shut down one second faster!

  https://skarnet.org/software/s6-linux-init/
  git://git.skarnet.org/s6-linux-init


  * s6-linux-utils-2.6.2.0
    ----------------------

  - Support for the minflt and majflt fields in s6-ps.

  https://skarnet.org/software/s6-linux-utils/
  git://git.skarnet.org/s6-linux-utils


  * s6-dns-2.3.6.0
    --------------

  - Support for on-demand /etc/hosts data in s6-dnsip and s6-dnsname.
It is achieved by first processing /etc/hosts into a cdb, then looking
up data in the cdb. You can, if you so choose, perform this processing
in advance via a new binary: s6-dns-hosts-compile.

  https://skarnet.org/software/s6-dns/
  git://git.skarnet.org/s6-dns


  * s6-networking-2.6.0.0
    ---------------------

  This is the package that has undergone the biggest changes.

  - No more s6-tcpserver{4,6}[d]. IPv4 and IPv6 are now handled by the
same program, s6-tcpserver, which chainloads into a unique long-lived
one, s6-tcpserverd.
  - s6-tcpserver now exports TCPLOCALIP and TCPLOCALPORT without the
need to invoke s6-tcpserver-access.
  - s6-tcpserver-access does not hardcode a warning when it is
invoked without a ruleset. It can now just be used for additional data
gathering (such as TCPREMOTEHOST) without jumping through hoops.
  - s6-tcpserverd has been thoroughly optimized for performance. It will
handle as heavy a load as the underlying system will allow.
  - Yes, this means you can now use s6-tcpserver to serve 10k clients.
  - s6-tlsc and s6-tlsd have been deforked.
  - This means establishing a TCP + TLS connection is lighter on CPU
usage and has shorter latency, which is important if, example chosen
at random, you're going to serve files over HTTPS.

  https://skarnet.org/software/s6-networking/
  git://git.skarnet.org/s6-networking


  *  tipidee-0.0.1.0
     ---------------

  - Finally, it's officially released! The skarnet.org web server.
  - Full HTTP/1.1 support with virtual domains, CGI support,
customizable headers, customizable error pages, and more.
  - Works under s6-tcpserver/s6-tlsserver. Or another TCP or TLS
super-server, even inetd, if you insist - but you won't get the
same kind of performance.

  https://skarnet.org/software/tipidee/
  git://git.skarnet.org/tipidee


  Enjoy,
  And, as always, bug-reports are welcome.

--
  Laurent

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Alexis]

An mdoc(7) port of the docs for tipidee is available:

    https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/tipidee-man-pages/archive/v0.0.1.0.1.tar.gz

i hope to start work on updates to the other skaware man page 
ports in the coming days.

"Laurent Bercot" <ska-skaware@skarnet.org> writes:

>  New versions of all the skarnet.org packages are available.
>  This is a big one, fixing a lot of small bugs, optimizing a lot 
>  behind
> the scenes, adding some functionality. Some major version bumps 
> were
> necessary, which means compatibility with previous versions is 
> not
> guaranteed; updating the whole stack is strongly recommended.
>
>  Also, tipidee is out! If you've been looking for a small 
>  inetd-like
> Web server that is still standards-compliant and fast, you 
> should
> definitely check it out.

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Alex Kiernan]

On Mon, Nov 6, 2023 at 2:17 PM Laurent Bercot <ska-skaware@skarnet.org> wrote:
>
>
>   Hello,
>
>   New versions of all the skarnet.org packages are available.
>   This is a big one, fixing a lot of small bugs, optimizing a lot behind
> the scenes, adding some functionality. Some major version bumps were
> necessary, which means compatibility with previous versions is not
> guaranteed; updating the whole stack is strongly recommended.
>
>   Also, tipidee is out! If you've been looking for a small inetd-like
> Web server that is still standards-compliant and fast, you should
> definitely check it out.
>
> skalibs-2.14.0.0             (major)

Minor issue, the version linked from the web page
(https://skarnet.org/software/skalibs/) needs a bump

-- 
Alex Kiernan

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Alexis]

Updated versions of my man page ports are now available:

https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-man-pages/refs/v2.12.0.0.1
https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-networking-man-pages/refs/v2.6.0.0.1
https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/execline-man-pages/refs/v2.9.4.0.1
https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-linux-init-man-pages/refs/v1.1.2.0.1
https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-portable-utils-man-pages/refs/v2.3.0.3.1
https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-rc-man-pages/refs/v0.5.4.2.1


Alexis.

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[aitor]

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Hi,

On 11/11/23 7:48, Alexis wrote:

> Updated versions of my man page ports are now available:
> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-man-pages/refs/v2.12.0.0.1
> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-networking-man-pages/refs/v2.6.0.0.1
>
> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/execline-man-pages/refs/v2.9.4.0.1
>
> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-linux-init-man-pages/refs/v1.1.2.0.1
>
> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-portable-utils-man-pages/refs/v2.3.0.3.1
>
> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-rc-man-pages/refs/v0.5.4.2.1
>
> Alexis.

Thanks for the man pages, Alexis. I'll work on an APT repository for Devuan.

Cheers,

Aitor.

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Alexis]

aitor <aitor_czr@gnuinos.org> writes:

> Thanks for the man pages, Alexis. I'll work on an APT repository 
> for Devuan.

That'd be great, thanks! s6-man-pages is only packaged for a few 
distros:

    https://repology.org/project/s6-man-pages/versions

(Not listed is Gentoo, my daily driver, although a package is 
available via the 'bgo-overlay' repo; it'd be nice if someone were 
willing to maintain a package in the 'gentoo' or 'GURU' repos, 
given that Gentoo is one of the main distros allowing a 
non-systemd-based setup.)

And e.g. s6-linux-init-man-pages is only packaged for Alpine:

    https://repology.org/project/s6-linux-init-man-pages/versions

Best wishes!


Alexis.

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Petr Vaněk]

On Thu, Nov 23, 2023 at 11:03:02AM +1100, Alexis wrote:
> s6-man-pages is only packaged for a few distros:
> 
>     https://repology.org/project/s6-man-pages/versions
> 
> (Not listed is Gentoo, my daily driver, although a package is
> available via the 'bgo-overlay' repo; it'd be nice if someone were
> willing to maintain a package in the 'gentoo' or 'GURU' repos, given
> that Gentoo is one of the main distros allowing a non-systemd-based
> setup.)

I was always wondering, do you synchronize man pages just by hand or is
there some automation involved? Anyway, I plan to package s6-*man-pages
for gentoo.

Petr

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[Alexis]

Petr Vaněk <arkamar@atlas.cz> writes:

> I was always wondering, do you synchronize man pages just by 
> hand or is
> there some automation involved?

By hand. i generate a diff of what's changed, and then manually 
convert that to mdoc(7). How long that takes varies between 
releases, due to various factors.

The HTML source is mostly presentational markup, whereas mdoc(7) 
is semantic markup (in contrast to man(7), as used for the Linux 
man pages, which is mostly a presentational markup language). It's 
often not possible to algorithmically determine what semantic 
markup is required for a given presentational tag: for instance, 
is a given '<em>' tag indicating an argument (= 'Ar' in mdoc), or 
a program (possibly 'Xr', possibly something else), 'mere' 
emphasis (= 'Em'), or something else?

i personally find mdoc(7) far more pleasant to work with than 
man(7) - i probably wouldn't have done the port if use of the 
latter had been a requirement - and the fact that it's semantic 
means it's possible to do things like use apropos(1) to search for 
pages containing particular terms in particular contexts 
(e.g. uses of a specific environment variable).

> Anyway, I plan to package s6-*man-pages for gentoo.

Wonderful, thank you! i would suggest they should go in the 
'app-doc' category (but of course i'll defer to the Gentoo devs on 
this).


Alexis.

Re: [announce] skarnet.org November 2023 release

[aitor]

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Hi again,

On 22/11/23 21:34, aitor wrote:
> Hi,
> On 11/11/23 7:48, Alexis wrote:
>> Updated versions of my man page ports are now available:
>> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-man-pages/refs/v2.12.0.0.1
>> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-networking-man-pages/refs/v2.6.0.0.1
>>
>> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/execline-man-pages/refs/v2.9.4.0.1
>>
>> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-linux-init-man-pages/refs/v1.1.2.0.1
>>
>> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-portable-utils-man-pages/refs/v2.3.0.3.1 
>>
>>
>> https://git.sr.ht/~flexibeast/s6-rc-man-pages/refs/v0.5.4.2.1
>>
>> Alexis.
> Thanks for the man pages, Alexis. I'll work on an APT repository for Devuan.

I've posted in the Antix forum explaining how to install the s6 packages:

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/reply/129159/

Tested in the Antix official images (runit versions). The packaging should work in devuan and derivatives as well,
but then you want to create the symlink:

/bin/execlineb -> /usr/bin/execlineb

that has not been included in the packaging for Antix due to the debian /usr merge:

https://wiki.debian.org/UsrMerge

Cheers,

Aitor.