Diseased Open Source Software Community - it's about ethics in Code of Conducts

The reason ZFS is not as popular as it could be on Linux is mostly because of the legal situation surrounding it that prevents it from being mainlined into the kernel. As a result, packaging it on its own is extremely problematic. The ZFS On Linux Team only builds new releases for LTS kernels, and if you're not on LTS there's no guarantee it won't just crash (or worse).

On Arch (which always uses the latest stable kernel), they have a separate package repo that contains the ZFS packages, and a group of people that do burn-in tests with the latest kernel releases to empirically test whether it's busted. When it breaks, you can end up blocked from upgrading or even installing new packages on your system for weeks to months due to how pacman works.

But, if you're on an LTS kernel / distro that has good support, it works really well.
 
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Redeemer said:
The reason ZFS is not as popular as it could be on Linux is mostly because of the legal situation surrounding it that prevents it from being mainlined into the kernel. As a result, packaging it on its own is extremely problematic.
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I believe redhat does/did package it via a shipped precompiled binary ("Its not a CDDL violation that way!"). But redhat also has the money to fight off a proper lawsuit by Sun whereas most regular devs don't.

More worrying is (Open) ZFS native encryption being busted forever.
 
Darkholme's Dungeon said:
More worrying is (Open) ZFS native encryption being busted forever.
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I've been using ZFS native encryption for years on both storage and root drives (root via ZFSBootMenu). I've never run into the zfs send/recv corruption issue, but I do manually make my snapshots and send them to backup drives. From what I understand the issue was related to multiple zfs sends running simultaneously?

Looks like the main github issue has been closed. Is this still an issue?
 
HootersMcBoobies said:
I've been using ZFS native encryption for years on both storage and root drives (root via ZFSBootMenu). I've never run into the zfs send/recv corruption issue, but I do manually make my snapshots and send them to backup drives. From what I understand the issue was related to multiple zfs sends running simultaneously?

Looks like the main github issue has been closed. Is this still an issue?
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I think they fixed some of the major ones but there's still some serious bugs. Of course it's a gentoo (my distro of choice) compile, so there's the chance the user might just be a complete fucking retard and misconfigured something (SAD! Many such cases!).
Immutable data corruption(?) after hitting #13709 #14166
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This appears to be a scrub related (possibly hardware too) issue. Which worries me because I remember whe BTFS scrub would yeet your installs.
Just snapshotted my machine over to a virtual machine to see what a scrub would do, & by pure luck I can definitely note that scrubs are prone to causing this bug, at least if it's already hit the pool. Random files that were readable right before the scrub are made immutable & unreadable after the scrub.
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There's the one you mentioned that they've been trying to track down for a while. Might be related to above, but they suspect it isn't fully fixed yet. I think someone opened a ticket about a regression recently but it's not show stopping with a panic and being unrecovverable anymore so that's good (?).
panic in zfs arc_release during zfs send of encrypted dataset
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There's a few more hanging around:
Better than what it was before, so I'm not complaining about them working on it. Supposedly the OpenZFS foundation actually acknowledged it was a major issue and is trying to fix them all.
 
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filthypenguin said:
If you're not aware, Broadcom purchased VMWare from Dell and immediately tripled the prices for license renewals. They've since stopped allowing VARs to sell the licenses, and I've been told that even buying direct isn't an option anymore unless they deem you worthy.
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Don't forget they removed the free ESXi version and changed their minds just recently, probably from users leaving to proxmox.

I'd love to leave VMware and go to proxmox at work, it would save us a ton of money with how expensive it's gotten. I think they even dropped their perpetual licenses so you're stuck on subscriptions.

I'm still on Proxmox 8 at home. Anyone try out new version yet?
 
Angie Wormwood said:
Networking is leagues better in BSD, particularly when it comes to state handling and routing. That's why it's a much better alternative to Linux when it comes to firewall and router appliances. Not to say that Linux can't do the job (see: Openwrt), but BSD tends to be the preferable option there. Also BSD's design philosophy results in a lowered attack surface.
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Not wanting to start a flame-war but can you expand on this?
Direct DM's are fine if you think it would derail the thread, I am just curious.

If anything with routing and linux is that it changes too fast unless you work on it daily.
ipchains: lol grandpa, we switched to iptables after your third kid was born
iptables: lol we use nftables now, old man.

Every time I need to dive deep into packet-filtering it seems like the command-line tools an the API has changed.
 
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Cuckoman said:
Not wanting to start a flame-war but can you expand on this?
Direct DM's are fine if you think it would derail the thread, I am just curious.

If anything with routing and linux is that it changes too fast unless you work on it daily.
ipchains: lol grandpa, we switched to iptables after your third kid was born
iptables: lol we use nftables now, old man.

Every time I need to dive deep into packet-filtering it seems like the command-line tools an the API has changed.
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All good. Here's some deep-dive answers that can go way more into the technical weeds than I can.

Most of the benchmarks I can find are old, but one thing to consider is that the BSD network stack is very stable and very old, meaning it's had a lot of time to be developed and pushed through. The network stack has been around as long as Linux has in its entirety. The Linux network stack has undergone a number of revisions and major changes in the years.

Again, this isn't to say that the Linux networking stack is bad. Just when we're talking about big network and security devices there's a better choice, which is usually BSD.
 
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Darkholme's Dungeon said:
This sounds like the starsector mod shit all over again. Some 4channer made a rape mod to spite the devs modders and the devs modderswent full retard and made malware that would fuck with your computer if you had the mod.
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That's what TurboDriver did to ColonelNutty then tried to get a PA here too. What's it with people and making addons to destroy computers if you have a software with another?
 
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Angie Wormwood said:
Networking is leagues better in BSD, particularly when it comes to state handling and routing.
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My only complaint with BSD and networking is that it's so antiquated that in TrueNAS Core they default to New Reno for TCP congestion control. It creates a horrible sawtooth effect when streaming a large amount of data over a high latency link so at first my ZFS syncing was a non-starter. After I realized what was going on, I changed it to CUBIC, which doubled the maximum throughput and made the sawtooth effect far less pronounced.

Anyone running a BSD server should look at what net.inet.tcp.cc.algorithm is set to and if it's newreno, you should consider adopting another algorithm. CUBIC is a decent all rounder and the default in Linux and recent versions of Windows.
 
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Another cross-post info from General Smartphone Discussion Thread about CalyxOS, if anyone is interested.
In short: new leadership, new keys, project on hold for 4-6 mo., no updates and users are told to uninstall the OS.
HalHalliday said:
What a bunch of cocksuckers to just stealthily update the previous article instead of making a new one.

For you convenience:
CalyxOS - A letter to the CalyxOS community
Update: August 5 2025

We appreciate your valid concerns and questions around the security and safety of CalyxOS.

First, we want to assure you that we have no reason to believe the security of CalyxOS and its signing keys have been compromised.

As you know, we announced a recent leadership transition. When senior personnel have access to signing keys and leave a team, it is security best practice to update signing keys and conduct audits. So in accordance with that, we are using this transition period to update our security protocols, including updating the signing keys and taking other steps to further protect our users.

In the past, security audits have been conducted for parts of CalyxOS, such as the Seedvault project, but not for the entire project. As more and more people across the globe started using this tool, we intend to conduct a broader security audit and publish the reports for the public to review.

As mentioned in our community letter below, we estimate that this audit and the implementation of new security protocols and signing keys will take four to six months, but we will endeavor to complete this process as soon as possible. However, for the time being, current CalyxOS users will not be able to receive further security software updates until our new security protocols are in place.

Without security updates, we can only be honest that this does not guarantee the level of security we strive for, especially when global threats to privacy and human rights are at a critical moment. That is why in the meantime we have posted the recommendation that people who are running CalyxOS should uninstall the OS and follow our community channels for updates, including when the latest version of CalyxOS becomes available again.

In case you wish to migrate to another custom ROM in the meantime, we’ve now published updated guides on how to back up and restore your device using Seedvault and how to restore your device to stock.

We also understand that many community members have expressed interest in having an installation option/images for CalyxOS available again. Due to the overwhelming feedback from our community, we’ve decided to make the images publicly available once more. Please be aware that this decision is not a recommendation to migrate to CalyxOS now.

Please note that, just as current users will not receive further software updates without reinstalling CalyxOS when future updates are released, any device installing CalyxOS in the near future will also need to reinstall it. We want to ensure that all users are well informed before deciding to install CalyxOS at this time.

Again, we are very sorry for this development and we thank you for giving us—the project and more importantly the team—tremendous trust and support. We are doing our very best on our end, and are committed to keeping CalyxOS secure and this decision is a result of that commitment.
Wild, old founder and lead dev are gone, new keys, since the old leadership had access to the previous ones. They're redoing everything, whole project is frozen for 4 - 6 mo., no security updates. On top of that, they're straight up recommending users uninstall their OS. But because the community chimped out, they made the install images available yet again, just: "Don't install them!"

Don't know what to make of all this.
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Atlas Sneezed said:
It's written by the most sad individual on ear... in germany
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Reading Why not Valetudo? (archive):

Valetudo is not a community​

Contrary to common expectations when it comes to software released under a FOSS-like license, Valetudo is not a community-driven project; nor does it even have a community in that sense.
What it has is fans. People that feel that the creative expression of the Author/Artist brings value to them.
And, while purely optional and not why I do this, I am happy that it provides value to them.
Still, as said, there is no community. There is just me.
Think of it as a musician that also shares their raw fruity loops project with you.
No one in their right mind would argue that fans are a better authority on the reasoning behind/meaning of the creative choices taken.
No one in their right mind would argue that the artist should leave answering fan questions in his fan mailbox to other fans.
No one in their right mind would argue that a musician should make a track in a specific style, just because some fans think it would be cool.
No one in their right mind would argue that the artist should leave the creative vision of the next album to fans; selected by who screams the loudest.
No one in their right mind would argue that once it has grown to a specific size of random unconnected unvetted self-declared fan individuals, the fanbase of an artist becomes the artist.
Being a fan also doesn’t grant anyone anything. It doesn’t give you an identity. It doesn’t give you control.
It does not add more weight to your opinion. It does not entitle you to special treatment.
If you’re looking to “become a community member”, Valetudo ain’t it.
It does not offer that experience.

Valetudo is not about you​

Valetudo is a solution I built to a problem I had that I shared with the world, because I naively assumed that the cost of sharing would be zero.
That was a profound underestimation but now here we are. Can’t stop now as that would be weird.
This means one crucial thing: Valetudo does not exist to solve your problems.
It might solve them, and that’s great if it does, but that’s coincidence, not purpose.
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Alright, a bit dramatic, but I tend to agree; don't see what the big deal is.
While on the topic of what Valetudo is about, I need to address something.
Something I’ve over the years observed countless times - always leading to entirely unnecessary conflict.
It is people building their identity - or at least large chunks of it - around installing and using Valetudo (or any other FOSS software for that matter). And in principle, I could partially empathize with that and do agree that people can and should feel proud of themselves for taking control of their technology.
That said, the reason I’m mentioning it here is that it’s not always just people feeling proud in a healthy way.
Instead, it sometimes turns pathological: It becomes a make-believe hero story where reality gets twisted to maintain that narrative.
A story where someone isn’t just a user of a piece of software that followed a guide in the docs both written by someone else.
A story where someone becomes a powerful tech wizard who purely on their own freed their robot, took agency and is generally better, smarter and more important than all the others.
And when cognitive dissonance threatens that false story, people attack what they perceive as the source of it - me.
What makes this truly, truly sad is the human suffering behind it.
No one who is doing well in their life clings this desperately to a borrowed identity.
And the tragedy is that it’s unnecessary. Identity isn’t a zero-sum game. You can achieve something and also acknowledge achievements of other people that made your achievement possible. Those other achievements do not take away from your achievement.
I know that it is weird for someone to just write such a text in such a place with such bold claims, but if you run into the same-style conflict for the better part of a decade, you eventually spot patterns. Sadly, this could be a welcoming space for the people affected, but those patterns ruin any possibility for that to happen - and also my day on a weekly basis.
The context, btw, is even bigger and not at all limited to me or Valetudo, because it’s more or less the primary business model the world currently operates on.
There is a lot of money to be made by catering to such pathological delusions and making sure to prevent people from ever developing healthier sources of self-worth. There is also a lot of political/societal influence to be had by encouraging people to continue exercising them.
You can be <cool identity>. Just buy <thing>.
- Brands, Products

You can be <cool other identity>. Just do what I tell you/repeat exactly what I say and do not critically think about it.
- Influencers, Campaigns, The corporate ladder, Unfortunately also corpo-style run FOSS

Never create. Never stray from the set path.
Become an evangelist. Consume product.
What I find interesting is that this is nothing new. Everyone pretty much knows this. Intellectually at least.
It is a super common talking point. Yet it still happens and works all the time in execution.
And most mind-bogglingly, you get pushback if you try to do the ethical thing and push back against this highly disrespectful exploitation of human suffering, because you become the source of the negative emotion.
Not just a bit of pushback. You get pushback hard. People doxxing you and being angry at you on the internet for years pushback.
Pushback this harsh for the crime of having some backbone and not extracting value out of their pathologies for one’s own benefit.
Pushback for actually being nice instead of using nice words.
So please just don’t be like that, okay?
Use the software, be proud of yourself - but do so in a healthy fashion.
And, if you feel like you’ve been mistreated, please be assured that I have your best interest in mind.
You simply do not run a project this ideologically for this long if you’d be operating based on petty principles, nor would you pay this high of a price just to hurt other people for funsies.
If you understand the systems, there are lots of much easier ways to do that, that come with either near-zero cost or even earn you money.
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Oh good Lord, he really is a sad fuck.
 
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Perfectly Innocent said:
TL;DR: He doesn't want a bunch of morons who can't think for themselves shitting all over his street. Sadly, everyone else calls that a "community".
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Samuel Fuller said:
He really shouldn't have made an Open Sores project, then.
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ffmpeg's "lol send patch or gtfo", is the only correct answer to any "community".

Edit, to not double post:
Max Weber said:
Not exactly? It's just that there are a billion different extentions to the protocol, so any two implementations will differ in what they do or do not support.
Here's a nice table: https://absurdlysuspicious.github.io/wayland-protocols-table/
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"Bro, there are like no standards in Linux, so I made a standard for your lack of standards with this meta-standard. Here, enjoy this nicely standardized standards table. You're welcome."
 
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Atlas Sneezed said:
Changing the topic here to something more lighthearted, let me present to all of you - Valetudo. A piece of software that will disconnect your chinesium robot vacuum from the cloud and allow local control by emulating said cloud. The problem? It's written by the most sad individual on ear... in germany
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He sounds pretty based honestly. Puts out a piece of work as a community service, doesn't want it to become some managerial bullshit. All the sperginess can be explained away by him being German.
 
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