Ubuntu
mod-dnssd package

[MIR] mod-dnssd

Bug #1731065 reported by Jeremy Bícha
16
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
mod-dnssd (Ubuntu)
Expired
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Availability
============
Built for all supported architectures. In sync with Debian.

Rationale
=========
Ubuntu has shipped gnome-user-share for years but a key feature (and now its only feature) was broken because its required dependencies weren't installed (likely because of reluctance to ship Apache in the default install.) (LP: #536766)

The feature, called Personal File Sharing, uses WebDAV to share files over the network. It needs apache2-bin and libapache2-mod-dnnsd. Those packages are not enough to actually run a web server. apache2 is already in main.

I believe every other GNOME distro has shipped this feature and its required dependencies by default for several years.

The Ubuntu Desktop team would like to ship this feature pre-installed. It won't actually be enabled until a user turns it on in Settings > Sharing > File Sharing. When turned on, the user's ~/Public folder is shared. A password can easily be set and the user can pick specific networks to share to.

Security
========
No known security issues

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/source-package/mod-dnssd
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mod-dnssd/+cve

Quality assurance
=================
- Ubuntu Desktop Bugs team is subscribed to this package.
- No tests

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mod-dnssd
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=mod-dnssd
I don't see a public bug tracker upstream.

No upstream tests or autopkgtests.

Dependencies
============
No universe binary dependencies

Standards compliance
====================
4.1.1, debhelper compat 10, dh7 simple rules

Maintenance
===========
Last upstream release was in 2009:
http://git.0pointer.net/mod_dnssd.git/log/

The package is orphaned in Debian.

See original description
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)
description: updated
description: updated
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)
description: updated
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)
description: updated
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur) wrote :

I'm not sure a tool designed to share files using Apache over the local network and over bluetooth should be something we want to officially support in main. Is there any reason it can't remain in universe?

Revision history for this message
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha) wrote :

Because users want to be able to share files over the local network and over Bluetooth.

It's turned off by default. It's shipped by every GNOME distro I know of for many years.

Otherwise, the 18.04 Settings > Sharing panel is empty! (We may eventually get Remote Desktop Sharing in for Wayland but that requires PipeWire to be packaged and promoted to main, and no one is working on that right now.)

Revision history for this message
Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur) wrote :

Don't we already have support for sharing folders in a secure fashion over the network with samba? That's a much better solution than sharing files in clear text over webdav.

What devices actually connect to webdav file shares? What kind of authentication is present when you turn on webdav file shares? Why is this preferable to the existing "Local Network Share" option in nautilus?

I don't think an empty settings panel is justification enough for shipping and supporting ill-advised and unmaintained software. Disabling the settings panel and relying on cloud-based file sharing seems to me like a better idea to me than allowing a user to turn on insecure file sharing.

Revision history for this message
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha) wrote :

> What kind of authentication is present when you turn on webdav file shares?

Shared password I guess. Screenshot attached. The computer is named MyComputer.

> Why is this preferable to the existing "Local Network Share" option in nautilus?

I'll file a bug with GNOME.

Revision history for this message
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha) wrote :

> Why is this preferable to the existing "Local Network Share" option in nautilus?

I filed https://bugzilla.gnome.org/791320

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in mod-dnssd (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Jeremy Bícha (jbicha) wrote :

nautilus-share is not part of GNOME so GNOME doesn't consider the existing Nautilus feature to be duplication.

Changed in mod-dnssd (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Incomplete
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

[Expired for mod-dnssd (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

Changed in mod-dnssd (Ubuntu):
status: Incomplete → Expired
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