Re: Request for comments

[Pablo Neira Ayuso <pablo@netfilter.org>]

Hi Duncan,

On Mon, Sep 02, 2024 at 03:38:59PM +1000, Duncan Roe wrote:
> Hi Florian,
> 
> Recently I submitted patch series
> https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/netfilter-devel/list/?series=407990 which
> converts libnetfilter_queue to not need libnfnetlink.
> 
> The series re-implements all the libnfnetlink-wrapper functions so they use
> functions from libmnl. I understand from previous correspondence that you had a
> shot at doing the same thing a while back. With that in mind, would you be able
> to find the time to take a look at the series and comment on it?
> 
> Additionally, the series re-implements the nlif_* functions from libnfnetlink.
> conntrack-tools and ulogd also use these functions, so I wonder if they belong
> in libmnl. Would you have an opinion on that?
> 
> Please disregard my use of kernel headers - I now understand the idea of cached
> headers is to be able to do standalone builds without them. v3 would fix that.

I have huge concerns this will break existing applications for the
benefit of nothing? Because other existing libraries rely on
libnfnetlink.

Unless he finds a way to carefully sends us patches to incrementally
move to libmnl.

I think it is more sensible to extend the new API to fill the missing
gaps, I remember people mentioned it is too low level. With a few
helper function it should be possible to make it as easy to use for
simple applications a libnetfilter_queue.