[gentoo-user] Useflags for wget and curl: openssl versus gnutls?

[gentoo-user] Useflags for wget and curl: openssl versus gnutls?

[walt]

A recent buglet in the wget package made me aware that openssl competes
with gnutls in certain ways.  Even nss and libssh2 may be competing in
the same space, if maybe to a smaller extent.

Anyone here really understand the tradeoffs involved in the use of these
useflags, and why I might want to choose one over the other?  Actually ATM
I have all four of those useflags enabled and I really don't understand
the potential consequences of my choices, which makes me worry just a bit.

Any clues much appreciated.

Re: [gentoo-user] Useflags for wget and curl: openssl versus gnutls?

[Alan McKinnon]

On Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:06:23 -0700
walt <w41ter@gmail.com> wrote:

> A recent buglet in the wget package made me aware that openssl
> competes with gnutls in certain ways.  Even nss and libssh2 may be
> competing in the same space, if maybe to a smaller extent.
> 
> Anyone here really understand the tradeoffs involved in the use of
> these useflags, and why I might want to choose one over the other?
> Actually ATM I have all four of those useflags enabled and I really
> don't understand the potential consequences of my choices, which
> makes me worry just a bit.

It all comes down to the relative quality of the packages involved,
there's no straight answer. Oftentimes one package has modern features
you need and want but is less stable|more buggy than the old package.

It's damn annoying because there's no firm recommendations, you had to
dig deep into the code to answer the question "what's best for ME?"

At least the ebuilds usually pick one out of the two if both USE flags
are defined and usually tell you in an elog.

Apologies for the reply which is a no-answer, it's the best I can do :-)

-- 
Alan McKinnnon
alan.mckinnon@gmail.com

[gentoo-user] Re: Useflags for wget and curl: openssl versus gnutls?

[walt]

On 09/05/2011 02:06 PM, walt wrote:
> A recent buglet in the wget package made me aware that openssl competes
> with gnutls in certain ways.  Even nss and libssh2 may be competing in
> the same space, if maybe to a smaller extent.
>
> Anyone here really understand the tradeoffs involved in the use of these
> useflags, and why I might want to choose one over the other?

Months later, in another mailing list, I finally found a very practical
reason for picking one over the other:  lawyers :p

The openssl project started under the aegis of the OpenBSD project, and
thus their license is solidly in the BSD camp.

The very name gnutls gives us a big hint about which license that project
favors :)

Apparently the nss license is at least not in bloody conflict with the
GPL, though I've not read the fine print and don't intend to.  Well,
not until I've downed this delicious egg nog, anyway :)

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Useflags for wget and curl: openssl versus gnutls?

[Jorge Martínez López]

Hi!

I noticed a few weeks ago that Gwibber, the GNOME social networking
app was not loading the timelines. After some troubleshooting it all
came to some security certificate problem in the curl library.
Switching from OpenSSL to gnutls solved the issue.

Greetings,
-- 
Jorge Martínez López <jorgeml@gmail.com> http://www.jorgeml.net
      Google Talk / XMPP: jorgeml@gmail.com