this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Do you need a lock on the door of your place?
No, but it’s a damn good idea to protect whatever is in it.
That's a bad comparison. Without a lock you can just open the door from the outside.
But… Is it?
It's not.
If you have a house, it has a door which you can use to access everything inside.
If you have a linux install with no services running on it, it has no doors, and thus doesn't need any door locks. And if it does have services running on there (which run publicly), it now has doors, sure, but getting one of those doors open doesn't guarantee access to the whole house - usually it's gonna be an empty room
Linux with no services? That's not a usable system for anyone who would ask "do I need a firewall"
Systemd is a service that runs logind. What are you doing without them?
I think by services they mean self-hosted, web-based services, or things like sshd - services which work by actively serving connections on a particular port or ports.
And even then, a properly configured SSHD instance wouldn't really benefit from a firewall, unless you wanted to block all countries besides your own or something.