[Discuss] Trying to connect to internet in Debian

[dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)]

Rich Pieri wrote: 
> On Sat, 17 Jan 2026 01:01:01 +0000
> "Randall Rose" <rrose at pobox.com> wrote:
> 
> > 1. Debian should have a checkbox during the iso's install process
> > which, if checked, installs a firewall whose settings default to
> > something reasonable so that this firewall is up and running on first
> > boot.  That checkbox could start out unchecked, but the point is to
> 
> You're welcome to suggest this to the Debian maintainers but I think
> you will be rebuffed quite strongly. Debian ostensibly (my opinions
> about adopting systemd aside) is about choice and this includes at
> least a dozen different firewall tool suites and wrappers, and you can
> make your own nftables rules. That Debian does not install any of these
> by default is not a flaw or a mistake. It is a deliberate design
> decision. If you disagree so strongly that it interferes with getting
> Debian working then Debian isn't the distribution for you. I suggest
> looking at Fedora, openSUSE or Ubuntu. They should meet your firewall
> requirement.

It is also the case that, surprise, surprise: Debian *can* do
this. If the process is worth it to you, you can create a custom
install script for Debian which will install the firewall system
of your choice, pull configuration from whatever system you
arrange, and apply it.

Is it an easy one-click checkbox? No.

Is setting up a firewall ever going to be so generic that a
reasonably high proportion of users will want a one-click
checkbox and be happy with the results? I suppose it depends on
the user population, but I suspect the answer is negative.

-dsr-