> An installation of Debian 13, by default, uses DNS servers of your local ISP which are usually very slow.
I hear this a lot, but I wonder how often it's actually true. Ping-wise I get sub-millisecond time to my ISP's resolver, ~8ms to CF and Google, and ~4ms to Quad9. DNS wise (as reported by dig) I get ~20ms for a cache miss with my ISP and Quad9, and ~40ms with CF and Google.
Considering TFA recommends benchmarking repository mirrors to select the fastest one, I'm not sure why the same recommendation isn't made for DNS resolvers.
mr_mitm · 1d ago
I'm pretty sure basically every operating system under the sun uses the DNS servers communicated by the local DHCP server. Sure, for the vast majority of private users that may be the local ISP's DNS, and the DHCP server is on the router provided by said ISP, but if you configure cloudflare DNS servers there, Debian will use those. I think it's misguided to describe this as a quirk of Debian, and while there are good reasons not use the ISP DNS servers, you should change those in your router settings instead of the settings of every OS on every device you own.
If you happen to plug in your device at your employer's network, for instance (not saying that's a good idea, but BYOD is a reality for some employees), there is a good chance you won't be able to access internal resources if you follow the author's advice.
Milpotel · 1d ago
The not optimising, that's making it insecure and bloated.
AndrewOMartin · 1d ago
Indeed, it would be useful to know why each of these points are not enabled by default (including a huge amount of non-free and less verified software is an obvious one). In particular the `sbin` one I assumed because it's stuff you'd only use as root and they already have it on their path. E.g. `reboot` might say "not found" but `sudo reboot` will work.
Arech · 1d ago
Exactly this.
amanzi · 21h ago
"Enable Snap..." - err... no thanks!
Many of the tips in this article are just really bad advice.
I hear this a lot, but I wonder how often it's actually true. Ping-wise I get sub-millisecond time to my ISP's resolver, ~8ms to CF and Google, and ~4ms to Quad9. DNS wise (as reported by dig) I get ~20ms for a cache miss with my ISP and Quad9, and ~40ms with CF and Google.
Considering TFA recommends benchmarking repository mirrors to select the fastest one, I'm not sure why the same recommendation isn't made for DNS resolvers.
If you happen to plug in your device at your employer's network, for instance (not saying that's a good idea, but BYOD is a reality for some employees), there is a good chance you won't be able to access internal resources if you follow the author's advice.
Many of the tips in this article are just really bad advice.