Desktop/Whiteboards/Firewall

The problem with a static firewall as Fedora currently ships with iptables/system-config-firewall is that it actively interferes with a lot of things that users want to do with their desktops:

• mDNS related sharing:

* Music sharing (via DAAP, in Rhythmbox, Banshee, etc.)
* Personal File sharing (WebDAV, through gnome-user-share)
* Desktop sharing (VNC, through vinagre)
* Remote disk management (udisks and gnome-disk-utility)
* Local network chats (Pidgin, Empathy)

• UPNP related:

* DLNA music/movies/photos sharing (in Rygel, mediatomb, etc.)

• Other:

* Automatic discovery of printers and other services (CUPS specific)
* ssh

Possible ways to improve the situation are:

• Just turn the firewall off. Rely on not running any unnecessary network-facing services, and lock the necessary services down using SELinux.
• Allow applications to poke holes in the firewall, under user-control
• Handle different situations differently: no firewall when on the trusted 'home network', but strict firewall when using coffee shop wifi