TrueNAS is a virtual appliance you can drop onto baremetal or a VM and have a nice prebuilt storage management system. If you have a server you want to turn into a NAS, you can of course install Debian, Ubuntu, or whatever, and configure RAID, NFS, Samba, etc. yourself. But if you’d like a system that does all the hard work for you and presents an easy-to-use GUI, TrueNAS has been the go-to.
But now they’ve posted this on GitHub:
This repository is no longer actively maintained.
The TrueNAS build system previously hosted here has been moved to an internal infrastructure.
No further updates, pull requests, or issues will be accepted. Existing content is preserved here for historical reference only.
Although it’s now removed for some reason, the README originally provided this explanation:
This transition was necessary to meet new security requirements, including support for Secure Boot and related platform integrity features that require tighter control over the build and signing pipeline.
…to which the community has cried foul.
The deal here is that you can still download a TrueNAS CD and boot it on a machine you want to install it on. But now you can’t replicate that CD yourself, because the build tools are now private. So it’s a case of “trust us”…on the road to a MinIO future?
A lot of people have called shenanigans on the rationale here. Every CI/CD tool in the world has provisions to handle secrets. They could make everything available and just not include the signing key.
The issue here is that you don’t really know what’s on the ISO now. And this could be a first move towards a subscription-only model.
Or it could be just colossally poor communication. What do you think?
Raindog308 is a longtime LowEndTalk community administrator, technical writer, and self-described techno polymath. With deep roots in the *nix world, he has a passion for systems both modern and vintage, ranging from Unix, Perl, Python, and Golang to shell scripting and mainframe-era operating systems like MVS. He’s equally comfortable with relational database systems, having spent years working with Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.
As an avid user of LowEndBox providers, Raindog runs an empire of LEBs, from tiny boxes for VPNs, to mid-sized instances for application hosting, and heavyweight servers for data storage and complex databases. He brings both technical rigor and real-world experience to every piece he writes.
Beyond the command line, Raindog is a lover of German Shepherds, high-quality knives, target shooting, theology, tabletop RPGs, and hiking in deep, quiet forests.
His goal with every article is to help users, from beginners to seasoned sysadmins, get more value, performance, and enjoyment out of their infrastructure.
You can find him daily in the forums at LowEndTalk under the handle @raindog308.
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