[pkg-wpa-devel] cleaning up our suggested modes of use

[Reinhard Tartler]

On Wed, Aug 02, 2006 at 01:13:25PM +0200, Marc Haber wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 22, 2006 at 11:22:57AM +1000, Kel Modderman wrote:
> > Development of the "new order" wpasupplicant seems to be stabilising, 
> > and I see now two clear modes of operation, and would like to propose a 
> > clean up; consolidate documentation and code support for (IMO) the two 
> > preferred modes of operation.
> > 
> >   1. managed mode, all WPA settings given via the interfaces stanza for
> >      any given network interface
> >   2. roaming mode via wpa-roam/wpa_action: requires user supplied or
> >      hand crafted wpa_supplicant.conf, and supports multiple locations
> >      and network profiles
> 
> So the people who have moved from wpa_supplicant.conf to
> /etc/network/interfaces a few releases ago when wpa_supplicant.conf
> was deprecated are now asked to migrate back?

No. this falls under mode 1.
> 
> >    * hand crafted action scripts, their documentation, examples and
> >      support in ifupdown.sh in the form of conf_wpa_cli() (and some
> >      variable names) should disappear. I would like to _completely_
> >      purge this stuff. These are not really a good solution for anybody
> >      and they have been condemned before [1]. They are hackish and I
> >      really dislike conf_wpa_cli() and WPA_CLI_ACTFILE. This would help
> >      clean up a congested NEWS.Debian file too.
> 
> How are the WPA settings from /e/n/i then moved to the wpa_supplicant
> code? Or doesn't /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant count as "hand
> crafted"?

This one was provided by the package, so they don't cound as 'hand
crafted'. What Kel is reffering to is ppl copying the action script
skeleton from /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/examples and customising it.

Kel, I will review your package in a few hours. 

I don't mind if we don't document it properly, but I don't like to drop
support for custom action scripts completley. I'd like to keep the
option for potential packages to provide their own action scripts, e.g.
as hook for their own roaming logic.

> Is roaming mode via wpa-roam/wpa_action available in Debian unstable
> now? Where can I find docs about how to use it?

docs will come soon [tm].

this is a feature with the 0.5 branch of wpasupplicant. Example use:

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet manual
        wpa-driver madwifi
        wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf.local

iface default inet manual
        up /usr/sbin/whereami --hint ath0

iface olymp inet manual
        up /usr/sbin/whereami --hint ath0

you need some id_str="olymp" stanzas in your wpa_supplicant.conf.local,
though.


Gruesse,
	Reinhard