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

[Kel Modderman]

On Wednesday 02 August 2006 21:13, 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, absolutely not.


>
> >    * 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"?

I am referring to the example action scripts only:

/usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/examples/wpacli-action-dhclient
/usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/examples/wpacli-action-skeleton

When you look back at the backlash from the major package transition earlier 
this year, these action scripts were not widely accepted. I hinted to that in 
last mail, iirc. wpa_action is a completely functional and maintainable 
approach that make keeping these examples around a waste of time.


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

Yes, it is available since 0.5.3+20060522-1. It is documented in wpa_action(8) 
manpage.

I've worked _very_ hard on this. I noticed confusion about howto use it, just 
like you express now, that has motivated me to write more about its usage. 
Please see:

http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-wpa/trunk/wpasupplicant/debian/README.modes?op=file&rev=0&sc=0

This document is in the current packaging snapshot that I've requested for 
upload:

http://users.tpg.com.au/sigm/misc/pkg-wpa/wpasupplicant_0.5.4-3.dsc

Thank you for the interest in it, Have a read, maybe even try it, look at the 
code and please let me know what you like and dislike about 'wpa-roam'.

Thanks, Kel.