Bug#387026: [pkg-wpa-devel] Bug#387026: Can't make a wpasupplicant-ed device "auto" any more

[Kel Modderman]

On Tuesday 12 September 2006 04:26, Reuben Thomas wrote:
> Package: wpasupplicant
> Version: 0.5.4-5
> Severity: normal
>
> I have a stanza in my /etc/network/interfaces:
>
> #auto eth0
> iface eth0 inet manual
>     pre-up modprobe ipw2100
>     wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
>
> # Default logical interface for wpa_action
> iface default inet dhcp
>
> If I uncomment the "auto" line, then something (I'm not sure what
> exactly) goes wrong, and dhcp is never run; in the log I get:
>
> ########## 01:42:06  2006-09-10 ##########
> IFACE=eth0 ACTION=CONNECTED
> WPA_ID=1 WPA_ID_STR=
> WPA_CTRL_DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
> Using fallback logical interface: default
> ifup eth0=default
> /sbin/ifup: interface eth0 already configured
> bssid=00:11:24:08:da:93
> ssid=Apple Network 08da93
> id=1
> pairwise_cipher=CCMP
> group_cipher=TKIP
> key_mgmt=WPA2-PSK
> wpa_state=COMPLETED
>
> and the problem seems to be indicated by the "eth0 already configured"
> line; when I remove the "auto" line, and do
>
> sudo ifup eth0
>
> this problem doesn't occur. However, it leaves me with the problem:
> how do I bring up my wpa_action managed interface automatically?

This problem is due to a race condition between ifupdown and the wpa_cli 
daemon launched in pre-up phase of ifupdown.

I am confident this problem is fixed in the 0.5.5-1[1,2] release pending 
upload for a while now, as it launches wpa_cli in the post-up phase of 
ifupdown. This is important, because the wpa_action script checks the 
interface state before ifup'ing a logical mapping, and the interface state is 
not recorded until after a successful pre-up.

[1] http://users.tpg.com.au/sigm/misc/pkg-wpa/wpasupplicant_0.5.5-1.dsc
[2] http://users.tpg.com.au/sigm/misc/pkg-wpa/binary-i386/

Thanks, Kel.