[pkg-wpa-devel] Bug#513194: wpasupplicant: wpa- options in /etc/network/interfaces are underdocumented

[Rodney Polkinghorne]

Package: wpasupplicant
Version: 0.5.5-2
Severity: important


The wpa-* options are not mentioned in the man pages for interfaces(5), wireless(7) or 
wpa_supplicant(8).  The only file that mentions them (AFAIK) is 
/usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/README.modes.gz.  The wireless-* options, that use iwconfig and 
iwpriv, are mentioned in all the appropriate places.  Unfortunately, the latter fail to 
configure the rt2x00 drivers, which are included in recent mainstream kernels.  It took me 
several weeks to find the README.modes file, and I expect most users would give up before 
finding it.

Suggested changes:

1. Add the contents of README.modes to the wpa_supplicant(8) man page, before the SUPPORTED 
FEATURES part.  Or else put it in a new man page, and refer to that from wpa_supplicant(8).  
As a last resort, add README.modes to the SEE ALSO section of wpa_supplicant(8).

2. Add a description of the wpa-* options to section 10.6.1.3 (Configuring a Wi-Fi 
interface) of the Debian Reference Manual.

3. At the point where the interfaces(5) man page mentions the wireless-tools package, add a 
reference to wpasupplicant and README.modes.  Add README.modes to the SEE ALSO part of 
this man page.  (Or refer to wpa_supplicant(8), if a description of the options has been 
added there.)

4. Add README.modes to the SEE ALSO section of the wireless(7) man page.

I'd be happy to do the necessary writing, if someone could explain how to get the changes 
included in the various Debian packages and manuals involved.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.26
Locale: LANG=en_AU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_AU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages wpasupplicant depends on:
ii  libc6                  2.3.6.ds1-13etch8 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
ii  libdbus-1-3            1.0.2-1+etch2     simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libncurses5            5.5-5             Shared libraries for terminal hand
ii  libreadline5           5.2-2             GNU readline and history libraries
ii  libssl0.9.8            0.9.8c-4etch4     SSL shared libraries
ii  lsb-base               3.1-23.2etch1     Linux Standard Base 3.1 init scrip

Versions of packages wpasupplicant recommends:
ii  dhcp3-client                  3.0.4-13   DHCP Client

-- no debconf information