[arch-releng] 2010.04.05 snapshots ready for testing

[Aaron Griffin]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 10:05 AM, Thomas Bächler <thomas at archlinux.org> wrote:
> Am 16.04.2010 16:53, schrieb Aaron Griffin:
>> Hm? I added my network to /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, and ran
>> wpa_supplicant -Dwext -something something something and the dhcpcd
>> wlan0, and everything worked as expected. I'm not sure what you're
>> talking about here
>>
>
> You did so _manually_. So basically you launched wpa_supplicant, waited
> until it associated (or waited some time in the hope association would
> be quick) and then ran dhcpcd.
>
> If you want to use wireless on a daily basis, automating that process is
> a necesity. I worked on that with autowifi and recently ported
> everything I did over to netcfg-auto-wireless.
>
> Autowifi actually works by configuring wpa_supplicant manually like you
> suggest, but I deprecated that in favor of the more intuitive
> configuration via network profiles that is now used in net-auto-wireless.
>
>
> What I am saying is, you cannot just launch wpa_supplicant and then
> dhcpcd and expect it to work without further regard for connections
> being established and lost, wireless networks being changed and so on.
> We should encourage users to use these mechanisms  implemented in netcfg
> already during the installation - that is why I want to encourage them
> to create netcfg profiles during installation. If a user insists on
> messing with wpa_supplicant and dhcpcd manually, then (s)he can do so,
> but it's not necessary to add this to the installer as a recommendation
> when there's a superior method available.

Ok, I'll give you that. But I still fear an over-reliance on netcfg.
The reason is that it is not "portable knowledge" and is only useful
on Arch systems. This is one of the things is dislike about
Debian/Ubuntu - a lot of the configuration stuff they do is unique to
the system and that knowledge doesn't transcend operating systems.

Still, in the context of AIF, using netcfg isn't too bad of an issue.
I wonder how much word it'd be to cobble together a netcfg "profile
maker" app that AIF could then use....