[pkg-wpa-devel] Bug#546542: [wpasupplicant] roaming does not work

[Jacob Kanev]

Package: wpasupplicant
Version: 0.6.9-3
Severity: important

--- Please enter the report below this line. ---

Roaming with wpa_supplicant does not work, ifup/down does not work together with wpa_supplicant, calling wpa_supplicant directly gives errors.

Details:

My /etc/network/intefaces contains:
iface ath0 inet manual
        wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

When starting an interface with

	root at vulpecula:/etc# ifup ath0

the script replies with

	wpa_supplicant: /sbin/wpa_supplicant daemon failed to start
	run-parts: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/wpasupplicant exited with return code 1

two process have been created:

	user at host:# ps aux | grep wpa
	root     12476  0.0  0.1   4856   856 ?        Ss   23:09   0:00 /sbin/wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iath0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -P/var/run/wpa_supplicant -B
	root     12548  0.0  0.0   2236   332 ?        Ss   23:09   0:00 /sbin/wpa_cli -B -P /var/run/wpa_action.ath0.pid -i ath0 -p /var/run/wpa_supplicant -a /sbin/wpa_action

and an additional file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf has been created automatically. Note that the command line for the wpa_supplicant shows the conf-file to be at /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf while /etc/network/interfaces states /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. Cleaning up:

	root at vulpecula:/etc# ifdown ath0
	root at vulpecula:/etc# killall wpa_supplicant
	root at vulpecula:/etc# rm -r /var/run/wpa*

No wpa_supplicant processes are running now, /var/run/ is clean. Starting wpa_supplicant directly:

	root at vulpecula:/etc# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iath0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
	ctrl_iface exists and seems to be in use - cannot override it
	Delete '/var/run/wpa_supplicant/ath0' manually if it is not used anymore
	Failed to initialize control interface 'DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wlan'.
	You may have another wpa_supplicant process already running or the file was
	left by an unclean termination of wpa_supplicant in which case you will need
	to manually remove this file before starting wpa_supplicant again.

after this, again the above two processes are running, and /var/run/wpa_supplicant has been created. It turns out that this happens even if ifconfig is used:

	root at vulpecula:/etc# ps aux | grep wpa
	root     12690  0.0  0.1   4888   744 pts/1    S+   23:25   0:00 grep wpa
	root at vulpecula:/etc# ifconfig ath0 up
	root at vulpecula:/etc# ps aux | grep wpa
	root     12694  0.0  0.1   4856   840 ?        Ss   23:25   0:00 /sbin/wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iath0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -P/var/run/wpa_supplicant -B
	root     12702  0.0  0.1   4888   740 pts/1    S+   23:25   0:00 grep wpa

When opening a second terminal with top running while trying ifup ath0, the following can be seen:

1. ifup starts wpa_supplicant
2. wpa_supplicant wants to activate the ath0 interface
3. 	this spawns a second wpa_supplicant, with different conf file (see above)
4. 	wpa_supplicant (2) writes the control files into /var/run
5. after activating, wpa_supplicant (1) finds these control files, assumes another instance is running and exits with error
6. ifup is cancelled due to error

After this it is possible to manually select a network using wpa_gui or wpa_cli, but no automatic connection. The user is forced to put the conf-file into /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant, since all other places are ignored. Grepping for "/etc/wpa_supplicant/" in /etc gave no result. Neither hotplug nor ifplugd are installed on the system, no udev rules regarding wpa exist, and wpa_supplicant had been purged and re-installed cleanly.

Lots of regards, Jacob.





--- System information. ---
Architecture: i386
Kernel:       Linux 2.6.28

Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  600 unstable        debian.alphagemini.org 
  500 unstable        www.debian-multimedia.org 
  500 unstable        ftp.de.debian.org 

--- Package information. ---
Depends              (Version) | Installed
==============================-+-==============
libc6                 (>= 2.3) | 2.9-26
libdbus-1-3         (>= 1.1.1) | 1.2.16-2
libnl1                (>= 1.1) | 1.1-5
libpcsclite1        (>= 1.5.3) | 1.5.5-1
libreadline5          (>= 5.2) | 5.2-6
libssl0.9.8      (>= 0.9.8f-5) | 0.9.8k-5
lsb-base            (>= 3.0-6) | 3.2-23
adduser                        | 3.110


Package's Recommends field is empty.

Suggests                      (Version) | Installed
=======================================-+-===========
wpagui                                  | 0.6.9-3
libengine-pkcs11-openssl                | 
[ MAILBODY EXCEEDED REASONABLE LENGTH, OUTPUT TRUNCATED ]

-- 
   ____________________________
   Sweetmorn, 37th of Bureaucracy, 3175.
   jacob kanev
     eMail: j_kanev at arcor.de
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