ifup calling dhclient when /etc/network/interfaces specifies static IP

[Phil Salkie]

Binary package hint: ifupdown

Upgraded Kubuntu desktop system to Karmic, KDE3.5 Remix. Network Manager not installed, using one static IP address:

$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet static
address 192.168.0.10
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1

and ifupdown version: 0.6.8ubuntu21

Problem is, on boot _and on starting a desktop session_ the system pulls a dynamic IP using dhclient. Running "sudo ifdown eth1", then "sudo ifup eth1" sets the IP back to .10, but dhclient then starts, and pulls a dynamic IP from the router, and exits - no leftover dhclient sitting in the process table ("ps ax | grep dh" finds nothing.). I know it's not a network manager problem, since that package isn't on the system, and neither is zeroconf - the ultimate workaround was to move all the dhclient executables to /sbin/dhcp - now "sudo ifup eth1" sets the .10 address and it stays put. I noticed bug 446031, which may be related, but the version of ifupdown which is stated there as the "fix" isn't being loaded when I update the system, so I'm not sure how to get that version and test it here.
(Anyway, /var/run/network is present on this system, so I'm not sure it's the same bug.)

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Mar 19 11:13:24 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: ifupdown 0.6.8ubuntu21
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.57-generic-pae
SourcePackage: ifupdown
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic-pae i686
XsessionErrors:
 (firefox:9023): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:9304): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed

[Stéphane Graber (stgraber)]

This looks weird. I don't remember seeing this behaviour in my recent ifupdown tests.

Can you please test with a supported version of Ubuntu or ideally with Precise?

[Phil Salkie (phil-asylumhouse)]

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 04:17:48PM -0000, Stéphane Graber wrote:
> This looks weird. I don't remember seeing this behaviour in my recent
> ifupdown tests.
>
> Can you please test with a supported version of Ubuntu or ideally with
> Precise?
>
> ** Changed in: ifupdown (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete

This bug was filed two years ago - the system it was noticed on is now running
Lubuntu Oneiric and has the static IP set through LXDE's network manager
graphical interface. I can try switching to a static setting in
/etc/network/interfaces and report back to you, but I suspect we could
just set the status to "old enough that it got accidentally fixed by some
other change." (I honestly had forgotten all about it, since the
workaround of deleting /usr/sbin/dhcpd solved it perfectly for me.)

Thanks for looking into it - I'll let you know what I find...

- Phil Salkie

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for ifupdown (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]