Cannot configure 'vcan' -type interfaces with netplan

[Lassi Väätämöinen]

We need to use Virtual CAN interfaces for development work. Looks like this is not very straightforward to configure with Netplan, if possible at all?

First off, you need to load the 'vcan' kernel module, so add to /etc/modules:

vcan

Our current /etc/network/interfaces looks like this:

# NOTE: '|| true' needed, otherwise 'ifup' will fail, due to "RTNETLINK: file exists" message

auto can0
iface can0 inet manual
    pre-up /sbin/ip link add dev $IFACE type vcan || true
    up /sbin/ip link set up $IFACE

auto can1
iface can1 inet manual
    pre-up /sbin/ip link add dev $IFACE type vcan || true
    up /sbin/ip link set up $IFACE

This is how you can bring up can* interfaces with ifupdown. For netplan there is no clear instructions how to achieve this.