Comment 13 for bug 50099

I can confirm this works for me.

Ubuntu Edgy 6.10 (amd64)
Using madwifi drivers in linux-restricted-modules

My /etc/network/interfaces :

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet manual
   wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface default inet dhcp

(I followed the instructions from /usr/share/doc/wpasupplicant/README.modes.gz)

Interface doesn't come up on boot. (ifup/ifdown "thinks" it's up..)

Putting this in /etc/rc.local fixes the problem:

/sbin/ifdown ath0
/sbin/ifup ath0
exit 0

Also, running /etc/init.d/networking restart will make it come back as well.

wpa_supplicant and wpa_cli (used for the roaming mode) never get started by the networking script upon the initial bootup.