ifconfig -s (or -a -s) only outputs 8 characters of the interface name, when interfaces are 10+ characters.

[Andres Rodriguez]

When executing ifconfig, it outputs the whole 10 characters of the interface name. However, when using ifconfig -s (or ifconfig -a -s) it doesn't include all the name of the interface (or 10+ characters). Instead, it outputs only 8 characters of the interface.

ubuntu@dradis:~$ ifconfig -a
enP2p1s0f0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        inet 10.245.71.108 netmask 255.255.248.0 broadcast 10.245.71.255
        inet6 fe80::ae1f:6bff:fe09:c052 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether ac:1f:6b:09:c0:52 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
        RX packets 154570 bytes 229998298 (229.9 MB)
        RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
        TX packets 61080 bytes 6131460 (6.1 MB)
        TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

enP2p1s0f1: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        ether ac:1f:6b:09:c0:53 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
        TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

ubuntu@dradis:~$ ifconfig -a -s
Iface MTU RX-OK RX-ERR RX-DRP RX-OVR TX-OK TX-ERR TX-DRP TX-OVR Flg
enP2p1s0 1500 154607 0 0 0 61101 0 0 0 BMRU
enP2p1s0 1500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BM

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

net-tools is deprecated in favor of iproute2, and is only included in the server seed in 18.04 because there wasn't time in the 18.04 cycle to verify the effects of its removal. What depends on the behavior of 'ifconfig -s' (which I've never once in 20 years of Linux seen before) that makes this 'critical'?

[Manoj Iyer (manjo)]

Because this bug causes the following to happen: https://bugs.launchpad.net/maas/+bug/1759284

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Ok; that seems like something that should be fixed in maas by making it not parse the output of deprecated tools with buggy interfaces?

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

That said, this does appear to be a change in behavior between net-tools 1.60 in xenial and net-tools 1.60+git20161116.90da8a0 in bionic.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

OTOH, it's also been this way since zesty and no one else seems to have cared until now that it regressed. I think the effort is better spent fixing maas to not depend on deprecated tools.

[Andres Rodriguez (andreserl)]

Maas is being fixed to use “ip” instead of ifconfig. The reason why it
wasn’t noticed before is because MAAS does only use LTS releases for
commissioning. Since we only run ifconfig -a during commissioning, then the
regression wasn’t found till recently.

On Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 9:10 PM Steve Langasek <email address hidden>
wrote:

> OTOH, it's also been this way since zesty and no one else seems to have
> cared until now that it regressed. I think the effort is better spent
> fixing maas to not depend on deprecated tools.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1763534
>
> Title:
> ifconfig -s (or -a -s) only outputs 8 characters of the interface
> name, when interfaces are 10+ characters.
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
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> Launchpad-Notification-Type: bug
> Launchpad-Bug: distribution=ubuntu; sourcepackage=net-tools;
> component=main; status=Confirmed; importance=Critical;
> assignee=canonical-foundations;
> Launchpad-Bug: distribution=ubuntu; distroseries=bionic;
> sourcepackage=net-tools; component=main; status=Confirmed;
> importance=Critical; assignee=canonical-foundations;
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> Launchpad-Bug-Private: no
> Launchpad-Bug-Security-Vulnerability: no
> Launchpad-Bug-Commenters: andreserl janitor manjo vorlon
> Launchpad-Bug-Reporter: Andres Rodriguez (andreserl)
> Launchpad-Bug-Modifier: Steve Langasek (vorlon)
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> Launchpad-Message-For: andreserl
>
--
Andres Rodriguez (RoAkSoAx)
Ubuntu Server Developer
MSc. Telecom & Networking
Systems Engineer

[Mike Pontillo (mpontillo)]

Note: if you are using a Xenial based MAAS that has not been patched to use `ip` instead, and you use it to commission on Bionic, it will fail due to this issue.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

On Sat, Apr 14, 2018 at 12:51:49AM -0000, Mike Pontillo wrote:
> Note: if you are using a Xenial based MAAS that has not been patched to
> use `ip` instead, and you use it to commission on Bionic, it will fail
> due to this issue.

Indeed. Is this something that would be fixed in an SRU of maas to xenial
in the near term? I think that is ultimately the right solution, but if
it's not going to land soon, we would certainly look at restoring ifconfig
compatibility.