[SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

akkudub · 2024-06-20 05:57:54

My uname -a

Linux akshatd-tp 6.9.5-arch1-1 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sun, 16 Jun 2024 19:06:37 +0000 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I just moved from Manjaro, and my wifi interface is using the traditional naming scheme instead of the "Predictable Network Interface Names" as I expected based on the wiki

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp2s0f0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 84:a9:38:60:41:99 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 44:af:28:3d:8e:25 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.50.113/24 brd 192.168.50.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlan0
       valid_lft 69544sec preferred_lft 69544sec
    inet6 fe80::af4a:fb97:c87e:6047/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

This is causing issues for me when transferring my old network connections from NetworkManager.

I would also like to have consistent names between my ethernet and wifi.

I would be really grateful if anyone can tell me why the names are inconsistent, if i screwed up somewhere in the install and how to fix it since most solutions talk about reverting to the traditional naming scheme and the predictable naming scheme is supposed to be the default.

Thanks!!

Last edited by akkudub (2024-06-28 06:30:13)

Scimmia · 2024-06-20 06:02:04

First guess, did you install IWD? That disables predictable naming for wifi interfaces.

seth · 2024-06-20 06:08:56

No it's not. the wlan0 NIC is the only one that doesn't get relabled, most likely because you installed iwd (and iwd doesn't properly function with "predictable" interface names because they're too unpredictable

Edit: Fxx5

Last edited by seth (2024-06-20 06:09:15)

Trilby · 2024-06-20 12:45:12

I've made that terminology mistake too: it's not "predictable" naming it's "persistent interface naming". According to the dictionary a synonym for "persistent" is "obstinate" which in turn means "hard to manage". Food for thought.

seth · 2024-06-20 14:50:28

No, we're all parroting the mistake: https://systemd.io/PREDICTABLE_INTERFACE_NAMES/

Trilby · 2024-06-20 15:14:49

Huh ... so can I go back to say "I told you so" to everyone who scolded / corrected me for referring to predictable interface names over the years.

akkudub · 2024-06-20 20:09:16

Thank you so much guys! i never installed iwd myself, it seems to have been installed by default. I was using the archlinux-2024.05.01-x86_64 iso and installed it using archinstall.

It looks like NetworkManager is using an experimental iwd backend, so I am not sure if I should use iwd, but at the same time iwd seems to be preferred as the way forward instead of wpa supplicant?

It also seems like using predictable names in iwd might cause issues link
link link

And finally when i try to remove iwd with pacman -Rns iwd, it seems be a dependency for ell(Embedded Linux Library), which seems important and I dont want to bork my system.

What is the best course of action here?

seth · 2024-06-20 20:51:06

it seems to have been installed by default […] using archinstall.

NM /can/ use iwd as wifi backend, but if you're using NM you must under no circumstances enable the iwd.service - NM will invoke iwd or wpa_supplicant itself.

It also seems like using predictable names in iwd might cause issues

Which is why iwd ships a rule to disable that for wireless interfaces.

it seems be a dependency for ell

No, ell is a dependency for iwd and if you don't want iwd you can or not remove ell with it.

What is the best course of action here?

Subjective preference, but if you mostly care about

This is causing issues for me when transferring my old network connections from NetworkManager.

remove iwd and use wpa_supplicant.

akkudub · 2024-06-26 05:34:52

Thank you so much for the help, guys!

seth · 2024-06-26 05:47:20

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Trilby · 2024-06-26 11:58:57

akkudub wrote:

iwd seems to be preferred as the way forward instead of wpa supplicant?

Not on technical grounds, no. And most definitely not preferred by me. But it is popular. And as in many cases, the "popular" option may be the easiest to find support for going forward.

While I don't remember all the problems I had with it, iwd proved to be completely inadequate for my use cases and couldn't even do things that were quite simple / basic with wpa_supplicant.

But perhaps I'm just getting old as this is the same feeling I have about systemd replacing traditional init systems, and wayland replacing X11. The new replacements may give great advances in very specific metrics, but they completely fail at things the old standards did well. (Though I'm not at all resistant to change in and of itself - I just wish new tools' PR and marketing didn't drastically outpace their R&D).

Last edited by Trilby (2024-06-26 12:02:38)

Arch Linux

#1 2024-06-20 05:57:54

[SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#2 2024-06-20 06:02:04

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#3 2024-06-20 06:08:56

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#4 2024-06-20 12:45:12

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#5 2024-06-20 14:50:28

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#6 2024-06-20 15:14:49

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#7 2024-06-20 20:09:16

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#8 2024-06-20 20:51:06

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#9 2024-06-26 05:34:52

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#10 2024-06-26 05:47:20

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

#11 2024-06-26 11:58:57

Re: [SOLVED] wifi using traditional name instead of predictable

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