[Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

gauthma · 2011-01-17 14:53:39

I've just upgraded a laptop that did not get upgraded for a while, and while dealing with the configuration files, I noted that the one referred to in the subject, got a new version (.pacnew), that had a LOT of new stuff (my existing wpa_supplicant.conf has a small config that works fine). Now, most of the new stuff are comments, more specifically, documentation, which is most welcome. But it also included a number of examples, which were NOT commented! (and thus had to be commented out manually---and there were quite the few). Is there any reason for those examples (which clearly are a part of the documentation, because they use things like user@example.com) not being comments?

Last edited by gauthma (2011-01-18 14:07:42)

Leonid.I · 2011-01-17 16:39:55

No, as far as I can tell. Indeed, these examples should be commented, so that stuff like

wpa_passphrase ... ... >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

worked without additional editing 100+ lines.

Looks like a minor annoyance, hardly worth reporting a bug...

gauthma · 2011-01-17 17:40:48

I have a setup in vim with shortcuts to comment/uncomment multiple lines at once. However, given that these particular not-commented lines were separated by commented lines, and as I didn't want to "double-comment" anything, it did turn somewhat annoying. Maybe I should have double commented. Oh well...

tomk · 2011-01-17 18:14:44

There is no Arch-specific config file for wpa_supplicant, so this came from upstream. For anyone who didn't use pacman to install, it could potentially be a problem, so it should be reported. For pacman users, the fact that the new file is installed as *.pacnew makes it perfectly safe - in fact, you didn't need to do anything to it, as it's not an active config. I just left it as is on my system.

gauthma · 2011-01-17 18:20:35

tomk wrote:

For pacman users, the fact that the new file is installed as *.pacnew makes it perfectly safe - in fact, you didn't need to do anything to it, as it's not an active config. I just left it as is on my system.

I am aware of that. But I try to keep my configs up-to-date (it's an acceptable price to pay for not having to deal with OS re-installations). But precisely due to the fact it is not an active config, and, as I explained in the original post, the uncommented text are *examples*, all that file should consist only of commented lines. Not doing so just causes everyone unnecessary pain.

hokasch · 2011-01-18 00:24:38

The thing is:

tomk wrote:

There is no Arch-specific config file for wpa_supplicant, so this came from upstream.

Those examples have always been uncommented, I just remove them. I agree that this is a bit weird (especially for wireless connections), but you should take it to the wpa_supplicant developers.
Anyhow, even keeping them uncommented would not directly break anything, unless your network is called "example"

gauthma · 2011-01-18 14:07:23

OK, tomk (I meant hokasch here, apologies to both), that settles it. I'm marking this as solved.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.

Last edited by gauthma (2011-01-18 15:35:42)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-17 14:53:39

[Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

#2 2011-01-17 16:39:55

Re: [Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

#3 2011-01-17 17:40:48

Re: [Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

#4 2011-01-17 18:14:44

Re: [Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

#5 2011-01-17 18:20:35

Re: [Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

#6 2011-01-18 00:24:38

Re: [Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

#7 2011-01-18 14:07:23

Re: [Solved] wpa_supplicant.conf after upgrade

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