[klibc] ipconfig does not time out (klibc-utils)

[Nico Schottelius]

Package: klibc-utils
Version: 1.5.15-1

Hello!

I'm trying to boot Debian from a different nic than the first one.
After some digging into klibc and initramfs, it seems like DEVICE=all
in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf is near a solution
(I cannot reliable tell, which name the nic has, it may be eth0, eth1,
eth2, eth3, ...; as I've machines with one to four nics).

/scripts/functions contains

266         case ${IP} in
267         none|off)
268                 # Do nothing
269                 ;;
270         ""|on|any)
271                 # Bring up device
272                 ipconfig -t 180 ${DEVICE}
273                 ;;
274         dhcp|bootp|rarp|both)
275                 ipconfig -t 180 -c ${IP} -d ${DEVICE}
276                 ;;
277         *)
278                 ipconfig -t 180 -d $IP
279 

But ipconfig prints only one line:
IP-Config: eth0 hardware address ... mtu 1500 DHCP RARP

But it never times out or choses the next interface.

Another problematic aspect in the functions script is

294         # source ipconfig output                                                     
295         if [ -n "${DEVICE}" ]; then
296                 # source specific bootdevice
297                 . /tmp/net-${DEVICE}.conf
298         else
299                 # source any interface as not exaclty specified
300                 . /tmp/net-*.conf
301         fi

which will fail, if DEVICE=all is set.

So to summarise:

  - ipconfig from klibc does not time out, although it have been called with -t 180
  - Debian does not documentate "how to boot from nfsroot with multiple nics in a box"
  - Debian seems not to support booting from multiple nics in their initramfs-scripts

This mail should create a new bug at debian.org, but is also sent to
klibc@ to notify upstream about the problem.

Sincerly,

Nico

-- 
Currently moving *.schottelius.org to http://www.nico.schottelius.org/ ...

PGP: BFE4 C736 ABE5 406F 8F42  F7CF B8BE F92A 9885 188C
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