Hi Steve,

Steve Litt writes:

> On Thu, 14 Jun 2018 19:54:11 +0900
> Olaf Meeuwissen <paddy-h...@member.fsf.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi Don,
>>
>> Don Wright writes:
>>
>> > [ ... ASCII using Expert (text) from
>> > devuan_ascii_2.0.0_amd64_dvd-1.iso ...]
>> >
>> > Upon successful boot into the system things looked good locally,
>> > until I tried to SSH to the box. Not there!
>> > While /etc/network/interfaces has the settings I expected, the GUI
>> > showed wicd had ignored them and called DHCP to create all new and
>> > mostly wrong settings.
>> >
>> > #apt remove wicd soon cleaned that up, but who the systemd thought
>> > it was a good idea to ignore! working! static! IP! settings! and
>> > install an unwelcome network mangler in the first place? Take a
>> > purgative, get your heads out of your ASCII, and stop your wicd
>> > ways from overriding traditional handcrafted, all-natural,
>> > artisanal, text-based config files.
>>
>> The output of `apt-cache rdepends wicd` using various combinations of
>> the --recurse and --no-* options indicate that just about any, if not
>> all, of the task-*-desktop packages recommend it, either directly or
>> indirectly.  Some may even prefer network-manager ... putting you
>> between a rock and a hard place.
>>
>> > The guilty parties should lose an inch of *nix beard each in
>> > penance.
>>
>> The guilty parties would mostly be the task-*-desktop packagers ;-)
>> but if you are comfortable with the installer's Expert mode, why not
>> forego the installation of a desktop and run
>>
>>   apt install task-desktop wicd-
>>
>> after the initial system install?
>>
>> > [ Semi-humorous howls of rage aside: Does the installed system
>> > ignore static IP by design? ]
>>
>> Not if you don't install a desktop ;-)
>> # You mentioned installing on a Lenove Think*Server*.  I *never* put a
>> # desktop on my servers ...
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>
> If I understand this correctly, installing any desktop (does this
> include window managers like openbox?) brings in wicd in a mode that
> breaks hard coded IP addresses.

I only tried to answer the question why wicd was installed and point out
a way to have one's static IP configuration at install time honoured.

These are separate issues.

Installing a desktop, by default, pulls in wicd (or network-manager).
You can prevent this by using apt-get's --no-install-recommend option.
Whether either package blatantly ignores your static IP configuration
from when you installed, I cannot tell for sure (zapped wicd) but I
vaguely remember that you can tell wicd to leave certain interfaces
unmolested.  That may even be its default behaviour for interfaces that
are configured in /etc/network/interfaces.

> I would sure find this behavior surprising.

If wicd breaks static IP address configurations out-of-the-box I'd be
surprised too.  I've mainly used it in DHCP settings.  On my server's
wicd was never installed so any static IP configurations just worked as
intended.

> Is there a way Devuan can eliminate the "recommends" for wicd and
> networkmanager with "desktops"?

By making it a "suggests".  But I do not recommend that as I suspect the
majority of desktop users will be using DHCP.

The other option is replacing the wicd (or network-manager) recommends
with a good alternative.  Here "good" means it handles both static and
dynamic IP configurations for wired *and* wireless connections in such a
way that the majority of desktop users doesn't even notice it's there
and at the same time respects the system administrator's hand crafted
configuration.

# Veteran Unix Administrator's are free to cobble together their own
# solution and `apt purge wicd` goes a long ways towards that end ;-P

Hope this clarifies,
--
Olaf Meeuwissen, LPIC-2            FSF Associate Member since 2004-01-27
 GnuPG key: F84A2DD9/B3C0 2F47 EA19 64F4 9F13  F43E B8A4 A88A F84A 2DD9
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