From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: David Brownell Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 14:53:38 +0000 Subject: Re: config questions Message-Id: List-Id: References: In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: linux-hotplug@vger.kernel.org > I just finished (successfully after much pain) get hotplug to initialize a > device for me when it was plugged in. But to do this I had to bypass all of > the existing net.agent script. Hmm, you didn't say what Linux distro you're using. They differ in how they manage network interfaces ... though there does seem to be a common failing of requring interfaces to be predefined, combined with inadequate (or even incorrect) documentation on how to predefine them. But then it's complicated by the fact that different network devices all have different initialization models. At least some of those issues are already noted in the net.agent script. > I am guessing I didn't find the right documentation. I will tell you what I > did and hopefully someone can tell me what I should have done. > > Have usbnet loaded as a module. Not necessary, it'll be modprobed when needed. Did you look at http://www.linux-usb.org/usbnet/ for information about this driver? Your question made me push out some pending updates, which should get synced to the mirrors sometime tonight (document date 28 August). More examples, including zcip, but not yet a complete "out of the box" config example (except for a simple laptop/desktop setup). The configuration I'd like to see work is basically combining the bridge tools (brctl etc) and zeroconf (zcip, plus ...) so those interfaces never require preconfiguration. (It'd be an option, but not the only or preferred one.) > in /etc/hotplug/net.agent before anything, do > > > mesg Checking for subscript for $INTERFACE $ACTION > if [ -x "/etc/hotplug/interfaces/$INTERFACE" ] ; then > mesg Calling subscript for $INTERFACE $ACTION > /etc/hotplug/interfaces/$INTERFACE $ACTION > exit 0 > fi > > and in /etc/hotplug/interfaces reacted to the arguments registered and > derigistered to do what I needed for /dev/usb0 There's no such thing as /dev/usb0! :) But what you're doing there is defining a new network administration policy, which is something hotplug has so far avoided doing. Though I'm pretty much convinced it'll be essential for IP-over-USB, since otherwise distros will continue requiring pre-configuration (yeech) instead of just making that a (less desirable) policy option. The /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-usb0 script is how at least some distros handle that problem, not that there's good documentation on how to make them work. Not interfaces/usb0. > Ideally I would always like to say... for devX put file into interfaces/devX > and in that file do X for plugged in and Y for unplugged. Just like the > init.d scripts. Whereas, the networking scripts currently invoke "ifup" on interfaces that are known to the distro's network admin tools. They can't often do anything useful on "unregister", like "ifdown", since the interface is gone by then. (Though ISTR that either SuSE or Debian had a version of "ifup" that updated some user mode database, so "ifdown" had to purge that data...) And sysadmin tools don't often handle "usb0" (etc) yet. > Information on why my approach is wrong would help, the page > http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net/ > talked a lot about what hotplug without ever getting to the one question most > people would have... > "I have new device X and I want Y to happen when I plug it in. What do I do?" If you're asking as a user, the answer is: "It's probably supposed to happen automatically, without needing pre-configuration. But not all the tools are there yet." If you're asking as a developer, then "UTSL, and good patches always help" is closer to the answer. Most of those pages are directed towards developers right now. And it'd be a big help if someone packaged a general "hotplug event triggers user dialog" facility, so that when sysadmin attention is needed, the system can at least initiate a conversation with the user. - Dave > Thanks for any information. If it turns out this description isn't in > existence yet (for users who just want an answer to the above question, not > understand how hotplug works) then I might do one up. > > Ian. > > ------------------------------------------------------- This sf.net email is sponsored by: OSDN - Tired of that same old cell phone? Get a new here for FREE! https://www.inphonic.com/r.asp?r=sourceforge1&refcode1=vs3390 _______________________________________________ Linux-hotplug-devel mailing list http://linux-hotplug.sourceforge.net Linux-hotplug-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-hotplug-devel