Re: Automatically load modules in iptables-save

[Soren Hansen <soren@ubuntu.com>]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1390 bytes --]

On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 02:05:54PM +0100, Patrick McHardy wrote:
>>> If the iptables modules are not loaded when iptables-save is run,
>>> iptables-save will fail, because it can't open the relevant files in
>>> /proc.  This patch makes iptables-save attempt to load the modules,
>>> and then retries.
>> Is this the correct list for this?
> It is. The patch seems rather pointless though, if the module isn't
> loaded, there's obviously nothing to save.

Right. I thought about just silently bailing out, but decided to go this
route instead. Explanation follows.

>> If the iptables modules are not loaded when iptables-save is run,
>> iptables-save will fail
> What does "fail" mean in this context?

$ sudo iptables-save
iptables-save v1.4.1.1: Unable to open /proc/net/ip_tables_names: No such file or directory
$ echo $?
1

I decided to try to load the modules instead of just silently returning,
so that if iptables-save succeeds, you can reasonably expect
iptables-restore to work as well. I would be quite surprised if I found
that the firewall rules I just saved (perhaps not realising that there
weren't any) coulnd't be loaded again, which is what you'd get if your
system had no iptables support at all.

-- 
Soren Hansen                 | 
Lead Virtualisation Engineer | Ubuntu Server Team
Canonical Ltd.               | http://www.ubuntu.com/

[-- Attachment #2: Digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 315 bytes --]