I'm running a new install of Slackware -current and
initially connected to the Internet via a wired ethernet
interface eth0 hooked up to my router. Eventually, I got my
wireless interface wlan0 going, and I now connect to the
Internet via that interface. I put the wireless config into
/etc/rc.d/rc.local.

I disconnected the wired NIC from the router and disabled
eth0 in Control Center>Internet&Network>Network Settings.
Yet, the boot process gets stuck at "dhcpcd: MAC address:
[xx:xx:xx:......]" <- the Mac address of my wired NIC. It
takes about 3 min for this process to time out.

I'm familiar with the location of config files in Debian but
I'm new to Slackware and don't know as yet where to find
what. Where do I have to go to get rid of this unwanted
boot process?

Robert

On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 15:55:14 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:

>I'm familiar with the location of config files in Debian but
>I'm new to Slackware and don't know as yet where to find
>what. Where do I have to go to get rid of this unwanted
>boot process?

chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless ?

make sure /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf sections:

# Config information for eth0:
IPADDR[0]="192.168.1.1"
NETMASK[0]="255.255.255.0"
USE_DHCP[0]="" <<== empty
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]="" <<== empty

Also, I kill rc.modules (now a symlink, kill target) and rc.netdevices
with chmod -x

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/

Grant wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 15:55:14 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:
>
>> I'm familiar with the location of config files in Debian but
>> I'm new to Slackware and don't know as yet where to find
>> what. Where do I have to go to get rid of this unwanted
>> boot process?
>
> chmod -x /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless ?
>
> make sure /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf sections:
>
> # Config information for eth0:
> IPADDR[0]="192.168.1.1"
> NETMASK[0]="255.255.255.0"
> USE_DHCP[0]="" <<== empty
> DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]="" <<== empty
>
> Also, I kill rc.modules (now a symlink, kill target) and rc.netdevices
> with chmod -x
>
> Grant.

Thanks, Grant, for your suggestions. Hmmm .... none of them
appear to be applicable.

1. There is no mention of eth0, or dhcpcd or that MAC
address in /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless or in /rc.wireless.conf
(this is not a wireless interface, it's the built-in wired
interface).

2. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf says

# Config information for eth0:
IPADDR[0]=""
NETMASK[0]=""
USE_DHCP[0]="yes"
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""

I removed the "yes" for USE_DHCP[0]; that didn't change
anything.

3. There is no file /etc/rc.d/rc.netdevices

4. Also, there is no interface eth0 in the output of
/sbin/ifconfig.

The setting that I seek to remove must be in a config file
that the system checks when it requests an IP lease for the
wired ethernet interface eth0 with the given MAC address.
The NIC with that MAC address is present in this laptop but
it's disconnected from the router. Hence, after 3 min the
failed request times out, and the boot process continues.

Robert

On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:53:01 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:

>Grant wrote:
....
>Thanks, Grant, for your suggestions. Hmmm .... none of them
>appear to be applicable.

Again?
>
>1. There is no mention of eth0, or dhcpcd or that MAC
>address in /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless or in /rc.wireless.conf
>(this is not a wireless interface, it's the built-in wired
>interface).
>
>2. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf says
>
># Config information for eth0:
>IPADDR[0]=""
>NETMASK[0]=""
>USE_DHCP[0]="yes" <<== this is what calls dhcpcd
>DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""
>
>I removed the "yes" for USE_DHCP[0]; that didn't change
>anything.

Should have stopped the wait for DHCP server? Did you also add the
static address and mask? Otherwise you created an unused interface.
>
>3. There is no file /etc/rc.d/rc.netdevices
It's only created if you setup networking during install.
>
>4. Also, there is no interface eth0 in the output of
>/sbin/ifconfig.

Is it because you asked for no network setup on boot, as noted above?

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/

Grant wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:53:01 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:
>
>> Grant wrote:
> ...
>> Thanks, Grant, for your suggestions. Hmmm .... none of them
>> appear to be applicable.
>
> Again?
>> 1. There is no mention of eth0, or dhcpcd or that MAC
>> address in /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless or in /rc.wireless.conf
>> (this is not a wireless interface, it's the built-in wired
>> interface).
>>
>> 2. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf says
>>
>> # Config information for eth0:
>> IPADDR[0]=""
>> NETMASK[0]=""
>> USE_DHCP[0]="yes" <<== this is what calls dhcpcd
>> DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""
>>
>> I removed the "yes" for USE_DHCP[0]; that didn't change
>> anything.
>
> Should have stopped the wait for DHCP server? Did you also add the
> static address and mask? Otherwise you created an unused interface.
>> 3. There is no file /etc/rc.d/rc.netdevices
> It's only created if you setup networking during install.
>> 4. Also, there is no interface eth0 in the output of
>> /sbin/ifconfig.
>
> Is it because you asked for no network setup on boot, as noted above?
>
> Grant.

I did in fact skip setting up networking during the install.

After the install, I set up the wired ethernet interface
eth0, using Control Center>Internet&Network>Network
Settings. Then, once I had figured out how to set up the
built-in wireless interface wlan0 with ndiswrapper, I
disabled eth0, again using Control
Center>Internet&Network>Network Settings and disconnected
the ethernet cable.

I arranged to have wlan0 set up automatically by putting
these commands in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

modprobe -f ndiswrapper
sleep 3
iwconfig wlan0 essid xxxxxxxxx channel 11 key
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx open
sleep 3
dhcpcd wlan0

In /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 there are commands on using DHCP to
bring an interface up if USE_DHCP=yes for that interface.
The interface is brought up with the command "/sbin/dhcpcd
-d -t 60".

My /var/log/messages indeed reports that "/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t
60" is run twice at the point in time when the boot process
pauses for several minutes with the screen "dhcpcd: MAC =
xxxxxxxxxxxx"

Yet /etc/rc.inet1.conf says:

# Config information for eth0:
IPADDR[0]=""
NETMASK[0]=""
USE_DHCP[0]="" [<----- Note: there is no "yes" here]
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""

GATEWAY="192.168.0.1"
DEBUG_ETH_UP="no"
WPAPSK=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TxRate=0"
USE_DHCP[wlan0]="yes"

I didn't add a static IP address and netmask when I removed
the above "yes" for DHCP.

Should I simply remove the four lines following "Config
information for eth0:"? Or is there another way of killing
DHCP for eth0? How would that affect my capability of using
the wired interface eth0 again occasionally?

Robert

Robert Glueck wrote:
> Grant wrote:
>> On Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:53:01 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Grant wrote:
>> ...
>>> Thanks, Grant, for your suggestions. Hmmm .... none of them appear
>>> to be applicable.
>>
>> Again?
>>> 1. There is no mention of eth0, or dhcpcd or that MAC address in
>>> /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless or in /rc.wireless.conf (this is not a wireless
>>> interface, it's the built-in wired interface).
>>>
>>> 2. /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf says
>>>
>>> # Config information for eth0:
>>> IPADDR[0]=""
>>> NETMASK[0]=""
>>> USE_DHCP[0]="yes" <<== this is what calls dhcpcd
>>> DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""
>>>
>>> I removed the "yes" for USE_DHCP[0]; that didn't change anything.
>>
>> Should have stopped the wait for DHCP server? Did you also add the
>> static address and mask? Otherwise you created an unused interface.
>>> 3. There is no file /etc/rc.d/rc.netdevices
>> It's only created if you setup networking during install.
>>> 4. Also, there is no interface eth0 in the output of /sbin/ifconfig.
>>
>> Is it because you asked for no network setup on boot, as noted above?
>>
>> Grant.
>
> I did in fact skip setting up networking during the install.
>
> After the install, I set up the wired ethernet interface eth0, using
> Control Center>Internet&Network>Network Settings. Then, once I had
> figured out how to set up the built-in wireless interface wlan0 with
> ndiswrapper, I disabled eth0, again using Control
> Center>Internet&Network>Network Settings and disconnected the ethernet
> cable.
>
> I arranged to have wlan0 set up automatically by putting these commands
> in /etc/rc.d/rc.local:
>
> modprobe -f ndiswrapper
> sleep 3
> iwconfig wlan0 essid xxxxxxxxx channel 11 key xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx open
> sleep 3
> dhcpcd wlan0
>
> In /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 there are commands on using DHCP to bring an
> interface up if USE_DHCP=yes for that interface. The interface is
> brought up with the command "/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60".
>
> My /var/log/messages indeed reports that "/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60" is run
> twice at the point in time when the boot process pauses for several
> minutes with the screen "dhcpcd: MAC = xxxxxxxxxxxx"
>
> Yet /etc/rc.inet1.conf says:
>
> # Config information for eth0:
> IPADDR[0]=""
> NETMASK[0]=""
> USE_DHCP[0]="" [<----- Note: there is no "yes" here]
> DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""
>
> GATEWAY="192.168.0.1"
> DEBUG_ETH_UP="no"
> WPAPSK=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> TxRate=0"
> USE_DHCP[wlan0]="yes"
>
> I didn't add a static IP address and netmask when I removed the above
> "yes" for DHCP.
>
> Should I simply remove the four lines following "Config information for
> eth0:"? Or is there another way of killing DHCP for eth0? How would
> that affect my capability of using the wired interface eth0 again
> occasionally?
>
> Robert

Changed

# Config information for eth0:
IPADDR[0]=""
NETMASK[0]=""
USE_DHCP[0]=""
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""

to

# Config information for eth0:
IPADDR[0]="192.168.0.100"
NETMASK[0]="255.255.255.0"
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""

That didn't help either; the boot process still pauses with
the message

"dhcpcd: MAC = xxxxxxxxxxxx" [<---- MAC address of eth0]

I worked around this problem by reducing the timeout in the
command "/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60" from 60 to 1 sec. Not very
elegant but now the boot time is down from around 5 min to
less than 90 seconds.

Robert

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 11:12:29 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:

>... the boot process still pauses with
>the message
>
>"dhcpcd: MAC = xxxxxxxxxxxx" [<---- MAC address of eth0]

Please don't edit error messages, we're not going to hack ya system via
MAC spoofing
>
>I worked around this problem by reducing the timeout in the
>command "/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60" from 60 to 1 sec.

Try 'grep -r /sbin/dhcpcd /etc' to find the culprit?

Knocking that timeout down is not the right thing to do, but I've no
idea of wireless interaction.

<http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/bash/firewall/> has an ascii art image of
my network -- perhaps an idea there, or at least you see my PoV.

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/

Grant wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 11:12:29 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:
>
>> ... the boot process still pauses with
>> the message
>>
>> "dhcpcd: MAC = xxxxxxxxxxxx" [<---- MAC address of eth0]
>
> Please don't edit error messages, we're not going to hack ya system via
> MAC spoofing
>> I worked around this problem by reducing the timeout in the
>> command "/sbin/dhcpcd -d -t 60" from 60 to 1 sec.
>
> Try 'grep -r /sbin/dhcpcd /etc' to find the culprit?
>
> Knocking that timeout down is not the right thing to do, but I've no
> idea of wireless interaction.
>
> <http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/bash/firewall/> has an ascii art image of
> my network -- perhaps an idea there, or at least you see my PoV.
>
> Grant.

Running "grep -r /sbin/dhcpcd /etc" doesn't show any obvious
culprit. In /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 there are two instances of
"/sbin/dhcpcd -k -d". The manpages say of the -k switch:

"Sends SIGHUP signal to the dhcpcd process associated with
the specified interface if one is currently running. If
dhcpcd receives SIGHUP it will send DCHP_RELEASE message to
the server and destroy dhcpcd cache. In a case dhcpcd
receives SIGTERM which is normally used by shutdown(8) when
rebooting the system dhcpcd will not send DHCP_RELEASE and
will not destroy cache. When system boots dhcpcd will use
cache to request the same IP address from DHCP server which
was assigned before the system went down."

I haven't really put my mind to figuring out what this
means. Perhaps there is a problem with the dhcpcd cache not
being cleared when it should have been. I'll review all of
the issues that I solved poorly now at a later time when I'm
more knowledgeable about Slackware.

Right now I'm happy that I'm slowly getting my new Slackware
install to work well on my laptop. In fact, I'm surprised
and pleased that Slackware is working so well on a
state-of-the-art laptop (dual-core processor, SATA drive,
external USB HDD, the latest wireless and CD/DVD drive
hardware, etc.). Slackware is doing as well or better in
having things work out of the box than other distros I've
run on this machine that are considered the pinnacle of user
friendliness such as Xandros 4, Novell SLED 10, Ubuntu,
MEPIS, Knoppix, Slax, Zenwalk, etc.

Which ethernet switch are you using? I may want to get an
inexpensive (<$30) ethernet 10/100 switch with 4 or 5 ports
and a compact power supply. The LINKSYS EZXS55W looks good.

Robert

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 17:11:42 -0400, Robert Glueck <rglk@web.de> wrote:

>Running "grep -r /sbin/dhcpcd /etc" doesn't show any obvious
>culprit. In /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 there are two instances of
>"/sbin/dhcpcd -k -d". The manpages say of the -k switch:
>
>I haven't really put my mind to figuring out what this
>means. Perhaps there is a problem with the dhcpcd cache not
>being cleared when it should have been. I'll review all of
>the issues that I solved poorly now at a later time when I'm
>more knowledgeable about Slackware.

Need to renew lease on reboot, as well as new boot within lease period,
I'm a bit rusty -- other than 'it works here' -- but I've not tested
the dhcpcd behaviour when DHCP server is down.

I tend to use static IPs with slackware boxen, with dnsmasq as the
server, though a casual install of -current recently rebooted no
problem with DHCP.
>
>Right now I'm happy that I'm slowly getting my new Slackware
>install to work well on my laptop...

A-hah! This is the time you find that while slackware may be clunky
compared to other distros, it is totally transparent in operation.

Follow the scripts and read the man pages, add a dash of Google and
I find slackware admin a learning, more than a totally frustrating
experience

>Which ethernet switch are you using?

I use a couple 8-way switches, < AU$30 One's an ST Lab, it runs 24/7
for several years, other is more recent, 'Wise' brand. Both were cheap,
come in metal case with wallmount keyholes.

Grant.
--
http://bugsplatter.mine.nu/

Grant wrote:

>
>> Which ethernet switch are you using?
>
> I use a couple 8-way switches, < AU$30 One's an ST Lab, it runs 24/7
> for several years, other is more recent, 'Wise' brand. Both were cheap,
> come in metal case with wallmount keyholes.
>
> Grant.

I ordered the D-Link DSS-5+ 10/20/100/200Mbps Switch 5 x
RJ-45 Ports 2K MAC Address Table 512KB Buffer memory for
US$6.99 (!!) at Newegg's. It had very good writeups.

Robert