Bug#694068: netcfg: Wireless connectivity present during an install but absent afterwards

["Trent W. Buck" <trentbuck@gmail.com>]

Brian Potkin wrote:
> The number of users affected by this issue over the years is not
> insignificant. Not a single one has written in support of the
> situation.

This issue has bitten me at least twice so far.

This issue's history seems to be bogged down on whether interfaces(5) can be mode 0600 (to hide the cleartext passphrase).
This is not necessary; the passphrase can go in a separate file.

Here is a minimal config, assuming WPA2 PSK (not Enterprise) and DHCP (not static) for all SSIDs:

    cat >/etc/network/interfaces <<EOF
    allow-auto lo $iface
    iface lo inet loopback
    iface default inet dhcp
    iface $iface inet manual
      wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-$iface.conf
    EOF

    wpa_passphrase "$ssid" "$passphrase" >"/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-$iface.conf"
    chmod 0600 "/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-$iface.conf"

If you don't want to udebify wpa_passphrase, you can do it by hand:

    cat >"/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-$iface.conf" <<EOF
    network={
      ssid="$ssid"
      psk="$passphrase"
    }
    EOF

If you really hate ifupdown, you can use systemd instead (not fully tested):

    cat >/etc/systemd/network/$iface.network <<EOF
    [Match]
    iface=$iface
    [Network]
    DHCP=yes
    EOF

    systemctl enable wpa_supplicant@$iface.service

    wpa_passphrase "$ssid" "$passphrase" >"/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-$iface.conf"
    chmod 0600 "/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-$iface.conf"

If even these things are too much, can you AT LEAST install wpasupplicant?
Writing config files is much easier than ferrying .debs between computers by USB key.

If this bug is going to be kept ANOTHER Debian release,
can you at least warn people about it in the buster Installation Guide?