Bug#554194: ifupdown virtual package name and mass-filing (if accepted)

[Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org>]

On Thu, Nov 05, 2009 at 09:54:37AM +0100, martin f krafft wrote:
[...response that is not very relevant to this mail...]

There was no further discussion on this item since the above date. Since
I've recently uploaded ipcfg, I'd like this to be finalized. It
currently uses 'ifupdown' as the name to conflict/replace/provide, but I
don't consider that to be a particularly good idea.

I'm suggesting that the package name 'network-config-tool' be described
as a tool for a package providing 'ifup' and 'ifdown' binaries. These
should provide the following interface:

- support 'ifup <interface name>' or 'ifdown <interface name>' to bring
  an interface up or down, consistently with configuration, and exit
  with non-zero if either operation fails.
- may provide a virtual interface name that does not map to an actual
  physical interface name, but instead uses internal logic to decide
  what to do.
- ifup and ifdown should support a '-a' or '--all' option to configure
  or deconfigure 'all' interfaces. Here, 'all' is defined as 'all
  interfaces for which the tool's configuration defines that they should
  be brought up or down with the -a option'.
- ifup and ifdown should support a '-v' or '--verbose' option to aid in
  debugging.
- ifup and ifdown should support hook scripts in
  /etc/network/if-*.d:
  - the tool should provide a way for the user to set configuration
    values through environment variables, the name of which start with
    IF_
  - the tool should provide PHASE and MODE variables, describing what
    we're trying to do
  - (since I could not find a formal specification of the if-*.d hook
    script interface, I may have missed some things; if so, please let
    me know)

Comments are welcome.

[aj: I haven't seen any comment from you on this, and would like to make
sure that you're comfortable with whatever interface we come up with --
please comment.]

-- 
The biometric identification system at the gates of the CIA headquarters
works because there's a guard with a large gun making sure no one is
trying to fool the system.
  http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/01/biometrics.html