starting eth without IP address

[Kostas Magkos <kmag@lab.epmhs.gr>]

Hi list,

I have a sarge system with two NICs. I want to start eth1 without an IP 
address and with no ARP running, so as to use it just for sniffing. I 
can't figure out how do that.

Nothing I tried putting in /etc/network/interfaces works. The net 
startup script always complains about missing configuration and of 
course eth1 isn't started. As a temporary solution I added a 'ifconfig 
eth1 up' line in /etc/init.d/networking but I really don't like this 
approach. I don't think that it's even the right thing to do cause of 
upgrade issues.

Is there a more elegant solution? What is the debian way?

Any help much appreciated,
thanx in advance!

~
kmag