On Tue 12 Feb 2019 at 22:49:13 (-0600), Kent West wrote:
> stretch, 9.7
>
> I've duckduckgo'd for two days, but there seems to be no definitive answer
> as to how networking is supposed to be configured in stretch. debian.org's
> link to "The Debian Administrator's Handbook" is for version 8, and talks
> about deprecated tools like ifup/down, which aren't even installed by
> default on stretch.
Perhaps they spell deprecate differently, but I can only find one
occurrence of the word, on page 224, referring to SSL.
I can only find three references to ifupdown (pp. 150, 383, 396),
none making any judgment on its use.
The ifconfig command has been deprecated and thus missing by default on Debian Linux, starting from Debian stretch
As Greg Wooledge points out, I had confused "ifconfig" with "ifupdown".
It's interesting that many people seem to think that networking
behaves like a daemon, where you can just change the configuration
file and then signal the daemon to reread the new file.
Probably because many people, including myself, don't know how networking works.
> btw, NetworkManager (network-manager) is not installed.
Same here. I think the installer gives you that when you install
a Desktop Environment.
That's kind of my thinking also.
It is my understanding that NetworkManager doesn't try to manage interfaces that are configured in /etc/network/interfaces. I think I kind of took that to mean that "interfaces" was deprecated, just as the init-script system is usable with systemd although deprecated.
Following that [wrong?] thinking, I'd think that the "canonical" tools for network configuration would be NetworkManagerDE (NM) everywhere, but I think I'm learning that it's ifupdown if you're not running X/, NM otherwise.
> So, two questions:
>
> 1) Why can't I restore my networking after I stop it? How do I restore
> networking?
See above (when it works for you).
Thanks! Greg helped me past this part.
> 2) What is the canonical current method in 2019 to [semi-]manually
> configure networking in stretch? And is it documented anywhere? (My two
> days of searching leads me to think "no". Or my google-fu really sucks.)
I don't think you can have a "canonical" method because it depends on
what sort of system you're installing.
For a server, you probably want nothing more than the ifupdown that
the d-i installs by default. Most people running a DE will likely take
what's given to them; isn't that the point of a DE: why fight it.
In between are people like me who prefer the lightest tools where
possible, and so I use wicd (-curses) as a matter of course. It works
well on the road where it's essential, but it also can be useful at
home when I move machines around (altering whether they're wired
or wireless'd).
Which, as pointed out above, is kind of the conclusion I'm coming to. I was just hoping there was some documentation that explains this, instead of the learner having to piece a correct piece of info from a 7-year old post with an incorrect piece from a 11-year old post except if Condition A exists, but not on Thursdays.
Cheers,
David.