[Gnewsense-dev] Re: 2.6.32-libre-lemote vs NetworkManager (race condition?)

[Daniel Clark]

Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> I've been experiencing loss of wired networking with NetworkManager
> since I started using 2.6.32-libre-lemote, that don't seem to ever occur
> with 2.6.31.7-libre2-lemote.
> 
> My setup uses a DHCP-configured wired network interface, with the WiFi
> module blacklisted.
> 
> The network is always brought up early in the boot, and remains on for
> at least 45 seconds, but quite often NetworkManager decides that dhcp
> took too long (>45 seconds) to complete and reverts to a local IP
> address, 169.254.some.thing IIRC.  It doesn't seem to recover from that
> by itself; resetting the network connection after logging in as a
> desktop user works; unplugging the cable and plugging it back it, or
> restarting network-manager fix the problem, but sometimes only
> temporarily, for another 45 seconds.
> 
> It appears to be some race condition involving dbus, dhcbdb and the
> dbus-send notification in /etc/dhcp3/dhclient-exit-hooks.d/dhcdbd, but
> it's hard to tell for sure.  If I strace the system dbus-daemon and/or
> dhcbdb and then restart network-manager, the connection goes dead after
> another 45 seconds.  If I don't strace anything, or if I strace -f
> dhcbdb, sometimes it survives, sometimes it dies in the same way.
> 
> I have strace logs that worked and failed, and AFAICT the dbus-send
> notification issued by dhclient-exit-hooks.d/dhcdbd doesn't get to
> dhcdbd on traces in which the connection dies, whereas it does when it
> survives.  I'm guessing (from the little I know about dbus) that the
> race has to do with dhcdbd registering with dbus-daemon to receive
> messages from dhcdbd, but that's just a guess: I don't really know how
> dbus decides whom to relay messages to.
> 
> Is anyone else experiencing this?  Anyone familiar with dbus and
> dhclient willing to offer a more informed guess as to where the problem
> might be?
> 
> Thanks in advance,

Sorry I have no specific help to offer for this at this time, but I am
starting to think that the WPA not working under 2.6.31.6 is also a
timing problem - see https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?28289 "gNewSense
GNU/Linux - Bugs: WPA doesn't work on yeeloong under 2.6.31.6-libre1 linux"

Has anyone had WPA work under 2.6.31.6 or later on the yeeloong?

Any workarounds you had to employ (other than dealing with the rfkill
stuff)?

-- 
Daniel JB Clark   | Sys Admin, Free Software Foundation
pobox.com/~dclark | http://www.fsf.org/about/staff#danny