[OE-core] What's the "proper" way to start WiFi networking?

[Mike Looijmans]

On 24-05-17 15:12, Nicolas Dechesne wrote:
> On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 2:58 PM, Mike Looijmans <mike.looijmans at topic.nl> wrote:
>>
>> I was wondering if there were better ways than handcrafting shell scripts to
>> do this on a headless embedded board?
>>
>>
>>
>> If I put wpa-conf into /etc/network/interfaces it works, but blocks booting
>> for a long time if the wifi isn't there.
>>
>>
>> I've been using ifplugd combined with wired ethernet, and this also works
>> fine with wireless. Once wpa-supplicant connects to an access point, the
>> link reports up and DCHP can start.
>>
>>
>> Starting wpa_supplicant from the commandline runs fine:
>>
>> /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -P /var/run/wpa_supplicant.wlan0.pid -i wlan0 -c
>> /etc/wpa_topic.conf -D
>>
>> However, putting this line into a startup script (/etc/rc5.d/...) hangs. It
>> doesn't matter whether I start early or late, the wpa_supplicant just hangs
>> and waits and doesn't fork into daemon mode like it should. Tried setting
>> PATH and redirecting input, invoking through start-stop-daemon, but that
>> didn't help.
>>
>> Appending an ampersand to the command makes the boot continue, but
>> wpa_supplicant doesn't work, it won't connect to the access point.
> 
> my 2 cents..
> 
> after going back and forth for some time, I am now always using
> network-manager.. it has very handy command line utilities (nmcli and
> nmtui) and is well integrated with systemd. that happens to work well
> for me.

Apparently not for headless systems, networkmanager requires X11:

ERROR: Nothing PROVIDES 'consolekit' (but 
.../meta-oe/meta-oe/recipes-connectivity/networkmanager/networkmanager_1.0.12.bb 
DEPENDS on or otherwise requires it)
ERROR: consolekit was skipped: missing required distro feature 'x11' (not in 
DISTRO_FEATURES)


> i want to believe that connman can do the same thing, but i have never
> tried it much..

I'll try that next...



Kind regards,

Mike Looijmans
System Expert

TOPIC Products
Materiaalweg 4, NL-5681 RJ Best
Postbus 440, NL-5680 AK Best
Telefoon: +31 (0) 499 33 69 79
E-mail: mike.looijmans at topicproducts.com
Website: www.topicproducts.com

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