[Bug 824596] [NEW] /etc/init/network-interface.conf makes it impossible to have persistent PPP connection

[Christian Hudon]

Public bug reported:

I have a server with a static PPP connection to the Internet. (It's a
PPPoE connection to an ISP, actually.) I want said PPP connection to
come up on boot and then *always stay up* (unless I take it down
temporarily myself for sysadmin work, obviously). This used to be
possible with hardy, but now doesn't work at all with lucid unless I
hack /etc/init/network-interface.conf. Otherwise when say the other side
closes the connection, it doesn't get restarted.

I have my PPP connection configured with "persist" and "maxfail 0". I
also have a script / upstart conf file to restart the pppd program if it
terminates unexpectedly, but I don't think that impacts this bug report.
Here's the root of the problem, to the best of my understanding. When
the PPP connection is stopped, the kernel destroys the ppp0 interface.
Upstart sees this and the network-interface.conf then calls "ifdown
ppp0", and so whatever the pppd daemon was going to do beforehand
(restart the connection, for instance), now it's being stopped. I
commented out the "ifup" and "ifdown" lines in network-interface.conf,
and now my PPP connection restarts properly when it's interrupted.

I believe the solution would involve only doing ifup/ifdown calls in
network-interface.conf for network interfaces that are actual hardware
being plugged in on an actual physical bus in the computer. At least I
know that udev also has a set of "ifup" and "ifdown" calls deep in its
bowels, but these don't cause problem for my PPP connection, so udev
must be doing something different there...

** Affects: ifupdown (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/824596

Title:
  /etc/init/network-interface.conf makes it impossible to have
  persistent PPP connection

Status in “ifupdown” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I have a server with a static PPP connection to the Internet. (It's a
  PPPoE connection to an ISP, actually.) I want said PPP connection to
  come up on boot and then *always stay up* (unless I take it down
  temporarily myself for sysadmin work, obviously). This used to be
  possible with hardy, but now doesn't work at all with lucid unless I
  hack /etc/init/network-interface.conf. Otherwise when say the other
  side closes the connection, it doesn't get restarted.

  I have my PPP connection configured with "persist" and "maxfail 0". I
  also have a script / upstart conf file to restart the pppd program if
  it terminates unexpectedly, but I don't think that impacts this bug
  report. Here's the root of the problem, to the best of my
  understanding. When the PPP connection is stopped, the kernel destroys
  the ppp0 interface. Upstart sees this and the network-interface.conf
  then calls "ifdown ppp0", and so whatever the pppd daemon was going to
  do beforehand (restart the connection, for instance), now it's being
  stopped. I commented out the "ifup" and "ifdown" lines in network-
  interface.conf, and now my PPP connection restarts properly when it's
  interrupted.

  I believe the solution would involve only doing ifup/ifdown calls in
  network-interface.conf for network interfaces that are actual hardware
  being plugged in on an actual physical bus in the computer. At least I
  know that udev also has a set of "ifup" and "ifdown" calls deep in its
  bowels, but these don't cause problem for my PPP connection, so udev
  must be doing something different there...

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