[Bug 638963] Re: SIOCADDRT error message misinforms user

[Stéphane Graber]

AFAICT it isn't ifupdown's fault, all ifupdown is doing is running "ip
addr add" which will indeed get a "File exists" from the kernel if the
IP already exists as can be seen here:

root at castiana:~# ip addr add dev wlan0 10.155.2.159/21
RTNETLINK answers: File exists


Marking the bug Invalid for ifupdown. Ifupdown itself doesn't do any direct netlink call and so can't do detailed error handling (trying to keep things simple), as that string comes from the kernel, there isn't much we can do.

** Changed in: ifupdown (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Invalid

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/638963

Title:
  SIOCADDRT error message misinforms user

Status in “ifupdown” package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  I have a Ubuntu 10.04 LTS server that's a VM under Oracle OneBox. Its
  network adapter is set to NAT in OneBox.

  If I alter /etc/network and assign a static IP to eth1 and then do
  sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart, I get this:

   * Reconfiguring network interfaces...
  SIOCADDRT: File exists
  Failed to bring up eth1.

  This SIOCADDRT error is terribly misinforming the user. There is no
  problem file that exists. The problem is that I am assigning a static
  IP to an adapter that doesn't support it.

  This message is worse than useless because, not only does it fail to
  provide useful information, it may send admins down a irrelevant rat
  hole, trying to verify something about some random file.

  You may ask, "Why eth1 and not eth0?" I created a VM and later ran
  into a possible OneBox bug where it could no longer start the VM
  (several reports of it in the OneBox forums lately). I deleted the VM
  instance but preserved the drive. The old VM instance had a bridged
  network adapter. I made a new VM instance, added the drive back, and
  accidentally left the network adapter at NAT. I think it's eth1
  because Ubuntu detected a new network adapter.

  Now to be clear: I am not looking for root cause diagnosis in this
  error. I am looking for an improved error message. The current error
  message gives no useful information to users.

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