[Bug 638963] Re: SIOCADDRT error message misinforms user

[Stéphane Graber]

Moving to iproute, though I highly doubt we'll be changing iproute's
output any time soon.

** Package changed: ifupdown (Ubuntu) => iproute (Ubuntu)

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

Title:
  SIOCADDRT error message misinforms user

Status in “iproute” package in Ubuntu:
  New

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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