[plug] boot, kernel,

[Cameron Patrick]

On Sun, Nov 30, 2003 at 09:49:39AM +0800, smclevie wrote:

| How does one make a Sid Debian 2.4.22 kernel automatically set a fixed eth0 
| configuration?  I do not run a graphical interface - just the command 
| line.  (I tried to get a graphical interface - it is hopelessly 
| dysfunctional)  The ethernet driver is integrated into the 
| kernel.  Networkconf doesn't run without GUI.  Pon is OK.  Bind 8.4 
| installed.  Ifconfig **** is OK.  Ping is OK.

You need to set up an /etc/network/interfaces file.  Mine looks like:

# The loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The first network card - this entry was created during the Debian installation
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

If you don't have a DHCP server on your network - or this machine /is/
the DHCP server - you need to give it your IP address etc manually.
Another example from a machine at home:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
  address 10.0.1.1
  broadcast 10.0.1.255
  netmask 255.255.255.0

Another option you might need in to add to the "iface eth0 ...[blah]" is
something like "gateway 10.0.1.1" if the machine is not directly
connected to the internet.

Oh, and "man interfaces" is your friend - this file can set up all sorts
of quirky networking stuff :-)

| I also note that if specific options are not selected during the kernel 
| build certain functions are lost.  (eg pon)
| These functions fail without any notification.  Pon connects to ISP then 
| just disconnects ... no explanations at all.

Take a look in /var/log/messages and /var/log/debug for messages from
pppd and chat.  In general, if the kernel doesn't have the stuff you
need compiled into it, random stuff stops working - and often the Right
Stuff is not exactly obvious from the kernel configuration menu.  dhcp
is another thing that's easy to break that way, as are tcpdump and USB
support.

Cheers,

Cameron.