On Mon 26 Jun 2017 at 08:24:10 -0400, Greg Wooledge wrote: > On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 11:07:13AM +0200, Erwan David wrote: > > Do you mean that network-manager is compulsory in stretch ? Impossible > > to use a fixed configuration in /etc/network/interfaces or another > > connection manager like wicd ? > > No, this is not the case. I've got two stretch desktop systems that > use /e/n/i and not network-manager. I have *never* used n-m. > > > It would surprise me. > > The OP is well intentioned, but is only presenting anecdotal experience > from one system, without sufficient detail to understand where things > went wrong.
It is very, very likely nothing went wrong and d-i did exactly what it is designed to do, but the lack of detail on the installation conditions makes it difficult to be be 100% certain. Please see later. > On Sat, Jun 24, 2017 at 08:33:00PM +0100, Brian wrote: > > The OP is particularly drawing attention to a situation which could > > possibly occur when *Debian is installed*. Unfortunately, although one > > of the conditions under which the installation was done (no selection > > of a DE) is stated, the complete situation is not described. This > > reduces the usefulness of the suggested fix. > > "No DE selected" is not the underlying cause either. I've installed > Debian without selecting a DE, many times, on many computers, and I've > never needed n-m. "No DE selected" *is* one of the underlying causes. It is not really a matter of *needing* n-m but of being given it by the installer when a DE is selected. Please see later. > Granted, I have never directly installed Stretch yet. Only Jessie and > earlier. My two Stretch systems are upgrades. If the OP's observations are not due to a bug you would find the Jessie installer behaving in the same way as described below. > If I had to guess, I would guess that the OP's system is a laptop, and > the OP is attempting to use a wireless network of some kind. There may > be setups where n-m handles wireless stuff particularly well. I dislike guessing, myself, especially when extra information is so easy to supply, but your guess is a good one. netcfg sets up the network during installation and writes a temporary /e/n/i stanza. If a user installs a DE and n-m is installed the stanza is not copied to /target, the assumption being, I suppose, that the user would want n-m to handle the network. This happens when either a wired or wireless connection is used to install. If the user uses a cabled connection but does not select a DE the stanza is copied to /target. If a user has a wireless connection but does not select a DE the stanza is not copied to /target but rewritten to contain loopback only and then copied over. On first boot there is no external connectivity. Your guess is as good as mine why a wireless installation is treated differently from a cabled one. I have never seen any adequate justification for denying external connectivity in this circumstance. Sources: netcfg's 55netcfg-copy-config script and its bug record. -- Brian.
