Today while I was trying to get dnsmasq working I found that my /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 began to erroneously report itself as "inactive" even when it was working fine, thus preventing dnsmasq from starting up. To get around this, I add the line "rc_dnsmasq_need=!net". dnsmasq now starts up and works fine, though net.wlan0 still reports "inactive" erroneously. Since dnsmasq evidently will work fine even if started before net, and since the dependency clearly can cause problems when net.* reports its status incorrectly, this dependency should be removed, as it does not serve any particular function and can clearly cause problems. Instead, it might be a better idea to specify that dnsmasq should start after net, but start up regardless of whether net starts. If the network is not working, dnsmasq will sit idly and not cause any problems, whereas not having dns or having to rely on the unreliable dns server given out by their router will almost certainly be regarded as a problem for most users of dnsmasq. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Arrange for net.* to incorrectly report its/their status. 2.Try to start dnsmasq 3.Fail Actual Results: dnsmasq refused to start, resulting in hours of trying to figure out how to get it working. Expected Results: dnsmasq should have started fine, as it doesn't really need net anyway. emerge --info Portage 2.1.10.49 (default/linux/amd64/10.0, gcc-4.5.3, glibc-2.14.1-r3, 2.6.39-gentoo-r3 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-2.6.39-gentoo-r3-x86_64-AMD_Phenom-tm-_II_X6_1055T_Processor-with-gentoo-2.0.3 Timestamp of tree: Sun, 06 May 2012 19:15:01 +0000 app-shells/bash: 4.2_p20 dev-java/java-config: 2.1.11-r3 dev-lang/python: 2.6.6-r2, 2.7.2-r3, 3.1.4-r3, 3.2.2 dev-util/cmake: 2.8.6-r4 dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.26 sys-apps/baselayout: 2.0.3 sys-apps/openrc: 0.9.8.4 sys-apps/sandbox: 2.5 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.68 sys-devel/automake: 1.9.6-r3, 1.10.3, 1.11.1 sys-devel/binutils: 2.21.1-r1 sys-devel/gcc: 4.4.6-r1, 4.5.3-r2 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.5-r2 sys-devel/libtool: 2.4-r1 sys-devel/make: 3.82-r1 sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.1 (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.14.1-r3 Repositories: gentoo cj-overlay dustin flow bitcoin 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There should be at lease some network device on the system before starting dnsmasq (even net.lo), the dependency on net is a valid one. Probably what you want is rc_depend_strict="NO" in /etc/rc.conf Here is the description: # Do we allow any started service in the runlevel to satisfy the dependency # or do we want all of them regardless of state? For example, if net.eth0 # and net.eth1 are in the default runlevel then with rc_depend_strict="NO" # both will be started, but services that depend on 'net' will work if either # one comes up. With rc_depend_strict="YES" we would require them both to # come up. #rc_depend_strict="YES"
I have net.lo started at bootup and I have rc_depend_strict="NO", but still dnsmasq would not start until I removed its dependency on net in rc.conf. I would agree with you in principle if net.lo was able to satisfy it, but it clearly did not, I don't know why.
