Package: hostapd
Version: 2:2.7-3
Severity: normal
Tags: patch
Dear Maintainer,
* What led up to the situation?
I installed hostapd (first 2.6/testing, then 2.7/unstable) in a system
with 2 wireless cards. Added 2 configuration files, one for each
card. Added both files to DAEMON_CONF in /etc/default/hostapd:
DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp1s0.conf
/etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp5s0.conf"
With this setting, hostapd does not start.
* What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
ineffective)?
- systemctl restart hostapd
- /etc/init.d/hostapd restart
- reboot
a Then I tried removing one file name from DAEMON_CONF.
b Then I tried starting hostapd manually from the command line:
#hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid /etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp1s0.conf
/etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp5s0.conf
c Then I patched the systemd service file /lib/systemd/system/hostapd.service
* What was the outcome of this action?
- Normal start didn't work, systemctl reported a start failure (see
below).
a With only one file name, hostapd started, but managed only one card.
b hostapd started normally when given the options on the command
line, and managed both cards.
c Looking at /var/log/syslog, it became clear that something
(systemd) was passing the arguments to hostapd in the wrong way:
Jan 20 15:27:53 debwall systemd[1]: Starting Advanced IEEE 802.11 AP and IEEE
802.1X/WPA/WPA2/EAP Authenticator...
Jan 20 15:27:53 debwall hostapd[4468]: Configuration file:
/etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp1s0.conf /etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp5s0.conf
Jan 20 15:27:53 debwall hostapd[4468]: Could not open configuration file
'/etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp1s0.conf /etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp5s0.conf' for reading.
Jan 20 15:27:53 debwall hostapd[4468]: Failed to set up interface with
/etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp1s0.conf /etc/hostapd/hostapd-wlp5s0.conf
Jan 20 15:27:53 debwall hostapd[4468]: Failed to initialize interface
I found the error in /lib/systemd/system/hostapd.service, which calls
hostapd like this:
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid -B $DAEMON_OPTS
${DAEMON_CONF}
This makes DAEMON_CONF a single string, which leads to the error
above. Removing the curly brackets solves the problem:
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid -B $DAEMON_OPTS
$DAEMON_CONF
See also the attached patch file
* What outcome did you expect instead?
hostapd should start and manage both cards.
Best /markus
-- System Information:
Debian Release: buster/sid
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (900, 'testing'), (150, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Kernel: Linux 4.19.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL
set to en_US.utf8), LANGUAGE=en_US:en (charmap=UTF-8) (ignored: LC_ALL set to
en_US.utf8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
Versions of packages hostapd depends on:
ii init-system-helpers 1.56+nmu1
ii libc6 2.28-5
ii libnl-3-200 3.4.0-1
ii libnl-genl-3-200 3.4.0-1
ii libnl-route-3-200 3.4.0-1
ii libssl1.1 1.1.1a-1
ii lsb-base 10.2018112800
hostapd recommends no packages.
hostapd suggests no packages.
-- Configuration Files:
/etc/default/hostapd changed [not included]
/etc/init.d/hostapd changed [not included]
-- no debconf information
--- hostapd.service 2019-01-20 15:52:16.827736254 +0100
+++ hostapd.service.patched 2019-01-20 15:52:40.184579690 +0100
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
RestartSec=2
Environment=DAEMON_CONF=/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/hostapd
-ExecStart=/usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid -B $DAEMON_OPTS
${DAEMON_CONF}
+ExecStart=/usr/sbin/hostapd -B -P /run/hostapd.pid -B $DAEMON_OPTS $DAEMON_CONF
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
