We choose Linux because we like a stable OS we rarely have to upgrade or alter. But that's becoming more and more difficult. Unless I've overlooked something, even simple utilities are eventually "improved".
The latest is a bedrock of operation; dhcpcd. This has been a great application and whomever designed dhcpcd has my thanks. Unfortunately, it now appears to have been "upgraded".
ctrl_interface not defined in $wpa_supplicant_confIn other words, we have an unnecessary new level of dhcpcd specificity when dhcpcd initializes, because it will also seek to initialize wpa_supplicant. Apparently for that reason, the dhcpcd developer decided that the wpa_supplicant.conf file was fair game for him or her to use in a new way. So now he/she requires us to hand-enter ctrl_interface information into wpa_supplicant.conf. If we don't add this ctrl_interface line, dhcpcd is unhappy and fails. No DHCP lease. Brilliant.
not interacting with wpa_supplicant(8)
This moron also failed an even more basic observation: that wpa_supplicant has its own independent initialization process which relies, appropriately, on /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. During its initialization, if wpa_supplicant encounters the ctrl_interface line which dhcpcd required us to add, wpa_supplicant reads the line as an error, and exits. Bingo, Catch-22. If I don't modify the config file, I can't negotiate a DHCP lease. If do modify the config file, wpa_supplicant fails. I guess we didn't want to use our wireless cards anyway.
Developers, please just STOP upgrading utilities we rely upon and which have no need for upgrade. Please. And if you're going to do something creative anyway, AT LEAST generate a separate configuration file.
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