NetBSD Problem Report #60836

From www@netbsd.org  Fri Oct  2 02:49:08 2026
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Date: Fri,  2 Oct 2026 02:49:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: campbell+netbsd@mumble.net
Reply-To: campbell+netbsd@mumble.net
To: gnats-bugs@NetBSD.org
Subject: /etc/rc.d/network picks up stray ifconfig.ifN~ backup files
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X-From4GNATS: "campbell+netbsd@mumble.net via gnats" <gnats-admin@NetBSD.org>

>Number:         60836
>Category:       misc
>Synopsis:       /etc/rc.d/network picks up stray ifconfig.ifN~ backup files
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       serious
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    riastradh
>State:          needs-pullups
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Fri Oct 02 02:50:00 +0000 2026
>Closed-Date:    
>Last-Modified:  Fri Oct 02 14:17:40 +0000 2026
>Originator:     Taylor R Campbell
>Release:        11
>Organization:
Network BSD Backups Ifc.
>Environment:
>Description:

	I changed /etc/ifconfig.wg0 and saved a backup as
	/etc/ifconfig.wg0.~1~ as is a common convention; the next
	`service network restart' complained:

Starting network.
Hostname: nanocons.local
IPv6 mode: host
Configuring network interfaces: emac0 wg0 ~1~ifconfig: clone_command: Invalid argument
ifconfig: exec_matches: Invalid argument
usage: ifconfig [-h] [-m] [-v] [-z] [-L] interface
...
       ifconfig interface destroy
.
Adding interface aliases:.

	The relevant logic in /etc/rc.d/network looks like it was maybe
	intended as a regular expression, not a shell glob:

    242 		for cloner in $(/sbin/ifconfig -C); do
    243 			for int in /etc/ifconfig.${cloner}[0-9]*; do
    244 				[ ! -f $int ] && break
    245 				tmp="$tmp ${int##*.}"
    246 			done
    247 		done

	https://nxr.netbsd.org/xref/src/etc/rc.d/network?r=1.85#242

	This will also get confused by ifconfig.wg0.bak,
	ifconfig.wg0.tmp, &c.

>How-To-Repeat:

	touch /etc/ifconfig.wg0.~1~
	service network restart

>Fix:

	1. Check for ${cloner}[0-9]* (or, really, ${cloner}[0-9][0-9]*)
	   as a regular expression, e.g. with expr(1)?
	2. Check for *~ and skip it?

>Release-Note:

>Audit-Trail:
From: Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU>
To: gnats-bugs@netbsd.org
Cc: 
Subject: Re: misc/60836: /etc/rc.d/network picks up stray ifconfig.ifN~ backup files
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:54:54 +0700

     Date:        Fri,  2 Oct 2026 02:50:01 +0000 (UTC)
     From:        "campbell+netbsd@mumble.net via gnats" <gnats-admin@NetBSD.org>
     Message-ID:  <20261002025001.7B4B61A923E@mollari.NetBSD.org>

   | 	1. Check for ${cloner}[0-9]* (or, really, ${cloner}[0-9][0-9]*)
   | 	   as a regular expression, e.g. with expr(1)?

 RE not needed, a suitable (adequate for the purpose here, if not
 100% general case for all purposes) fix can be done using just sh.

   | 	2. Check for *~ and skip it?

 That's insufficient, using ~ might be "a common convention" in some
 environments, but there are also .bak .orig and numerous others
 floating around - if we're to deal with one, we should deal with all.

 Of course, just saving the pre-modified file in RCS or CVS or something
 and not cluttering the filesystem with various "backup" files would be
 a much better solution, but ...

 kre


Responsible-Changed-From-To: misc-bug-people->kre
Responsible-Changed-By: riastradh@NetBSD.org
Responsible-Changed-When: Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:34:24 +0000
Responsible-Changed-Why:
local sh wizard has stepped in to show us How It's Done using just sh


From: "Robert Elz" <kre@netbsd.org>
To: gnats-bugs@gnats.NetBSD.org
Cc: 
Subject: PR/60836 CVS commit: src/etc/rc.d
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2026 06:53:07 +0000

 Module Name:	src
 Committed By:	kre
 Date:		Fri Oct  2 06:53:07 UTC 2026

 Modified Files:
 	src/etc/rc.d: network

 Log Message:
 PR misc/60836 - Be more careful with /etc/ifconfig.* cloner configs

 Only config cloner interfaces when an /etc/ifconfig.${cloner}N file
 exists, if N is completely numeric.


 To generate a diff of this commit:
 cvs rdiff -u -r1.85 -r1.86 src/etc/rc.d/network

 Please note that diffs are not public domain; they are subject to the
 copyright notices on the relevant files.

State-Changed-From-To: open->closed
State-Changed-By: kre@NetBSD.org
State-Changed-When: Fri, 02 Oct 2026 06:56:34 +0000
State-Changed-Why:
Fixed.


State-Changed-From-To: closed->needs-pullups
State-Changed-By: riastradh@NetBSD.org
State-Changed-When: Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:01:48 +0000
State-Changed-Why:
pullup-11 at least would be nice


Responsible-Changed-From-To: kre->riastradh
Responsible-Changed-By: kre@NetBSD.org
Responsible-Changed-When: Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:17:40 +0000
Responsible-Changed-Why:
No wizardry needed for pullups, so
returning responsibility for this to riastradh


>Unformatted:

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