Bug 124253

Summary: Broken command in the handbook for configuring a wireless access point
Product: Documentation Reporter: Serguei Michtchenko <sergueim>
Component: Books & ArticlesAssignee: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida>
Status: Closed FIXED    
Severity: Affects Only Me    
Priority: Normal    
Version: Latest   
Hardware: Any   
OS: Any   

Description Serguei Michtchenko 2008-06-04 01:20:01 UTC 
Section "29.3.5 FreeBSD Host Access Points/29.3.5.1 Basic Settings" of the handbook instructs to execute the following command:

# ifconfig ath0 ssid freebsdap mode 11g mediaopt hostap inet 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0

and the result is:

ifconfig: inet: bad value

Not sure if this is just a fix for the handbook or a bug in ifconfig.

Fix: 

Putting "inet ..." as the first parameter fixes the problem and produces desired behaviour:

# ifconfig ath0 inet 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 ssid freebsdap mode 11g mediaopt hostap
How-To-Repeat: Execute the following command:

# ifconfig ath0 ssid freebsdap mode 11g mediaopt hostap inet 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0

the result is:

ifconfig: inet: bad value
Comment 1 Mark Linimon freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2008-06-04 01:52:07 UTC 
Responsible Changed
From-To: freebsd-bugs->freebsd-doc

docs PR.
Comment 2 Daniel Gerzo freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2008-06-21 12:56:41 UTC 
Responsible Changed
From-To: freebsd-doc->danger

Take
Comment 3 Sam Leffler freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2008-07-01 22:06:17 UTC 
Responsible Changed
From-To: danger->sam

the suggested ifconfig line should work; let me check the code
Comment 4 Mark Linimon freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2013-02-24 22:58:48 UTC 
State Changed
From-To: open->open

Sam has not been active in some time.  This is a very old PR and is 
probably no longer relevant.
Comment 5 Mark Linimon freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2013-02-24 22:58:48 UTC 
Responsible Changed
From-To: sam->freebsd-doc
Comment 6 Giorgos Keramidas freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2013-02-24 23:41:28 UTC 
State Changed
From-To: open->analyzed
Comment 7 Giorgos Keramidas freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2013-02-24 23:41:28 UTC 
Responsible Changed
From-To: freebsd-doc->keramida
Comment 8 Giorgos Keramidas freebsd_committer freebsd_triage 2013-02-24 23:48:22 UTC 
State Changed
From-To: analyzed->closed

This used to be true, but it was fixed in svn rev 35578 
by blackend, when he committed this change, among other 
wlan improvements: 

-          <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>ifconfig <replaceable>ath0</replaceable> up scan</userinput> 
+          <screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>ifconfig <replaceable>wlan0</replaceable> create wlandev <replaceable>ath0</replaceable></userin +&prompt.root; <userinput>ifconfig <replaceable>wlan0</replaceable> up scan</userinput>