default wpa_supplicant.conf for wpa_cli

[pklapperich]

I was a little disappointed to get to the wiki page for wlan and see it says it "works out of box" but then the whole page is just about drivers; no information about actually connecting (other than a broken external link to a README).

It would be nice if the grml image included a default wpa_supplicant.conf like:

# /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant
update_config=1

This would allow wpa_cli to connect and save the config; out of box.

The wiki could then include a basic example like:

To quickly connect, you can use the interactive wpa_cli command (which gives a > prompt). To connect to the network MYNETWORK with the password "itsasecret" do the following:

# wpa_cli
> scan
OK
<3>CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-STARTED
> scan_results
bssid / frequency / signal level / flags / ssid
11:22:33:44:55:66 5220 -41 [WPA2-PSK-CCMP][ESS] MYNETWORK
77:88:99:00:11:22 2437 -72 [WPA2-EAP-TKIP][WPA-EAP-CCMP] OTHERNETOWRK
...
> add_network
0
> set_network 0 ssid "MYNETWORK"
> set_network 0 psk "itsasecret"
> enable_network 0
<2>CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 11:22:33:44:55:66 completed (reauth) [id=0 id_str=]
> save_config
OK
> quit
 # dhclient wlan0  # <-- to get an ip

If your network has no password, use set_network 0 key_mgmt NONE instead.
See man wpa_cli or type help from the > prompt for more info.

[mika]

Our wiki is very outdated overall and we'd like to move all its documentation towards a different place (and bring it up2date), though mainly lack the manpower to do so. :-/ The WLAN page is outdated too, see its Last modified: 2011/10/13 information in the footer. ;(

Regarding your point: we try to diverge from Debian as little as possible, though I personally wasn't even aware of the steps you provided, we'll look into that and see what we can improve/include. Thanks for providing those steps, nice. :)

Are you already aware of our netcardconfig tool which allows simple + easy interactive usage of WLAN on the console though?