[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#607482: network-manager: Breaks working configuration on upgrade 0.8.1-3 to 0.8.1-6

[Michael Goetze]

Package: network-manager
Version: 0.8.1-6
Severity: serious

I just upgraded network-manager from 0.8.1-3 to 0.8.1-6 on a squeeze 
system. Before the upgrade, I was able to manage my wlan0 interface as a 
normal user in group "netdev". After the upgrade, n-m insisted the the 
device was "unmanaged".

Apparently, the upgrade modified my /etc/network/interfaces to insert 
the line

#NetworkManager#iface eth0 inet dhcp

after "allow-hotplug eth0". It did not, however, insert a corresponding 
line after "allow-hotplug wlan0". (Incidentally, I don't quite see why 
n-m's maintainer scripts have any business writing to this file 
unprompted.) I was able to resolve the issue by setting "managed=true" 
in the [ifupdown] section of /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf.

I consider this bug serious because it deprives systems which previously 
had network connectivity of such connectivity and is nontrivial to fix 
for common users.