Fixing a networking bug in Ubuntu 8.04

You may have read about my networking problems with the Ubuntu 8.04 beta. Today I decided to drill down a bit and figure out whether or not I could fix the problem myself.

I'm sure that the Ubuntu team will get around to fixing this ... eventually. But since I want to use Ubuntu 8.04 with as little pain as possible right now, 22 days before the official release, here's the fix I made so my network interface is properly configured when I boot into the Hardy beta release:

Here's the problem. I'm using a static IP, which I configured with the Network Settings application when I first installed Ubuntu 8.04. But every time I reboot, the network is not configured, and I can't get to the Internet or my local network. My static IP information is right there in the Network Settings boxes, but when I do:

$ ifconfig

... the interface is up, but the static IP numbers are not there. And that means no networking.

I checked the relevant Ubuntu 8.04 configuration file, /etc/network/interfaces, and here's what I found:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.9.200.24
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.9.200.254

Something was missing, To be sure, I booted into Ubuntu 6.06 and checked the same config file.

Here's what I found in Ubuntu 6.06 (I've put the missing line in bold so you won't miss it):

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.9.200.24
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.9.200.254

I booted back into Ubuntu 8.04, opened a terminal (Appications -- Accessories -- Terminal) and did the following:

$ sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

I added this line in the proper place (so it looks like the Ubuntu 6.06 example above):

auto eth0

And then I saved and closed the file.

I didn't even have to reboot to see whether or not it worked. I just brought the network down, then up again:

$ sudo ifdown eth0
$ sudo ifup eth0

I then had networking via my static IP. I rebooted Ubuntu 8.04, and networking continued to work.

Problem solved.

It's an easy fix; I'm really not much of a hacker/mucker-around, and the majority of Ubuntu users are probably less so, especially when they're just starting out.

This is a minor bug with major consequences: It definitely needs to be resolved before the release date. It may have escaped notice because it has to do with a static IP, and most people use DHCP, but hopefully they're on it over in Ubuntu land.