1.Q: I want to use ifplugd with my PCMCIA device, but ifplugd quits
     when it doesn't find eth0, when I have not inserted the
     card. What can I do?

  A: Use the -f switch


2.Q: I am using the -f switch, but the kernel logs are getting filled
     with messages like "modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module
     eth0". What can I do?

  A: Make sure you have a line like "alias eth0 off" in your /etc/modules.conf


3.Q: When the cable is unplugged and the interface shut down it is
     still available with "ifconfig" and markes as UP. Why this?

  A: ifplugd cannot detect the link beat with a shut down interface on
     certain (most as of kernel 2.4.19) network drivers. Thus ifplugd
     enables the interface before querying the link status. This may
     be switched off with -a flag. You might want to use it if you
     have a sane network driver (e.g. eepro100). The subdirectory
     "patches" in the ifplugd distribution includes a patch for the
     8139too 0.9.26 driver, which makes the driver compatible with
     -a. Don't ask me how to apply this patch. If you don't know, you
     won't need it.


4.Q: Does it work with anything else than plain ethernet?

  A: Certainly not, since the MII and ETHTOOL ioctl()s don't exist on
     other network device types.


5.Q: I have a Realtek 8139 based network card. Everytime ifplugd
     starts on bootup my machine freezes. What can I do?

  A: This is a bug in the 8139too driver 0.9.25 (at least) shipped
     with Linux 2.4.19, please upgrade to 8139too 0.9.26 (Linux 2.4.20
     or seperately at http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel/).


6.Q: There are already laptop-net's ifd and miid, why did you write
     your own daemon?

  A: laptop-net simply sucks and I didn't know of miid when I wrote
     ifplugd. However, ifplugd is far better than miid. For a
     comparison of miid an ifplugd, have a look on

	 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=162763&repeatmerged=yes

Lennart Poettering, September 2002

$Id: FAQ 1.3 Thu, 07 Nov 2002 22:27:37 +0100 lennart $
