Network startup fails every time since 6/9 update [SOLVED]

Question

I use the netctl method to start the network on my various machines (with static IP addresses) and since doing full system upgrades on 6/9, which included an update to systemd, the network fails to start on bootup, every time. I have to start the network manually after logging in.
I just read a post about a similar systemd-related problem (involving a new service) from which I quote: "yet another bunch of races to accompany the ones that have pestered the arch-linux bootup since that festering pile of race-ridden cs-student pipedream called systemd has been adopted into it."
Race conditions in network startup have been troublesome for me since systemd appeared. It's been quite some time now and the problems keep appearing. Much as I like Arch, I may have to abandon it, because this kind of basic unreliability is not acceptable.
Last edited by donallen (2014-06-10 18:34:35)

Answer 1

Well, I did some more work on this, and I have a bit of egg on my face, with an excuse. You can decide for yourself whether you think it's a good one.
I run multiple machines that I use for different circumstances, e.g., travel. I rsync my home directory when moving from one machine to another. They are all set up identically, with Arch. To avoid confusion about which machine has the latest changes in my home directory, the scripts I use for rsync-ing and my .bash_profile send emails to my gmail address, so I have an audit trail of what I have done. In the past, I *have* experienced systemd troubles (and know that because the network didn't come up reliably and there was discussion by others on this forum of problems similar to mine, with patches for the systemd scripts) and the first symptom I saw was the inability of my .bash_profile to send my 'I just logged in on system X' email. Since the system update yesterday, I have been seeing this symptom. My mistake was assuming, instead of verifying, that the network had not come up, and just starting the network manually with netctl (there was no error message from netctl that I was starting an already-started network profile). My confusion was abetted by the fact that there was a systemd update yesterday, according to pacman. But, in fact, when I realized I was making an unwarranted assumption and actually checked, I found that the network had come up and I now believe this is not a systemd issue.
I think the issue is with mailx (mail), which also got updated yesterday. The mail I send requires authentication by the smtp server I'm using, and my scripts provide that, using the smtp-auth-* options to mail. This worked until yesterday. Looking at the mail man page, it appears that mail configuration and these options are about to change with version 15. The current version is 14.7 and purports to support both the old and new-style configuration and options. To turn on the new style, you supposedly invoke an option, -v15-compat, which is off by default. The options I'm using are not v15 compatible, but should work, since I have not provided the option to turn on v15 support. But it appears they do not.
I will mark this thread SOLVED, since my original diagnosis was wrong.