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So this seems like my own problem and not one with Devuan in general, so starting a new thread hoping maybe a network guru can help.
I have 3 partitions on my machine, sda1 is a Devuan Mate first installed in 2023, never modded or snapshotted or vuu-do'ed and it doesn't have this issue.
The other 2 partitions are Vuu-do, one a build partition for isos, the other a development partition, and they both suffer this issue.
A large build-up of old lease files for eth0 in /var/lib/NetworkManager, hundreds literally. System is generating a new one at every boot, and not deleting or overwriting the old one(s).
So far the only difference I have been able to find, is that sda1 has a keyfile for the interface in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections, and the other 2 partitions do not have one. For some reason they aren't generating the keyfile, and i'm thinking this may be why there's a new lease file generated at every boot, because if the keyfile is present it just re-uses it without genning a new lease file?
A relevant section from Snapshot:
# Clear configs from /etc/network/interfaces, wicd and NetworkManager
# connman and netman, so they aren't stealthily included in the snapshot.
if [[ -z $netconfig_opt ]] ; then
echo "# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
" > "$work_dir"/myfs/etc/network/interfaces
rm -f "$work_dir"/myfs/var/lib/wicd/configurations/*
rm -f "$work_dir"/myfs/etc/wicd/wireless-settings.conf
[b] rm -f "$work_dir"/myfs/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*[/b]
rm -f "$work_dir"/myfs/etc/network/wifi/*
rm -rf "$work_dir"/myfs/var/lib/connman/*
Which is very sensible and does explain why the system-connections folder is empty to start with, but doesn't explain why NM is not generating a new connection file once you've connected in a new install.
One other difference between the working and not-working systems is in /etc/network/interfaces, which in the working system reads:
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*
# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
While in the non-working partitions reads:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
So the only difference is that source /etc/network/interfaces.d/* line, but I don't see how that would make a difference, there's nothing in interfaces.d on any of the partitions.
EDIT: Grasping at straws here, but another difference between the affected and not affected systems is iptables is installed along with the newer nftables in the working partition, the partitions having the issue only have nftables.
Last edited by greenjeans (2025-09-25 22:23:09)
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Making headway here, about to log out and start some testing. Easy enough to bandaid this via shutdown cleanup script. But going to test some better fixes first.
In a nutshell, the system-connections files get nuked by snapshot (as they should), but there's no auto recreating them. The regular Devuan installer that I used to create the system on sda1 must have had some type of pre-seeded thing going on, a generic eth0 config near as I can tell, so it's re-using the exact same lease file every time and not genning new ones.
It's possible to fix post-install by a user, but that's not really user-friendly, so i'm off to do some testing and if it works i'd like to propose an addition to the Refracta-Installer post-install script. @fsmithred
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do/ New Vuu-do isos uploaded October 2025!
Vuu-do GNU/Linux, minimal Devuan-based Openbox and Mate systems to build on. Also a max version for OB.
Devuan 5 mate-mini iso, pure Devuan, 100% no-vuu-do. Devuan 6 version also available for testing.
Please donate to support Devuan and init freedom! https://devuan.org/os/donate
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Well dang, it worked! Used some script to create a new system-connections file, a basic one for eth0 only (wi-fi doesn't have issues), and now the system is using it and not genning new .lease files at every boot!
So I am wondering if this can be added to the Refracta Installers post-install script (cleanup-install.sh) so a new one will be created on a new install, worked great in a local install. So here's how I think cleanup-install.sh would look with this proposed addition:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# cleanup-install.sh
# You can add other commands here that you want to run at the end of
# the installation process, before script self-cleanup (while the
# installed system is still mounted.)
#
# Anything you add must come before the "exit 0"
# Send errors to the installer's error log.
error_log=$(grep error_log /etc/refractainstaller.conf | cut -d"\"" -f2)
exec 2>> "$error_log"
# This removes the installer icon from the desktop upon installation.
for file in /target/home/*/Desktop/refractainstaller.desktop ; do
rm -f "$file"
done
# Create a generic eth0 system-connections file for NetworkManager
tee /target/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Wired\ connection\ 1 << EOF
[connection]
id=Wired connection 1
uuid=$(uuidgen)
type=ethernet
autoconnect=true
[ethernet]
auto-negotiate=true
[ipv4]
method=auto
[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=stable-privacy
method=auto
EOF
# Set appropriate permissions for the connection file
chown root:root /target/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Wired\ connection\ 1
chmod 600 /target/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Wired\ connection\ 1
exit 0
What say you?
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Vuu-do GNU/Linux, minimal Devuan-based Openbox and Mate systems to build on. Also a max version for OB.
Devuan 5 mate-mini iso, pure Devuan, 100% no-vuu-do. Devuan 6 version also available for testing.
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So I tried the modded script and it worked perfectly, no more .lease file bloat! I also fine-tuned the excludes files for both snapshot and installer to exclude the .lease files and also the dbus session-bus files on both, they all get auto-genned both in live-session and in a newly installed system, so this way you get a perfectly clean new install with no extra old files hanging around.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do/ New Vuu-do isos uploaded October 2025!
Vuu-do GNU/Linux, minimal Devuan-based Openbox and Mate systems to build on. Also a max version for OB.
Devuan 5 mate-mini iso, pure Devuan, 100% no-vuu-do. Devuan 6 version also available for testing.
Please donate to support Devuan and init freedom! https://devuan.org/os/donate
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I'm still not understanding this "Wired connection" file. I can't tell if it does anything or not.
I have "Ethernet connection 1.nmconnection" and I moved it out of the way and deleted all the lease files in /var/lib/NetworkManager and rebooted. The missing nmconnection file did not get regenerated, but I do have a working ethernet connection. And note that mine does not have the same name that yours does. This is in daedalus on a laptop and /e/n/i only has the loopback interface defined.
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Okay, two folders at issue here:
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/(connection files i.e. "wired connection 1" "*.nmconnection", either way is valid)
If NM is used to create either an ethernet or wifi connection, it will append it with the ".nmconnection" and place it in this folder.
/var/lib/NetworkManager/*.lease file(s)
This is where the lease files appear, wlan0.lease or eth0.lease.
Your .nmconnection file was created by NM at some point, and was tied to a single specific .lease file, this is what you want.
If on boot, NM does NOT find a connection file in etc/NM/ system-connections, it will generate a new .lease file, but NOT a new connection file, so it will keep doing this every boot. You'll always connect just fine, but you'll also get neverending new .lease files every boot.
This only becomes a thing if at some point your eth0 connection file gets wiped out in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections, such as when doing a snapshot that excluded those network files. We just need to put one back into the new system on install. Or the user can do it manually with some simple commands in terminal and force NM to make a new one. This just seemed more elegant.
To test, now that you moved that connection file, go count your /var/lib/NetworkManager/*.lease files, then reboot a couple times, you'll have new ones each time.
I can see the difference as it boots on the partitions i've fixed, the NM applet used to blink and hang up a bit before appearing in the panel, now it's just flick and it's on. I think I can lower my conky delay now, lol.
Last edited by greenjeans (2025-10-01 20:39:50)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do/ New Vuu-do isos uploaded October 2025!
Vuu-do GNU/Linux, minimal Devuan-based Openbox and Mate systems to build on. Also a max version for OB.
Devuan 5 mate-mini iso, pure Devuan, 100% no-vuu-do. Devuan 6 version also available for testing.
Please donate to support Devuan and init freedom! https://devuan.org/os/donate
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OK, I confirmed the pileup of lease files when there's no system-connections file for eth0. I think I'll include this in the main part of the script. I can put the creation of the generic system-connections file in where the other network configs get removed. That way, if they turn off that section (with netconfig_opt="ip=frommedia" in refractasnapshot.conf) they won't lose their connections file. Removal of all the lease files would be outside of that so it's not turned off. Or probably those should be listed in the rsync excludes file. Tell me if any of this doesn't make sense.
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Makes perfect sense, and your idea is more elegant to ensure it doesn't get clobbered via the user-intervention you mentioned.
For the lease files I added /var/lib/NetworkManager/*.lease to both the snapshot and installer excludes files, cleans 'em when you snapshot and cleans the one generated during the live-session too, so first boot into the installed system will only generate one new correct one tied to the new connection file.
I added lines to clean out the dbus/session-bus files too, the new init script I use cleans them at shutdown anyway but still didn't see a point in letting old useless files from the live-session get into the new install.
Last edited by greenjeans (2025-10-02 20:13:58)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/vuu-do/ New Vuu-do isos uploaded October 2025!
Vuu-do GNU/Linux, minimal Devuan-based Openbox and Mate systems to build on. Also a max version for OB.
Devuan 5 mate-mini iso, pure Devuan, 100% no-vuu-do. Devuan 6 version also available for testing.
Please donate to support Devuan and init freedom! https://devuan.org/os/donate
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