workaround_bugzilla_543719 Files

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# WORKAROUND - BUGZILLA RHEL BUG ID 543719
# -- AFFECTS RHEL 5.4, 5.5 as of 2010_1119
# -- SUSPECTED DUE TO BACKPORT OF KERNEL
# -- SUPPORT INTO THE 2.6.18 SERIES FROM
# -- NEWER KERNELS.
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# AFFECTED EQUIPMENT:
# -- ATHEROS AR9285 / AR9287 WIRELESS 
# -- RADIO ADAPTERS
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# BY:
# -- V. SPINELLI for SPINELLICREATIONS
# -- http://www.spinellicreations.com
# -- Vince@SpinelliCreations.com
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# LICENSE:
# Copyright (C) 2010 Vince Spinelli for
# SpinelliCreations.  This program comes
# with absolutely no warranty.  This is
# open software, released under the GNU 
# GPL v3, and you are welcome to redistribute
# it, with this tag in tact.
# A copy of the GPL should be included with
# this distribution.  If you did not receive
# a copy, please see...
# http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt
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CONTACT		
	Author	/ Copyright Holder - V. Spinelli
	Email:	Vince@SpinelliCreations.com
	Site:	http://spinellicreations.com
	Handle:	PoweredByDodgeV8
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README...
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COMPATABILITY / DEPENDANCIES...
-------------------------------

Specifically made for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x series OS's, and
their clones, such as Scientific Linux, CentOS, Oracle Unbreakable,
and the upstream Fedora Core Project.

Requires Python 2.4 or newer.
-- Python 2.4 ships by default with the 5.x series of RHEL, so no
   worries there. 

PURPOSE...
----------

This is a workaround, not a bugfix, and I make absolutely no 
apologies for the lack of 'sex appeal' or 'ugly workaround method'
that this may be.  

Rather, the Atheros 9285 and 9287 wireless N adapters which came
out circa 2009 and are shipping as we speak (winter 2010) with
many products (laptops, netbooks, thinclients, etc...) will
function with the backported 2.6.18-194 and up series RHEL kernels,
however they won't actually 'get' an IP address.  The access point
or router may have assigned one, but the adapter simply will fail
to finalize the connection.  Even setting a static IP goes awry.

This has been documented by Red Hat bugzilla bug id 543719, at
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=543719

As of the writing of this workaround, it appears that the issue is
resolved in newer (2.6.32 and up) vanilla kernels, however since
the 5.x series RHEL and clones use 2.6.18-xyz backported kernels,
this may never see the 'light of day' as far as a fix in that
regard.

That said, this little routine will solve your problems, but the
downside is that it will 'vomit' text all over your tty.  So if
you're booting into run level 3, this may drive you completely
insane.  However, if you're booting run level 3 as a server, or
booting run level 5 as a user, then you'll never even know this
little bugger is running, thereby 'working around' the problem.

USING IT...
-----------

Typically, this workaround is run as part of your
startup sequence.  Simply add it to your
/etc/rc.d/rc.local file as follows...

[path-to]/workaround_bugzilla_543719.py [wlan-adpater-id]

For example, wireless adapter wlan0, with this script
residing in my home directory, would yield...

/home/vince/workaround_bugzilla_543719.py wlan0

Of course, you can also call it manually (as root)
from any terminal window if you wish.

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