wpa_supplicant-2.9

Config File

/etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant-*.conf

Configuration Information

To connect to an access point that uses a password, you need to put the pre-shared key in /etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant-wifi0.conf. SSID is the string that the access point/router transmits to identify itself. Run the following command as the root user:

wpa_passphrase SSID SECRET_PASSWORD > /etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant-wifi0.conf

/etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant-wifi0.conf can hold the details of several access points. When wpa_supplicant is started, it will scan for the SSIDs it can see and choose the appropriate password to connect.

If you want to connect to an access point that isn't password protected, put an entry like this in /etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant-wifi0.conf. Replace "Some-SSID" with the SSID of the access point/router.

network={
  ssid="Some-SSID"
  key_mgmt=NONE
}

Connecting to a new access point that is not in the configuration file can be accomplished manually via the command line or GUI, but it must be done via a privileged user. To do that, add the following to the configuration file:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=<privileged group>
update_config=1

Replace the <privileged group> above with a system group where members have the ability to connect to a wireless access point.

There are many options that you could use to tweak how you connect to each access point. They are described in some detail in the wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file in the source tree.

Connecting to an Access Point

If you want to configure network interfaces at boot using wpa_supplicant, you need to install the /lib/services/wpa script included in blfs-bootscripts-20210110 package:

make install-service-wpa

If your router/access point uses DHCP to allocate IP addresses, you can install DHCP-4.4.2 client and use it to automatically obtain network addresses. Create the /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig-wifi0 by running the following command as the root user:

cat > /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig.wifi0 << "EOF"
ONBOOT="yes"
IFACE="wlan0"
SERVICE="wpa"

# Additional arguments to wpa_supplicant
WPA_ARGS=""

WPA_SERVICE="dhclient"
DHCP_START=""
DHCP_STOP=""

# Set PRINTIP="yes" to have the script print
# the DHCP assigned IP address
PRINTIP="no"

# Set PRINTALL="yes" to print the DHCP assigned values for
# IP, SM, DG, and 1st NS. This requires PRINTIP="yes".
PRINTALL="no"
EOF

If you prefer dhcpcd-9.4.0 instead of DHCP-4.4.2 client, then create the /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig-wifi0 by running the following command as the root user:

cat > /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig.wifi0 << "EOF"
ONBOOT="yes"
IFACE="wlan0"
SERVICE="wpa"

# Additional arguments to wpa_supplicant
WPA_ARGS=""

WPA_SERVICE="dhcpcd"
DHCP_START="-b -q <insert appropriate start options here>"
DHCP_STOP="-k <insert additional stop options here>"
EOF

Alternatively, if you use static addresses on your local network, then create the /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig-wifi0 by running the following command as the root user:

cat > /etc/sysconfig/ifconfig.wifi0 << "EOF"
ONBOOT="yes"
IFACE="wlan0"
SERVICE="wpa"

# Additional arguments to wpa_supplicant
WPA_ARGS=""

WPA_SERVICE="ipv4-static"
IP="192.168.1.1"
GATEWAY="192.168.1.2"
PREFIX="24"
BROADCAST="192.168.1.255"
EOF

You can connect to the wireless access point by running the following command as the root user:

ifup wifi0

Replace wlan0 with the correct wireless interface and wifi0 with desired name for the configuration file. Please note that wpa_supplicant-*.conf and ifconfig.* configuration files need to have identical names, ie both contain wifi0 in their name.