The netbase package includes an init script that uses ifup/ifdown and /etc/network/interfacs to configure the networking. However, my images are using connman, so none of that is required and is actually counter-productive because those scripts are bringing up interfaces without connman being involved. IMHO, netbase should only include /etc/services /etc/protocol and so on, and the init scripts/configuration split out. FWIW, this is exactly what just happened in Debian. netbase is just /etc/rpc,protocols,services, and ifupdown is ifup/ifdown (busybox in Yocto), /etc/network/* and the networking init script. For systems that are relying purely on network management via NM or CM, this package isn't required.
Ross, can this wait for 1.4? Seems like it might be a bit invasive for 1.3 M5. Thoughts?
Constantin was working on a patch yesterday, so if it hits the list we'll be able to see how invasive it is. It's just a package split but the dependencies may need to be carefully checked.
"If we split up netbase in netbase and init-ifupdown (which contains the configuration/init files) we need to use the following restriction in the init-ifupdown bb file: RCONFLICTS_${PN} = "netbase (< 5.0-r1)". The problem is that the netbase version is different in other layers and the RCONFLICTS tag will not work." - Constantin.
Patch merged (commit 4cb7c9a7ca3632c15414177e6e3ee399ad48ba08) Cheers, Constantin