Disable network init on boot?

[Toralf Lund]

>>>In that case, you are probably going to have to boot from a
>>>rescue CD. In single user mode, the network in not supposed to
>>>be initialized.
>>>      
>>>
>>The problem is, it seems, that "network hardware init" is done a lot
>>earlier in the boot sequence than the actual network startup, and
>>includes some ifconfig or iwconfig calls, which is what breaks
>>everything in my case. In fact, this step is done even for networks that
>>have ONBOOT=no. Qlearly, a related question is why things have been done
>>this way. Shouldn't the network config be left alone until it is time to
>>start the network? And shouldn't disabled configs (as in ONBOOT=no) be
>>skipped completely?
>>
>>    
>>
>It depends on how the modules are loaded. If they are loaded because
>of an alias in /etc/modprobe.conf, then the hardware should not get
>initialed. If the modules is loaded by modprobe.conf, HAL, or by
>hotplug, that is another story. Just loading the module should not
>result in calls to ifconfig or iwconfig.
>  
>
Right...

Closer inspection reveals that what /etc/rc.sysinit tries to "modprobe" 
the bit matching * in "ls /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*", or 
was it the "Device" specified inside the file? (I forget so fast...) I 
am unable to find any reference to iwconfig or anything, but the 
behaviour suggests that *something* besides just loading the module is 
done, and the error message I get before everything locks up actually 
mentions iwconfig. Also, I get a very similar hang if I execute a 
certain iwconfig command - "iwconfig <device> essid" any, to be precise.

This is really weird...

Anyhow, it turns out that the whole init step may be disabled by listing 
the module name and its alias (I think both were I needed) in 
/etc/hotplug/blacklist. Doing that does not appear to affect the actual 
network startup in any way, so I'm still wondering what the point of the 
h/w init routine is.

I'm of course implying here that the network works now, and it does, but 
only if I remove the "essid" line (see above) from 
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-wireless.

>In any case, using init=/bin/bash from Grub should skip all that.
>It drops you to a command prompt without running scripts. (Bash is
>run instead of init.)
>  
>
I never thought of that... I did, however, find eventually that init 
accepts an argument "-b", which has more or less the same effect, and 
that eventually saved the day - along with an USB-to-PS/2 adapter, since 
I have a USB keyboard, and even that wouldn't be initialised when 
passing the above mentioned option...

Thanks anyway.

- Toralf