Updating ifupdown to 0.6.8ubuntu10 breaks non-NM configurations that have /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf

Binary package hint: ifupdown

I run systems with static ip address based networking. They do use or have NetworkManger installed.

Imagine my absolute joy and surprise to update my systems, reboot, and find this:
yagisan@doomguy:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
 * Reconfiguring network interfaces...
WARNING: ifup -a is disabled in favour of NetworkManager.
  Set ifupdown:managed=false in /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf.

But wait ? I don't HAVE network manager. Lets check if my interfaces are up ?
yagisan@doomguy:~$ ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
          RX packets:892 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:892 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:50768 (50.7 KB) TX bytes:50768 (50.7 KB)

vnet0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b2:0c:e4:db:a5:5c
          inet addr:192.168.122.1 Bcast:192.168.122.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::b00c:e4ff:fedb:a55c/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:167 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:36571 (36.5 KB)

No - they clearly ARE NOT.

REVERT THIS HALF-ARSED SYSTEM BREAKING CHANGE NOW. I get the joy of reverting all these systems you broke with such a thoughtless and careless update.

I have an idea - lets check what priority these packages are.

yagisan@doomguy:~$ apt-cache show ifupdown
Package: ifupdown
Priority: important
Section: base
Installed-Size: 268
Maintainer: Ubuntu Core Developers <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Anthony Towns <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 0.6.8ubuntu10
Replaces: netbase (<< 4.00)
Depends: net-tools, libc6 (>= 2.4), debconf (>= 1.2.0) | debconf-2.0, lsb-base (>= 1.3-9ubuntu3), netbase (>= 4.30ubuntu2)
Suggests: iproute, dhcp3-client | dhcp-client, ppp
Filename: pool/main/i/ifupdown/ifupdown_0.6.8ubuntu10_amd64.deb
Size: 58760
MD5sum: dcfd760f49ff08f7f4569aaebb1f97b0
SHA1: 0e92104ad976fcf2df57856290b56cdc4ec6a666
SHA256: 1e2697d47e84684165d6eabe8220acb2457702f8f7173f6e2fcd4d2d89f6725a
Description: high level tools to configure network interfaces
 This package provides the tools ifup and ifdown which may be used to
 configure (or, respectively, deconfigure) network interfaces based on
 interface definitions in the file /etc/network/interfaces.
Bugs: mailto:<email address hidden>
Build-Essential: yes
Origin: Ubuntu
Task: minimal

Oh look - ifupdown is IMPORTANT and is part of the MINIMAL task. No mention ANYWHERE there of needing Network-Manager.

yagisan@doomguy:~$ apt-cache show network-manager
Package: network-manager
Priority: optional
Section: net
Installed-Size: 2040
Maintainer: Ubuntu Core Dev Team <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Riccardo Setti <email address hidden>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 0.7~~svn20081008t224042-0ubuntu2
Replaces: network-manager-pptp (<< 0.7~~)
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.0.2), libdbus-glib-1-2 (>= 0.74), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.16.0), libhal1 (>= 0.5.8.1), libnl1, libnm-glib0 (>= 0.7~~svn20080908), libnm-util0 (>= 0.7~~svn20080908), libnspr4-0d (>= 1.8.0.10), libnss3-1d (>= 3.12.0~1.9b1), libpolkit-dbus2 (>= 0.7), libpolkit2 (>= 0.7), libuuid1 (>= 1.05), iproute, iputils-arping, lsb-base (>= 2.0-6), wpasupplicant (>= 0.6.1~), dbus (>= 0.60), hal (>= 0.5.7.1), update-notifier-common
Recommends: network-manager-gnome | network-manager-kde
Conflicts: network-manager-pptp (<< 0.7~~)
Filename: pool/main/n/network-manager/network-manager_0.7~~svn20081008t224042-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb
Size: 292068
MD5sum: 126a6e09bf8c8aff4ef9de26b4d02c26
SHA1: e52f8ea78a90dc4b9e782d7114460d1245703dd4
SHA256: 988274125612c5d4e1e0869bc96a2ac1705e26c8cae2ba827931e4f17391ca0f
Description: network management framework daemon
 NetworkManager attempts to keep an active network connection available at all
 times. It is intended only for the desktop use-case, and is not intended for
 usage on servers. The point of NetworkManager is to make networking
 configuration and setup as painless and automatic as possible. If using DHCP,
 NetworkManager is _intended_ to replace default routes, obtain IP addresses
 from a DHCP server, and change nameservers whenever it sees fit.
 .
 This package provides the userspace daemons.
 .
  Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
Bugs: mailto:<email address hidden>
Origin: Ubuntu
Task: ubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, edubuntu-desktop, edubuntu-desktop-kde, xubuntu-desktop, mobile-mid, mobile-mobile

Would you look at that - it's an OPTIONAL package, that is part of the UBUNTU-DEKSTOP task.

Could you EVER possibly envisage that someone somewhere just may not be using the ubuntu-desktop meta package ? Clearly not. It's not like you have an Ubuntu Server setup right ??? oh wait you do - well - i guess they'll find their networking stops as well.

1) The release of Ubuntu you are using, via 'lsb_release -rd' or System -> About Ubuntu.
yagisan@doomguy:~$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu intrepid (development branch)
Release: 8.10

2) The version of the package you are using, via 'apt-cache policy packagename' or by checking in Synaptic.
yagisan@doomguy:~$ apt-cache policy ifupdown
ifupdown:
  Installed: 0.6.8ubuntu10
  Candidate: 0.6.8ubuntu10
  Version table:
 *** 0.6.8ubuntu10 0
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.6.8ubuntu9 0
        500 cdrom://Ubuntu 8.10 _Intrepid Ibex_ - Alpha amd64 (20080903.2) intrepid/main Packages
yagisan@doomguy:~$ apt-cache policy network-manager
network-manager:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 0.7~~svn20081008t224042-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
     0.7~~svn20081008t224042-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://au.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
     0.7~~svn20080908t183521+eni0-0ubuntu2 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     0.7~~svn20080818t061112+eni0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 cdrom://Ubuntu 8.10 _Intrepid Ibex_ - Alpha amd64 (20080903.2) intrepid/main Packages

3) What you expected to happen
Networking to continue function so that ifup -a brings up all interfaces in /etc/interfaces that where listed as "auto" as it should.

4) What happened instead
I get no networking and a message stating I have to use an application that is not a dependency and not installed, and will never be installed, as it's not appropriate for that machine.