[Sysmonitor] sysmonitor screenlet fails to find the computer's IP address

Thank you for your bug report and the proposed fix. Could you try with the screenlets package in my PPA : https://launchpad.net/~gilir/+archive/unstable and report back if the problem is fixed for you ?

Yep, the problem is fixed with the package in your ppa.
Thanks for your fast response.

Le 20/08/10 00:05, Julien Lavergne a écrit :
> Thank you for your bug report and the proposed fix. Could you try with
> the screenlets package in my PPA :
> https://launchpad.net/~gilir/+archive/unstable and report back if the
> problem is fixed for you ?
>
> ** Changed in: screenlets (Ubuntu)
> Importance: Undecided => Low
>
> ** Changed in: screenlets (Ubuntu)
> Assignee: Julien Lavergne (gilir) => (unassigned)
>
> ** Changed in: screenlets (Ubuntu)
> Status: New => Incomplete
>

--
Michel Leunen
http://linux.leunen.com

This bug was fixed in the package screenlets - 0.1.2-7ubuntu2

---------------
screenlets (0.1.2-7ubuntu2) maverick; urgency=low

  * debian/patches/21-return-ip-address.patch:
   - Fix screenlets.sensors.net_get_ip() to get the IP address. Thanks
     Michel Leunen for the patch. (LP: #618868)
 -- Julien Lavergne <email address hidden> Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:01:52 +0200

Committed in revision 479 of screenlets trunk.

Hello. On Maverick ifconfig returns "inet addr" with two 'd's and on a different machine with lucid I also see 'inet addr'. Thus this patch is a regression for me as the sysmonitor does not show the ip anymore.

Kind regards

My analysis of the problem was quite weak, sorry On MY machine, ifconfig still returns "inet adr" with only one "d".
Actually, the problem is a problem of locale. In your english ( I presume) version, it has two "d" but in mine which is a french version of Maverick, "inet adr" has only one "d".
What is the best way to test a string taking into account the user's locale ? Besides, what if you have two valid connections ? A wired one and a wireless one ? The function used only returns the first "inet addr" found in ifconfig. I suppose Julien will have to change the algorithm he used.

Maybe there is another way to find the IP adress, which doesn't change with the locale ?
Anyway, I'm re-open the bug, we need to find another fix.

Yes, there is another way: using the command ip from the net-tools package instead of ifconfig. This package is installed by default in Ubuntu. Don't know for other distributions.
Use it like this:

$ ip addr show

On my machine, it prints this:

$ ip addr show
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:25:b3:c0:b6:86 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:21:6a:6c:de:18 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.8/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global wlan0
    inet6 fe80::221:6aff:fe6c:de18/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: vboxnet0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 0a:00:27:00:00:00 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

You can narrow it to what is interresting with:

$ ip -o -4 addr show
1: lo inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
3: wlan0 inet 192.168.1.8/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global wlan0

So basically your function stays the same.

I've tried to use the python socket module directly but it gives an ip address even if the connection is lost for some reason:

>>> import socket
>>> socket.gethostbyname_ex(socket.gethostname())[2][0]
'192.168.1.8'

So I suppose your best bet is to go the 'ip addr show' way.

Something like this should work:

def net_get_ip(): # by Whise
 """Returns ip if it can"""
 ip = commands.getoutput("ip -o -4 addr show")
 x = 0
 while True:
  ip = ip[ip.find("inet "):]
  ip = ip[5:]
  ipc = ip[:ip.find("/")]
  if ipc != '127.0.0.1' and ipc != None and ipc !='1':

   return ipc

 return _('Cannot get ip')

Another possibility that directly gives the right result and uses ifconfig:

$ ifconfig | grep 'inet '| grep -v '127.0.0.1' | cut -d: -f2 | awk '{ print $1}'

That said, I don't know if the "inet" string stays the same in every locale, though.

Easy solution: call ifconfig with an environment of LANG=C

Copied an equivalent of Rivera's solution from U-A.