network.conf(5)

MILESTONE-QUALIFIED Rendered from the page's mdoc source at milestone/general-usability-qemu-20260927 (platform ff025b1) with GNU groff version 1.23.0, using the same command the image build uses; an ABSD session running man 5 network.conf prints this text. It is dated 2026-09-27; the build commands and repository files it mentions are in private sources, and later work is not in it. All pages.

NETWORK.CONF(5)               File Formats Manual              NETWORK.CONF(5)

NAME
       network.conf -- the machine's IPv4 address

SYNOPSIS
       /etc/network.conf

DESCRIPTION
       The SSH server, sshd, owns the machine's one network card (e1000(4))
       and its IPv4 stack.  It reads network.conf once, when it starts,
       through the file server; changing the file takes effect at the next
       boot.

       Each line is a keyword and one value, separated by spaces or tabs.
       Blank lines and lines whose first word begins with `#' are ignored.
       Each keyword may appear once:

       address a.b.c.d
                     The machine's address.  Required.  It must be a host
                     address of its network (not the network or broadcast
                     address, not 0, 127, or multicast).

       netmask a.b.c.d
                     The network's mask, contiguous, 1 to 30 bits (for example
                     255.255.255.0).  Required.

       gateway a.b.c.d
                     The router for every other destination: another host of
                     the same network.  Optional; without it only the local
                     network is reachable.

       Addresses are dotted decimal, four parts, no leading zeros.  There is
       one interface, one address, and no DHCP, DNS, IPv6, or routes beyond
       the one gateway.

       Without the file sshd uses QEMU's user network: address 10.0.2.15,
       netmask 255.255.255.0, gateway 10.0.2.2, and says so on the console.
       The operator image installs the file with these same values.

DIAGNOSTICS
       At every start sshd prints on the console, and writes to /var/log/sshd,
       what it uses and where from:

             sshd: network 10.0.2.15/24 gateway 10.0.2.2 (/etc/network.conf)

       A file that breaks any rule above is refused: an unknown keyword, a
       keyword twice, a missing or extra value, a value that is not an address
       of the right kind, a gateway outside the network, a byte that is not
       printable ASCII (a carriage return included), or more than 4096 bytes.
       sshd then does not start, the boot fails, and the console says why:

             sshd: /etc/network.conf: line 3: gateway 10.0.3.1 is not another
             host of 10.0.2.20/24; fix the file (network.conf(5), sshd.conf(5),
             afterboot(8)); sshd is not running

       No default replaces a value the operator wrote.  Sessions cannot write
       /etc; fix the file on the halted machine's image with
       `build-operator-image.sh --reconfigure' (afterboot(8)).

SEE ALSO
       e1000(4), sshd.conf(5), afterboot(8)

ABSD                          September 27, 2026               NETWORK.CONF(5)

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