Bill Askew wrote:
> We have some Lenovo T61p laptops that we are running SL 5.0 on.
> I configure /etc/sysconfig/ifcfg-eth0 with a static IP address.  I am not 
> putting in the MAC information on purpose.  
> I reboot and the configuration works fine.  
> In the production environment we have, one laptop is used to produce the 
> installations for all the laptops.  The drives are then installed in 
> different laptops.
> When the new laptop is booted it looks like kudzu conceders the Ethernet 
> chip to be a new device since the MAC address is different, so, kudzu 
> messes up the Ethernet configuration.
> Is there an option to keep kudzu from changing Ethernet configurations or 
> do I just need to disable it?
> If I disable kudzu, will hot plug items like a USB device still work?
> Thanks
>   
Bill,
I've experienced the same situation over the years.  I simply disable 
kudzu after the initial installation.  It will not affect USB or other 
hotplug type devices as you question (at least from my experience).  I 
have a setup script/rpm that issues a 'chkconfig kudzu off' and go on my 
way.  The only time I've needed to run it again is if I change hardware 
that requires different drivers.  You can then make the changes by hand, 
or run kudzu from the command line on an as-need basis.

For information's sake, kudzu builds, maintains, and monitors 
/etc/sysconfig/hwconf in case you are curious how it determines things.

-Mark

-- 
Mr. Mark V. Stodola
Digital Systems Engineer

National Electrostatics Corp.
P.O. Box 620310
Middleton, WI 53562-0310 USA
Phone: (608) 831-7600
Fax: (608) 831-9591