Using NetworkManager with DNSMasq and Slackware

dnsmasq on Slackware 14.2 is compiled without D-Bus.

lab$ dnsmasq -v | grep options
Compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt no-DBus i18n no-IDN DHCP DHCPv6 <snip> ...

The logs show NetworkManager trying to start dnsmasq, but failing:

dnsmasq[4466]: DBus not available: set HAVE_DBUS in src/config.h
dnsmasq[4466]: FAILED to start up
NetworkManager[3101]: <warn> dnsmasq exited with error: Configuration problem (1)

After downloading the source files and SlackBuild resources from a Slackware Mirror, validate the GPG  signature using the provided .asc file. Below are the contents of a directory after I assembled all the required pieces.

lab$ tree dnsmasq 
dnsmasq
|-- dnsmasq-2.78.tar.xz
|-- dnsmasq-2.78.tar.xz.asc
|-- dnsmasq.SlackBuild
|-- dnsmasq.leasedir.diff.gz
|-- doinst.sh.gz
|-- rc.dnsmasq.gz
`-- slack-desc

After extracting the Makefile from the dnsmasq source archive, we can see an elegant way of making the necessary changes in order to include D-Bus support.

# Variables you may well want to override.

PREFIX        = /usr/local
BINDIR        = $(PREFIX)/sbin
MANDIR        = $(PREFIX)/share/man
LOCALEDIR     = $(PREFIX)/share/locale
BUILDDIR      = $(SRC)
DESTDIR       = 
CFLAGS        = -Wall -W -O2
LDFLAGS       = 
COPTS         = 
RPM_OPT_FLAGS = 
LIBS          =

We need to create a diff file we can use with the SlackBuild.

--- Makefile.orig	2019-06-02 08:40:23.021249785 -0400
+++ Makefile	2019-06-02 08:40:39.254250171 -0400
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 DESTDIR       = 
 CFLAGS        = -Wall -W -O2
 LDFLAGS       = 
-COPTS         = 
+COPTS         = -DHAVE_DBUS
 RPM_OPT_FLAGS = 
 LIBS          = 

Then we modify the SlackBuild:

--- dnsmasq.SlackBuild.orig	2019-06-02 06:27:31.409060328 -0400
+++ dnsmasq.SlackBuild	2019-06-02 10:07:21.487373810 -0400
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 VERSION=${VERSION:-$(echo dnsmasq-*.tar.xz | rev | cut -f 3- -d . | cut -f 1 -d - | rev)}
 BUILD=${BUILD:-1_slack14.2}
 
-NUMJOBS=${NUMJOBS:-" -j7 "}
+NUMJOBS=${NUMJOBS:-" -j2 "}
 
 # Automatically determine the architecture we're building on:
 if [ -z "$ARCH" ]; then
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
   -exec chmod 644 {} \;
 
 zcat $CWD/dnsmasq.leasedir.diff.gz | patch -p1 --verbose --backup --suffix=.orig || exit 1
+zcat $CWD/dnsmasq.makefile.diff.gz | patch -p1 --verbose --backup --suffix=.orig || exit 1
 
 make $NUMJOBS all-i18n PREFIX=/usr MANDIR=/usr/man || exit 1
 make install-i18n PREFIX=/usr DESTDIR=$PKG MANDIR=/usr/man || exit 1

There are a few configuration options we need to make before we reinstall.

Create a new file under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/00-dnsmasq.conf with the following contents:

[main]
dns=dnsmasq

Then under /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/dnsmasq.conf insert:

listen-address=127.0.0.1
cache-size=1000

Restart NetworkManager.

/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager restart

Now we can remove the old instance of dnsmasq and install the patched version:

lab$ upgradepkg --reinstall /tmp/dnsmasq-2.78-x86_64-1_slack14.2.txz

No need to manually start dnsmasq as NetworkManager will work its magic:

NetworkManager[3101]: <info> dns-plugin[0x184a190]: starting dnsmasq...
dnsmasq[8946]: started, version 2.78 cachesize 1000
dnsmasq[8946]: compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt DBus i18n no-IDN <snip> ...
dnsmasq[8946]: DBus support enabled: connected to system bus

When all of that is complete you may want to blacklist dnsmasq from being updated automatically.

Edit /etc/slackpkg/blacklist and add ‘dnsmasq‘ to the end of the file.

Now if everything worked /etc/resolv.conf should contain the loopback address and the logs should show the configuration options chosen for dnsmasq.

Thanks for reading.

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