XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From: vincent@vinc17.net

Package: iproute2
Version: 6.15.0-1
Severity: normal

The documentation of "ip route delete" in the ip-route(8) man page is incorrect. The man page says:

ip route delete
delete route
ip route del has the same arguments as ip route add, but their
semantics are a bit different.

Key values (to, tos, preference and table) select the route to
delete. If optional attributes are present, ip verifies that they
coincide with the attributes of the route to delete. If no route
with the given key and attributes was found, ip route del fails.

But the behavior is unclear when several routes match the argument.
Above, the singular is used, so I assume that a single route will
be deleted (this is what I can observe). However, in such a case,
it should say "a route", not "the route", because the route is not
completely identified. Or better, say which route will be deleted.

Note that the vpnc-script script of vpnc-scripts for VPNC and
OpenConnect assumes that "ip route del ..." will delete all the
matching routes:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1107738

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 13.0
APT prefers unstable-debug
APT policy: (500, 'unstable-debug'), (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable-debug'), (500, 'proposed-updates-debug'), (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (500, 'stable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 6.12.32-amd64 (SMP w/16 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages iproute2 depends on:
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.91
ii libbpf1 1:1.5.0-3
ii libc6 2.41-8
ii libcap2 1:2.75-8
ii libcap2-bin 1:2.75-8
ii libdb5.3t64 5.3.28+dfsg2-9
ii libelf1t64 0.192-4
ii libmnl0 1.0.5-3
ii libselinux1 3.8.1-1
ii libtirpc3t64 1.3.6+ds-1
ii libxtables12 1.8.11-2

iproute2 recommends no packages.

Versions of packages iproute2 suggests:
ii python3 3.13.4-1

-- debconf information:
iproute2/setcaps: false

--
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Pascaline project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From: bluca@debian.org

Control: close -1

Please report such issues directly upstream on netdev, preferably with
a patch. There is no point in opening downstream bugs about manpages
that are just shipped as-is, it's just churn and noise. Thanks.

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From: bjorn@mork.no

Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> writes:

The documentation of "ip route delete" in the ip-route(8) man page is incorrect. The man page says:

ip route delete
delete route
ip route del has the same arguments as ip route add, but their
semantics are a bit different.

Key values (to, tos, preference and table) select the route to
delete. If optional attributes are present, ip verifies that they
coincide with the attributes of the route to delete. If no route
with the given key and attributes was found, ip route del fails.

But the behavior is unclear when several routes match the argument.

Please demonstrate that.


Bjørn

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From: vincent@vinc17.net

On 2025-06-13 11:43:46 +0100, Luca Boccassi wrote:

Please report such issues directly upstream on netdev, preferably with
a patch. There is no point in opening downstream bugs about manpages
that are just shipped as-is, it's just churn and noise. Thanks.

OK, I've sent a mail to the netdev list. For the reference:

https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20250613120711.GA237002@qaa.vinc17.org/T/

--
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Pascaline project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From: vincent@vinc17.net

On 2025-06-13 18:15:55 +0200, Bjørn Mork wrote:

Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> writes:

The documentation of "ip route delete" in the ip-route(8) man page is incorrect. The man page says:

ip route delete
delete route
ip route del has the same arguments as ip route add, but their
semantics are a bit different.

Key values (to, tos, preference and table) select the route to
delete. If optional attributes are present, ip verifies that they
coincide with the attributes of the route to delete. If no route
with the given key and attributes was found, ip route del fails.

But the behavior is unclear when several routes match the argument.

Please demonstrate that.

What should happen if one has

192.134.164.161 via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 src 192.168.1.13 metric 100 192.134.164.161 via 192.168.1.1 dev wlp0s20f3 src 192.168.1.14 metric 600

and "ip route del 192.134.164.161" is done?

--
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Pascaline project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist
From: bjorn@mork.no

Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net> writes:

What should happen if one has

192.134.164.161 via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 src 192.168.1.13 metric 100 192.134.164.161 via 192.168.1.1 dev wlp0s20f3 src 192.168.1.14 metric 600

and "ip route del 192.134.164.161" is done?

Thanks. That is indeed interesting. The routes appear to be sorted in
that order regardless of which order they are added, and the first one
is deleted.

Yes, it would be nice to have this documented. Let's hope the netdev
gurus have an answer


Bjørn

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