The current discussion on debian-devel reminded me on the fact that
interfaces file documentation really sucks for regular users. It was
written seven years ago, and even at that time Wireless LAN was becoming
popular as a way to connect workstation systems.
But in the manpage, there is not a single occurence of WPA. That is what
people look for! There is not a single example for wireless LAN or even
WPA in ifupdown examples documentation, AFAICS.
It only refers to iwconfig in the SEE ALSO section. With some luck you
can spot the hint about wireless(7) manpage which is hidden in the last
paragraph of some chapter in the middle of the text. There is more stuff
to read, references to DEBIAN 3.0 and SUSE 8.0 and pcmcia package. Yeah.
Seriosly, WHO CARES?
And following the references in wireless(7), we find more interesting
stuff... oh look, they even explain "encryption", looks like that's it.
But... NO, after our newbie user spent hours on that topic, she learns
that the key information it's still somewhere else.
So, IMHO there should be an example like the one in
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2011/04/msg00184.html
placed on a prominent place in interfaces(5).
And in any case, wireless(7) shall be dropped or updated, and in the
former case it should be mentioned more visibly.
Regards,
Eduard.