wpa_supplicant cannot establish a WPA2 connection on udev-renamed hostap (prism2) wifi networks

[Thomas Richter]

Hi folks,

yesterday, I run into a very irritating issue when I failed to create a 
WPA2-authenticated network connection on the basis of a hostap/prism2 
device.

The problem is here that the prism2 network driver creates named 
interfaces (wifiX,wlanX), but unfortunately udev may rename one of them 
(wlanX -> wlanY) without renaming the other. Unfortunately, 
wpa_supplicant is then unaware or unable to find the corresponding 
paired raw wifiX device.

Not enough, wpa_supplicant does neither generate an enlighting error or 
warning message, leaving the average user completely lost, with a 
non-working WPA2.

Thus, would it be possible to a) use a smarter mechanism to find the 
matching pair between the wlanX and wifiX network interface, and b) to 
improve the error message created in case wpa_supplicant is unable to 
find the "missing link"?

Thanks and greetings,
	Thomas Richter