diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fd4477b6a5..0dde3d105b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+2008-10-02  Dan Williams  <dcbw@redhat.com>
+
+	Patch from Alexander Sack <asac ubuntu com>
+
+	* system-settings/plugins/ifupdown/parser.c
+		- Implement more graceful ip4 config parsing for cases where
+		  /etc/network/interfaces omits basic ip4 settings, such as gateway etc
+		  by using default values
+
 2008-10-02  Dan Williams  <dcbw@redhat.com>
 
 	* src/NetworkManagerPolicy.c
diff --git a/system-settings/plugins/ifupdown/parser.c b/system-settings/plugins/ifupdown/parser.c
index 159bf05d2f..26ffa7205a 100644
--- a/system-settings/plugins/ifupdown/parser.c
+++ b/system-settings/plugins/ifupdown/parser.c
@@ -427,16 +427,26 @@ update_ip4_setting_from_if_block(NMConnection *connection,
 		if(nameserver_v)
 			nameservers_list_i = nameservers_list = g_slist_append(nameservers_list, g_strdup(nameserver_v));
 
+		if (!address_v)
+			address_v = g_strdup ("0.0.0.0");
+
 		if (inet_pton (AF_INET, address_v, &tmp_ip4_addr))
 			ip4config->address = tmp_ip4_addr.s_addr;
 		else
 			g_set_error (&error, eni_plugin_error_quark (), 0,
 					   "Invalid %s IP4 address '%s'", "address", address_v);
+		if (!netmask_v)
+			netmask_v = g_strdup( "255.255.255.255");
+
 		if (inet_pton (AF_INET, netmask_v, &tmp_ip4_addr))
 			ip4config->prefix = nm_utils_ip4_netmask_to_prefix(tmp_ip4_addr.s_addr);
 		else
 			g_set_error (&error, eni_plugin_error_quark (), 0,
 					   "Invalid %s IP4 address '%s'", "netmask", netmask_v);
+
+		if (!gateway_v)
+			gateway_v = g_strdup (address_v);
+
 		if (inet_pton (AF_INET, gateway_v, &tmp_ip4_addr))
 			ip4config->gateway = tmp_ip4_addr.s_addr;
 		else