Fortunately the ad-hoc network works fine with manual configuration. To bring down the wlan0 interface and restart it in ad-hoc mode without passphrase (as my phone app does not support protected networking) and obtaining an IP address with dhclient (dhcpcd might work as well) simply use this command:
ifconfig wlan0 down && iwconfig wlan0 mode Ad-Hoc && iwconfig wlan0 essid <ESSID_of_your_wlan> key off && ifconfig wlan0 up && dhclient wlan0
As a workaround for wicd I created a preconnect script (more about wicd scripting: here) that runs this command and does not let wicd to destroy my ad-hoc connection (because it wants to do it) until another connection is set manually in the wicd client. I used a loop that does not let the script end while a lock file exists. Choosing another connection in wicd deletes the lock file, the ad-hoc script ends and gives back the control to wicd.
The script lies under /etc/wicd/scripts/preconnect/ad-hoc.sh
#!/bin/bash
script="$(basename "$0")"
script_name="${script/.sh/}"
echo $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 >> "/var/log/wicd/${script_name}.log"
echo "Running ${script}" >"/var/log/wicd/${script_name}.log"
exec 2>>"/var/log/wicd/${script_name}.log"
exec 1>&2
connection_type="$1"
echo "Connection type: ${connection_type}"
if [ "${connection_type}" == "wired" ]; then
profile="$3"
echo "Profile: ${profile}"
elif [ "${connection_type}" == "wireless" ]; then
essid="$2"
bssid="$3"
echo "ESSID: ${essid}"
echo "BSSID: ${bssid}"
else
echo "Unknown connection type: ${connection_type}" >&2
exit
fi
rm /var/lock/wicd_adhoc.lock
case $2 in
*JoikuSpot*)
# When I connect to my phone my ESSID contains JoikuSpot
touch /var/lock/wicd_adhoc.lock
ifconfig wlan0 down && iwconfig wlan0 mode Ad-Hoc && iwconfig wlan0 essid $2 key off && ifconfig wlan0 up && dhclient wlan0
while [ -f /var/lock/wicd_adhoc.lock ]
do
sleep 2;
done
esac
Waiting for the real bugfix in the newer releases of wicd!
