NB.

the content of my xml file is as shown bellow.What i noticed is whenever the prefix goes above 24,that is when the error comes up.but below 24 it works well.

thanks

<interface type="ethernet" name="eth5">
        <start mode="onboot"/>
        <mac address="00:21:28:44:E3:2B"/>
        <protocol family="ipv4">
                <ip address="204.10.0.25" prefix="26"/>
        </protocol>
</interface>
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"netmask.xml" 7 lines, 194 characters