kernel 4.14.3 resets ip forwarding [SOLVED]

[albright]

as in the subject, after rebooting into 4.14.3 (same config as for 4.14.2) I
find that /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward has been reset to 0

this caused confusion and annoyance for my users who lost internet,
and it too me a little while to find this despite how simple it is

does any one know how to tell my system to leave ip_forwarding alone ?

TIA<

EDIT: somehow /etc/sysctl.conf got changed by something (prob not
kernel I guess) ... sorry for the noise but I would like to know what
caused the change
_________________
.... there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth
doing as simply messing about with Linux ...
(apologies to Kenneth Graeme)

[Hu]

/etc/sysctl.conf is owned by sys-apps/baselayout, but is only relevant at boot. Perhaps you upgraded baselayout and had a bad etc-update run after the last good boot and before the first bad boot? Since it is normally only applied by an initscript during system startup, you would not notice the consequences of a bad change until your next boot.