[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#461831: Bug#461831: network-manager: provide connections before login

[Ross Boylan]

On Mon, 2008-01-21 at 12:11 +0100, Michael Biebl wrote:
> Ross Boylan wrote:
> > Package: network-manager
> > Version: 0.6.5-3
> > Severity: wishlist
> > 
> > It would be useful if network-manager would connect to known networks
> > when the system came up, rather than when the user logs in.  There are
> > lots of things the system does regardless of whether anyone is logged
> > in, and some of those things fail without network access (e.g., email,
> > time syncronization, possibly running various scripts).
> > 
> > This wish seems to contradict the theory of operation outlined in the
> > upstream README, so it is, in effect, a request to reconsider the
> > design.  As I understand the current design, information on what
> > networks to connect to, as well as passwords, is kept in a user
> > session and is private to the user.
> > 
> > A possible middle ground would be to allow the user to designate
> > certain connection information as available for system-wide use.
> > 
> > Currently, my boot-up is also delayed as dhcp-client attempts to get
> > dhcp information--which it can't, since there are no network
> > connections.  That particular problem may have a less drastic
> > solution--maybe remove the interface declaration entirely from
> > /etc/network/interfaces?  The current Debian README seems to indicate
> > things should work with interfaces set auto and dhcp (and nothing
> > else), but it looks to me as if the regular processing of the
> > interfaces file kicks in a start up.  Network manager does grab them
> > later.
> 
> If you want to establish connections, which are encrypted (like WEP or 
> WPA) you currently need a running desktop session and a user program 
> (like knetworkmanager or nm-applet) passing this information to 
> NetworkManager. For a simple ethernet connection, NetworkManager will 
> activate it during boot as soon as possible, without a logged in user.

> About /etc/network/interfaces: Just remove the interface definitions and 
> let NM handle them. They are only for backwards compatibility (i.e. the 
> installer creates this entries and NM tries to deal with that in the 
> most sensible way).
> 
Excellent.  I've done so.  It might be worth putting this info in the
README.Debian.  I'm not sure why it was querying dhcp on wlan0 but not,
as far as I could see, on eth0 (maybe because one was active and the
other not?  or wlan0 was auto while eth0 was allow-hotplug), but if
removing them does the trick, that's good.

> I'm not quite clear, what you are looking for. If you want encrypted 
> connections during boot, that is not possible atm (should be in NM 0.7). 
Yes, I want encrypted connections during boot.  The current scheme is
actually not quite right at the user level either.  When I login to a
KDE it restores my old session.  That session has some open browsers,
and these generally fail to connect before I can get to the KDE Wallet
prompt for NetworkManager and have it activate.

> For unencrypted it already works.
> 
It sounds as if this wish will be granted with NM 0.7.  I'm glad to hear
that.  Out of curiosity, do you know how the boot-time procedures access
the wireless info (network/password)?  I thought that info was kept with
particular users.

I see from some other bugs that NM 0.7 is on the way, but currently
isn't ready for prime time.  The current situation is OK, so I'm happy
waiting.

Thanks.
Ross