[Pkg-utopia-maintainers] Bug#919619: NM 1.24.0 now has basic support for hidden networks with iwd backend

[Andreas Henriksson]

Hi,

Just wanted to drop a comment about the iwd status in NM.
NM has since 1.24.0, which is now in testing/unstable, basic
support for connecting to a hidden network using the iwd backend.

There are still many minor bugs remaining in the NM iwd backend
both for hidden and any other network. Examples that comes to mind:
- Removing a connection in NM doesn't seem to propagate
  to iwd known-network list.
- NM and iwd sometimes gets out of sync for unknown reasons,
  stopping iwd and restarting NetworkManager then browsing menues
  to trigger dbus activation of iwd again can be used as a workaround.
- nmcli errors out on trying to scan (for a hidden network!) even when
  specifying 'hidden yes' on the command line. (Working method to
  provision a hidden network includes using the "Connect to hidden
  network..." menu entry in gnome-control-center Wi-Fi pane.)
- and more...

Many minor workaroundable issues that needs more polish.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like anyone is working on improving
the NM iwd backend since quite a while now (except for my basic hidden
network contribution, which was a one-off for personal needs).

Regards,
Andreas Henriksson