Go to file
Lubomir Rintel 6de187cb37 nmcli: always clean up readline on exit
A signal handler is not the only place where we need to clean up after
an in-progress readline() on exit; we may do so when erroring out as
well:

Before (not also the missing line break, which is part of the cleanup):

  $ (sleep 10; nmcli c del 'Red Hat Wi-Fi')
  $ nmcli --ask d wifi connect 'Red Hat Wi-Fi'
  Passwords or encryption keys are required to access the wireless network 'Red Hat Wi-Fi'.
  Password (802-11-wireless-security.psk): Error: Connection activation failed: The device's active connection disappeared.
  $ [terminal messed up, no echo]

After:

  $ (sleep 10; nmcli c del 'Red Hat Wi-Fi')
  $ nmcli --ask d wifi connect 'Red Hat Wi-Fi'
  Passwords or encryption keys are required to access the wireless network 'Red Hat Wi-Fi'.
  Password (802-11-wireless-security.psk):
  Error: Connection activation failed: The device's active connection disappeared.
  $ hello [terminal echo fine, wheee]

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/-/merge_requests/1959
2024-06-26 14:15:16 +02:00
.gitlab gitlab: Add security vulnerability issue template 2024-05-30 11:44:19 +00:00
.gitlab-ci gitlab-ci: add coverity submissions to weekly scheduled CI 2024-06-26 12:58:03 +02:00
contrib contrib/rpm: rename section in "22-wifi-mac-addr.conf" 2024-06-19 11:02:55 +00:00
data service: remove a misleading comment 2024-06-19 11:05:49 +00:00
docs update DocBook DTD version to latest stable 4.5 2024-04-22 12:06:16 +00:00
examples meson: replace deprecated dep.get_pkgconfig_variable 2024-04-04 08:13:38 +00:00
introspection meson: remove version checks for old versions 2024-04-04 08:13:38 +00:00
m4 docs,m4: remove paragraph about writing to FSF 2023-10-06 13:27:59 +02:00
man connectivity: Add a timeout option to connectivity checks 2024-06-24 09:21:34 +00:00
po po: add nm-setting-generic.c for translation 2024-05-31 13:06:01 +02:00
src nmcli: always clean up readline on exit 2024-06-26 14:15:16 +02:00
tools nm-in-container: create conf.d file instead of modifying journald.conf 2024-06-19 11:47:51 +00:00
vapi HSR: add support to HSR/PRP interface 2023-12-05 08:05:56 +01:00
.clang-format glib-aux/prioq: rename NM_PRIOQ_FOREACH_ITEM() to nm_prioq_for_each() 2023-03-21 15:58:39 +01:00
.dir-locals.el misc: add toplevel .dir-locals file that tells Emacs to show trailing whitespace 2013-03-08 15:15:28 +01:00
.git-blame-ignore-revs format: add reformatting commit to ".git-blame-ignore-revs" 2023-12-07 13:03:36 +01:00
.gitignore .gitignore: include m4/build-to-host.m4 2024-02-20 12:12:25 +01:00
.gitlab-ci.yml gitlab-ci: add coverity submissions to weekly scheduled CI 2024-06-26 12:58:03 +02:00
.mailmap mailmap: update Jordi's identity 2023-06-28 13:50:25 +02:00
.triage-policies.yml Explain new issues workflow and add triage automation 2024-06-18 13:11:58 +02:00
AUTHORS docs: fix typo in docs for upstream mailing list 2022-11-07 17:50:29 +01:00
autogen.sh build: stop relying on intltool for i18n 2022-06-27 13:40:09 +02:00
ChangeLog Changelog: update references to "main" branch 2021-04-01 22:30:20 +02:00
config-extra.h.meson build: remove duplicate and unused RUNDIR define 2019-05-17 21:24:18 +02:00
config-extra.h.mk build: regenerate config-extra.h if configure was re-run with different arguments 2019-09-25 15:55:37 +02:00
config.h.meson build,core: add a "main.migrate-ifcfg-rh" configuration option 2023-07-25 15:39:06 +02:00
configure.ac release: bump version to 1.49.1 (development) 2024-06-21 15:24:07 +02:00
CONTRIBUTING.md Explain new issues workflow and add triage automation 2024-06-18 13:11:58 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: make sure we ship the relevant license texts 2019-09-10 11:10:52 +02:00
COPYING.GFDL COPYING: make sure we ship the relevant license texts 2019-09-10 11:10:52 +02:00
COPYING.LGPL COPYING: make sure we ship the relevant license texts 2019-09-10 11:10:52 +02:00
linker-script-binary.ver iface-helper/build: add linker version script 2016-10-13 21:33:33 +02:00
linker-script-devices.ver devices/build: use one linker-script-devices.ver for all device plugins 2016-10-13 21:36:06 +02:00
linker-script-settings.ver settings/build: add linker version script for settings plugins 2016-10-13 21:33:33 +02:00
lsan.suppressions tests/sanitizer: suppress leak in openssl 2020-05-14 12:03:24 +02:00
MAINTAINERS misc: update maintainers and authors 2016-04-21 13:39:03 -05:00
MAINTAINERS.md Explain new issues workflow and add triage automation 2024-06-18 13:11:58 +02:00
Makefile.am build: break autotools configuration to warn about deprecation 2024-05-09 12:00:04 +02:00
Makefile.examples examples: add python example for reapply 2022-12-14 17:31:17 +01:00
Makefile.glib all: drop emacs file variables from source files 2019-06-11 10:04:00 +02:00
Makefile.vapigen build: fix make always re-making vapigen target 2016-10-21 18:46:03 +02:00
meson_options.txt meson: add runtime_dir option 2024-04-15 15:03:35 +02:00
meson.build release: bump version to 1.49.1 (development) 2024-06-21 15:24:07 +02:00
NEWS connectivity: Add a timeout option to connectivity checks 2024-06-24 09:21:34 +00:00
README.md Explain new issues workflow and add triage automation 2024-06-18 13:11:58 +02:00
RELICENSE.md docs: fix typo in docs for upstream mailing list 2022-11-07 17:50:29 +01:00
TODO core/trivial: rename NM_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_MS to NM_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_MAX_MSEC 2022-02-24 09:38:52 +01:00
valgrind.suppressions valgrind: update suppression for memmove and inet_pton6 2024-06-21 23:03:11 +02:00

NetworkManager

Networking that Just Works

NetworkManager attempts to keep an active network connection available at all times. The point of NetworkManager is to make networking configuration and setup as painless and automatic as possible. NetworkManager is intended to replace default route, replace other routes, set IP addresses, and in general configure networking as NM sees fit (with the possibility of manual override as necessary). In effect, the goal of NetworkManager is to make networking Just Work with a minimum of user hassle, but still allow customization and a high level of manual network control. If you have special needs, we'd like to hear about them, but understand that NetworkManager is not intended for every use-case.

NetworkManager will attempt to keep every network device in the system up and active, as long as the device is available for use (has a cable plugged in, the killswitch isn't turned on, etc). Network connections can be set to 'autoconnect', meaning that NetworkManager will make that connection active whenever it and the hardware is available.

"Settings services" store lists of user- or administrator-defined "connections", which contain all the settings and parameters required to connect to a specific network. NetworkManager will never activate a connection that is not in this list, or that the user has not directed NetworkManager to connect to.

How it works

The NetworkManager daemon runs as a privileged service (since it must access and control hardware), but provides a D-Bus interface on the system bus to allow for fine-grained control of networking. NetworkManager does not store connections or settings, it is only the mechanism by which those connections are selected and activated.

To store pre-defined network connections, two separate services, the "system settings service" and the "user settings service" store connection information and provide these to NetworkManager, also via D-Bus. Each settings service can determine how and where it persistently stores the connection information; for example, the GNOME applet stores its configuration in GConf, and the system settings service stores its config in distro-specific formats, or in a distro- agnostic format, depending on user/administrator preference.

A variety of other system services are used by NetworkManager to provide network functionality: wpa_supplicant for wireless connections and 802.1x wired connections, pppd for PPP and mobile broadband connections, DHCP clients for dynamic IP addressing, dnsmasq for proxy nameserver and DHCP server functionality for internet connection sharing, and avahi-autoipd for IPv4 link-local addresses. Most communication with these daemons occurs, again, via D-Bus.

How to use it

Install NetworkManager with your distribution's package manager.

As NetworkManager is actually a daemon that runs in the background, you need to use one of the many existing client programs to interact with it.

Terminal clients:

  • nmcli: advanced command line client that gives you full control over all the aspects of NetworkManager, developed as part of the NetworkManager project.
  • nmtui: text-based user interface (TUI) client. Also for the terminal, but interactive and more user friendly, also part of the NetworkManager project.
  • nmstate: declarative network API and command line tool that uses NetworkManager as backend.
  • Ansible: use the network-role in your playbooks

GUI clients

  • nm-connection-editor and nm-applet: basic GUI interfaces developed by the NetworkManager project.
  • GNOME shell: interacts with NetworkManager via its default settings panel gnome-control-center
  • KDE Plasma: interacts with NetworkManager via its default settings panel and plasma-nm

Why doesn't my network Just Work?

Driver problems are the #1 cause of why NetworkManager sometimes fails to connect to wireless networks. Often, the driver simply doesn't behave in a consistent manner, or is just plain buggy. NetworkManager supports only those drivers that are shipped with the upstream Linux kernel, because only those drivers can be easily fixed and debugged. ndiswrapper, vendor binary drivers, or other out-of-tree drivers may or may not work well with NetworkManager, precisely because they have not been vetted and improved by the open-source community, and because problems in these drivers usually cannot be fixed.

Sometimes, command-line tools like 'iwconfig' will work, but NetworkManager will fail. This is again often due to buggy drivers, because these drivers simply aren't expecting the dynamic requests that NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant make. Driver bugs should be filed in the bug tracker of the distribution being run, since often distributions customize their kernel and drivers.

Sometimes, it really is NetworkManager's fault. If you think that's the case, please file a bug at:

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/issues

Attaching NetworkManager debug logs from the journal (or wherever your distribution directs syslog's 'daemon' facility output, as /var/log/messages or /var/log/daemon.log) is often very helpful, and (if you can get) a working wpa_supplicant config file helps enormously. See the logging section of file contrib/fedora/rpm/NetworkManager.conf for how to enable debug logging in NetworkManager.

Documentation

Updated documentation can be found at https://networkmanager.dev/docs

Users can consult the man pages. Most relevant pages for normal users are:

Get in touch

To connect with the community, get help or get involved see the available communication channels at https://networkmanager.dev/community/

Report bugs or feature request in our issue tracker. See Report issues for details about how to do it.

Contribute

To get involved, see CONTRIBUTING.md to find different ways to contribute.

License

NetworkManager is free software under GPL-2.0-or-later and LGPL-2.1-or-later. See CONTRIBUTING.md#legal and RELICENSE.md for details.