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https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager
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README.md: As this document is mainly for normal users, and in Gitlab it's displayed by default, it's the main entry point to get information when someone get into the repo, either via web or cloned. Added explanations about how to install and use NM and how to find the documentation for users. Added brief info about how to report issues and ask for help, with links to CONTRIBUTING.md to get more details. Added brief link for potential contributors to read CONTRIBUTING.md. People not familiar with open source projects might not be aware of it. Deleted the "moved to freedesktop" message. After 15 years, people might know yet. Added brief explanation about the free software license. CONTRIBUTING.md: Added a link to the list of all communication channels, only mailing list and IRC were listed. Added detailed explanation about how to report issues and attach logs. It also references the new tool anonymize-logs.py. Added brief guidelines about how to start contributing choosing issues from the tracker. Fixed some small formatting issues and added a reference to nm-in-vm, fixing the link to nm-in-container too. MAINTAINERS.md: Added explanation about how to triage and properly label the issues. This is basically based on the kind-of-workflow that we already have, but maybe it's a good time to check that it's correct or to propose small changes (so, please propose changes in review).
155 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
155 lines
6.9 KiB
Markdown
NetworkManager
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==============
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Networking that Just Works
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--------------------------
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NetworkManager attempts to keep an active network connection available at all
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times. The point of NetworkManager is to make networking configuration and
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setup as painless and automatic as possible. NetworkManager is intended to
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replace default route, replace other routes, set IP addresses, and in general
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configure networking as NM sees fit (with the possibility of manual override as
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necessary). In effect, the goal of NetworkManager is to make networking Just
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Work with a minimum of user hassle, but still allow customization and a high
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level of manual network control. If you have special needs, we'd like to hear
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about them, but understand that NetworkManager is not intended for every
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use-case.
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NetworkManager will attempt to keep every network device in the system up and
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active, as long as the device is available for use (has a cable plugged in,
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the killswitch isn't turned on, etc). Network connections can be set to
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'autoconnect', meaning that NetworkManager will make that connection active
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whenever it and the hardware is available.
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"Settings services" store lists of user- or administrator-defined "connections",
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which contain all the settings and parameters required to connect to a specific
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network. NetworkManager will _never_ activate a connection that is not in this
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list, or that the user has not directed NetworkManager to connect to.
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How it works
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------------
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The NetworkManager daemon runs as a privileged service (since it must access
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and control hardware), but provides a D-Bus interface on the system bus to
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allow for fine-grained control of networking. NetworkManager does not store
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connections or settings, it is only the mechanism by which those connections
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are selected and activated.
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To store pre-defined network connections, two separate services, the "system
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settings service" and the "user settings service" store connection information
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and provide these to NetworkManager, also via D-Bus. Each settings service
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can determine how and where it persistently stores the connection information;
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for example, the GNOME applet stores its configuration in GConf, and the system
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settings service stores its config in distro-specific formats, or in a distro-
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agnostic format, depending on user/administrator preference.
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A variety of other system services are used by NetworkManager to provide
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network functionality: wpa_supplicant for wireless connections and 802.1x
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wired connections, pppd for PPP and mobile broadband connections, DHCP clients
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for dynamic IP addressing, dnsmasq for proxy nameserver and DHCP server
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functionality for internet connection sharing, and avahi-autoipd for IPv4
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link-local addresses. Most communication with these daemons occurs, again,
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via D-Bus.
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How to use it
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-------------
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Install NetworkManager with your distribution's package manager.
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As NetworkManager is actually a daemon that runs in the background, you need to
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use one of the many existing client programs to interact with it.
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Terminal clients:
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- `nmcli`: advanced command line client that gives you full control over all the
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aspects of NetworkManager, developed as part of the NetworkManager project.
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- `nmtui`: text-based user interface (TUI) client. Also for the terminal, but
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interactive and more user friendly, also part of the NetworkManager project.
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- [`nmstate`][1]: declarative network API and command line tool that uses
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NetworkManager as backend.
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- Ansible: use the [network-role][2] in your playbooks
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GUI clients
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- `nm-connection-editor` and `nm-applet`: basic GUI interfaces developed by
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the NetworkManager project.
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- GNOME shell: interacts with NetworkManager via its default settings panel
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`gnome-control-center`
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- KDE Plasma: interacts with NetworkManager via its default settings panel
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and `plasma-nm`
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Why doesn't my network Just Work?
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---------------------------------
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Driver problems are the #1 cause of why NetworkManager sometimes fails to
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connect to wireless networks. Often, the driver simply doesn't behave in a
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consistent manner, or is just plain buggy. NetworkManager supports _only_
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those drivers that are shipped with the upstream Linux kernel, because only
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those drivers can be easily fixed and debugged. ndiswrapper, vendor binary
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drivers, or other out-of-tree drivers may or may not work well with
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NetworkManager, precisely because they have not been vetted and improved by the
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open-source community, and because problems in these drivers usually cannot
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be fixed.
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Sometimes, command-line tools like 'iwconfig' will work, but NetworkManager will
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fail. This is again often due to buggy drivers, because these drivers simply
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aren't expecting the dynamic requests that NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant
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make. Driver bugs should be filed in the bug tracker of the distribution being
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run, since often distributions customize their kernel and drivers.
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Sometimes, it really is NetworkManager's fault. If you think that's
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the case, please file a bug at:
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https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/issues
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Attaching NetworkManager debug logs from the journal (or wherever your
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distribution directs syslog's 'daemon' facility output, as
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/var/log/messages or /var/log/daemon.log) is often very helpful, and
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(if you can get) a working wpa_supplicant config file helps
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enormously. See the logging section of file
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contrib/fedora/rpm/NetworkManager.conf for how to enable debug logging
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in NetworkManager.
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Documentation
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-------------
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Updated documentation can be found at https://networkmanager.dev/docs
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Users can consult the man pages. Most relevant pages for normal users are:
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- NetworkManager daemon: [`NetworkManager (8)`][3], [`NetworkManager.conf (5)`][4]
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- nmcli: [`nmcli (1)`][5], [`nmcli-examples (5)`][6], [`nm-settings-nmcli (5)`][7]
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- nmtui: [`nmtui (1)`][8]
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Get in touch
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------------
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To connect with the community, get help or get involved see the available
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communication channels at https://networkmanager.dev/community/
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Report bugs or feature request in our [issue tracker](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/-/issues).
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See [Report issues](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/-/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md?ref_type=heads#report-issues)
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for details about how to do it.
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To get involved, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)
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License
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-------
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NetworkManager is free software under GPL-2.0-or-later and LGPL-2.1-or-later.
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See [CONTRIBUTING.md#legal](CONTRIBUTING.md#legal) and
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[RELICENSE.md](RELICENSE.md) for details.
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[1]: https://nmstate.io/
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[2]: https://linux-system-roles.github.io/network/
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[3]: https://networkmanager.dev/docs/api/latest/NetworkManager.html
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[4]: https://networkmanager.dev/docs/api/latest/NetworkManager.conf.html
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[5]: https://networkmanager.dev/docs/api/latest/nmcli.html
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[6]: https://networkmanager.dev/docs/api/latest/nmcli-examples.html
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[7]: https://networkmanager.dev/docs/api/latest/nm-settings-nmcli.html
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[8]: https://networkmanager.dev/docs/api/latest/nmtui.html
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