On Mon, 2004-08-23 at 17:07, Dan Williams wrote:
> Will it have hooks for e.g. configuring network proxies, cups
default
> destinations, etc. depending on the network/dns domain you're in?
> Currently I use a shell script as dhclient's exit hook that does these
> things for me (in a more or less reliable manner). Querying for the dns
> domain first, then maybe setting a static IP would also be an idea
> though I admit it sounds weird ;-).
NetworkManager sends signals over dbus when an interface is
activated/deactivated and when its IP address changes. There is also a
daemon called NetworkManagerDispatcher that sits there, listens for
these signals, and runs any scripts in a particular directory
(currently /etc/NetworkManager.d) with the interface that changed and
its IP address. This has been successfully used to keep VPN sessions
constantly alive no matter which interface you are on, and I imagine it
could be used to do other configuration information.
This sounds like "hooks" to me. More or less all I asked for if I
understand this correctly.
What people seem to be forgetting here is that NetworkManager is
about
_near-zero configuration_. If you have to go around doing out-of-the-
ordinary stuff like disabling network cards explicitly, or keeping two
network cards up at the same time, then you are NOT the use-case for
NetworkManager, and don't use it. Things like proxies and other sorts
of desktop-user configuration in a corporate or home-user situation
should be supported by NM, even if they are not at this time.
I personally think that shared infrastructure is good, duplication is
evil. A generic description of NetworkManager, how it sounds to me: "A
daemon that does things automatically depending on the network status",
definitely infrastructure. Of course in its default configuration, with
very limited knowledge about a target network, it can only do these
generic things like doing the DHCP or WLAN dance and surely a limited
setup like one wired plus one wireless at max is a logical first step. I
think that we shouldn't have two separate infrastructures that handle
networking, on the one side "legacy" s-c-network and initscripts and on
the other side NetworkManager where there is a lot of duplication
between them. If I think about it the term "NetworkManager" would be a
bit over the top for something that'd never go beyond this first step.
Nils
--
Nils Philippsen / Red Hat / nphilipp(a)redhat.com
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- B. Franklin, 1759
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