"wireless disabled in software"

[Timothy Murphy]

Craig White wrote:

>> This caused NM to modify or create files all over the place,
>> including deleting everything in /etc/resolv.conf .
>> This is a habit of NM that I don't understand -
>> I cannot think of any circumstances where an empty resolv.conf
>> would be better than one containing something,
>> however silly NM might think it was.
> ----
> on the other hand, if you don't have any configured network adaptor, the
> content of /etc/resolv.conf is entirely irrelevant and when you do
> configure a network adaptor, the contents of /etc/resolv.conf become
> relevant. If you get an IP address automatically (ie DHCP-client), then
> it is configured automatically. If you enter an IP address manually, you
> will need to enter dns server addresses manually since the ones you
> choose are indeed relevant to the newly configured IP address.

I have found many times that I am not connected to the internet on my laptop
BECAUSE NM has deleted the entries in /etc/resolv.conf ,
and that when I install the proper entries
(I keep them in /etc/resolv.conf.opendns for this purpose)
I am immediately connected.
(I do not need to enter my IP address manually.)

I repeat: I simple don't understand why NM deletes the entries 
in /etc/resolv.conf .
How could this possibly help me?
In my opinion, any entries in resolv.conf are better than none.

I recently had the experience that NM deleted the HWADDR address
in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0 .
Why?

I find the logic of NM completely incomprehensible,
and I haven't found any simple explanation of it anywhere.

What exactly is its train of thought if it sees a single AP visible?
Wouldn't any normal person try to connect to that?
And if it found some key was needed, why not just ask for it?
More or less what Windows does, in fact.

Recently, a new nightmare has occurred;
a window comes up called Secret, or something like that,
with a space for a password, in which it is impossible to write.
Admittedly closing the window does not seem to leave matters
any worse than before.

To put it bluntly, NM is very bad if there is a problem.
It does not give any helpful advice,
and the entries in /var/log/messages are more or less meaningless,
eg "deactivating device (reason: 2)".





-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland