On Wed, 2008-11-12 at 16:21 -0800, Rick Stevens wrote:
I agree. While I applaud the concept behind NM, its execution is
very,
very flawed. It can't be used on systems that use network-based
authentication because of the chicken-and-egg problem it causes (you
need a desktop for it to start and you can't log in to get a desktop
because the network is down due to NM not running).
Blatantly wrong. NetworkManager service starts well before the desktop
login, and will bring up any "system" configured connections.
Other drawbacks: the utter and complete lack of documentation;
$ rpm -qd NetworkManager
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/AUTHORS
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/CONTRIBUTING
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/COPYING
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/ChangeLog
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/NEWS
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/README
/usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-0.7.0/TODO
/usr/share/man/man1/nm-tool.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man8/NetworkManager.8.gz
the
inability to (consistently) control its behavior via config files
(including its ignoring of existing directives in files it claims to
read);
Do you have specific bugs filed for specific cases where it's ignoring
things it's supposed to be reading?
its apparent random selection of nearby wireless access points;
Again, bugs? AFAIKT it doesn't pick any until /you/ pick one to join,
and then it'll re-join that one if it notices it's available and you're
not connected to anything else at the time.
occasional ignoring of existing keyring entries;
Bugs filed?
its inability to be
started prior to a user logging in--and then only if the system is
in GUI mode; the list goes on.
Again, very very wrong.
I like the idea. It's just nowhere ready for prime time in anything
but the absolute simplest of network environments with GUI-based
systems. I realize that Fedora is where things like this get the bugs
shaken out, but NM has been a problem child for quite a while (F8, F9
and now F10). Anaconda should at least ask you if you want NM as the
default network environment when upgrading or installing (it certainly
shouldn't run roughshod over an existing network environment). On top
of that and given its, uhm, "maturity", you'd think there'd at least
be
a bloody man page for it!
See the rpm output from above.
--
Jesse Keating
Fedora -- Freedom² is a feature!
identi.ca:
http://identi.ca/jkeating