KNetworkManager

[Timothy Murphy]

Will Stephenson wrote:

>> What exactly is the purpose of KNetworkManager?
> 
> What exactly is missing from
> http://en.opensuse.org/Projects/KNetworkManager, the first google hit for
> 'knetworkmanager'?.

Well, I'm running Fedora-12, so I would not normally look
at OpenSUSE documentation, which I assume describes
how programs operate under that OS.

>> I assumed it would have a GUI,
>> which would enable me to set some parameters for NM,
>> but that doesn't appear to be the case.
> 
> Yes, it does.  More info and screenshots:
> http://dot.kde.org/2009/11/07/introducing-kde-4-knetworkmanager

Thanks for the pointer.
I found the information there useful and interesting,
and it persuaded me to stick with KNetworkManager,
which I had more or less decided to "put on the long finger".

>> I just installed KNetworkManager,
>> and I have an NM icon in my panel.
>> When I left-click on this,
>> I am asked a question,
>> "Another NetworkManager client is already running.
>> Use KNetworkManager in future?",
>> but neither of the options offered seems to me
>> to be an answer to this question.
> 
> NM allows one and only one user client to provide it with settings (via a
> DBUS
> service.  This warning appears if KNetworkManager is unable to start
> because
> another client already owns the settings DBUS service.  Distributions
> should prevent multiple NM clients being installed but since NM is a can
> of worms I'm not surprised if they get it wrong.
> 
> I've made the warning clearer in trunk already, but I guess you are using
> a packaged earlier version.

I'm not sure - I'm using the latest standard Fedora version,
which seems to be knetworkmanager-0.9-0.2.20090919svn.fc12.i686 .
It certainly seems to me that the wording of this warning could be improved.
Also, if one has to alter the way in which NM normally runs
(ie with nm-applet) then this should be made clear,
and the steps to be taken should be spelled out.


> Anyway, solutions: I'm going to put my finger in the air and guess that
> you're either
> 
> a) using GNOME's nm-applet, for example in a KDE install in Fedora.  In
> which case you need to stop nm-applet autostarting in KDE or uninstall it.

I'm running Fedora-12 with KDE.
I'm reluctant to fiddle with the current settings of NM,
as it is working at the moment, and I rely on it.

> More technical information:
> http://userbase.kde.org/NetworkManagement

I found this interesting and informative at first sight,
and will study it more closely later.
Thank you.


-- 
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