NetworkManager Now Supports Bridging, AP-Mode Hotspot

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Networking on 20 February 2013 at 07:53 PM EST. 10 Comments
LINUX NETWORKING
NetworkManager 0.9.8 was released today and while being called a "new stable bugfix release" it does introduce several new features for users of this Linux networking component.

New features to NetworkManager 0.9.8 include bridging support, AP-mode Hotspot, a smoother WiFi experience, better WWAN support, IPv6 fixes, and other support improvements.

The change-log bundled within the NetworkManager 0.9.8 source package notes:

- New AvailableConnections property for Device objects
- Better handling of various rfkill/Airplane Mode switches
- Fixed handling of DNS servers for some mobile broadband devices
- Don't duplicate various IPv6 routes added by the kernel
- Ensure buggy ethernet driver carrier indications are handled correctly
- Fix crash in dnsmasq plugin when no nameservers were present
- Add support for 4G LTE network modes
- Fix signal handling when daemonizing at startup
- Don't autoconnect to WiFi networks that have never successfully connected
- Only request new WiFi secrets during the initial association or when the secrets are known to be wrong, not every time the connection randomly fails
- Add capability to autoconnect VPN connections when a parent connection succeeds
- Add configure-time option for "permissive" system connection editing policy
- Various libnm-glib fixes for asynchronous usage
- Fix gateway handling when given with secondary IP addresses
- Optionally listen to systemd for suspend/resume events instead of UPower
- Fix 'seen-bssids' property when retrieving WiFi connections via D-Bus
- Add support for AP-mode WiFi hotspots (instead of just Ad-Hoc)
- Add a "slaves" property to Bond devices
- Add support for ModemManager 0.7/0.8
- Allow more human-readable formatting of IP address in keyfile connections
- Drop support for dhclient v3
- Add support for DHCPv6 server-side Dynamic DNS
- Add support for bridge master devices and bridge ports
- Fix canceling secrets requests in GUI agents
- Always enable Proactive Key Caching (PKC, also called OKC) for WPA Enterprise WiFi configurations
- libnl 3.2.7 or later is required
- The internal crashdump handling has been removed
- A DHCPv6 DUID is now generated from /etc/machine-id and sent to the DHCPv6 server if not overridden by an administrator-defined DUID
- Bond interfaces now wait for a ready slave before starting automatic IP configuration
- The kernel WiFi rfkill state is now synced to the user-requested WirelessEnabled state at startup
- Fix issue with duplicate ActiveConnection objects if a connection was reactivated on a device
- Fix race when looking up hostname and concurrently updating DNS
- Always load the 'keyfile' settings plugin, even if no plugins are specified
- Add a new WiFi device ADHOC capability; not all devices/drivers support IBSS mode
- Fix an issue with quick wpa_supplicant restarts not being noticed
- Expose the AvailableConnections property through libnm-glib
- Fix usage of libnm-glib's NMRemoteConnection from GObject Introspection bindings

Download NetworkManager 0.9.8 at GNOME.org.
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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

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