Introduction to NetworkManager
NetworkManager is a set of co-operative tools that make networking simple and straightforward. Whether you use WiFi, wired, 3G, or Bluetooth, NetworkManager allows you to quickly move from one network to another: Once a network has been configured and joined once, it can be detected and re-joined automatically the next time it's available.
Note
Development versions of BLFS may not build or run some packages properly if LFS or dependencies have been updated since the most recent stable versions of the books.
Package Information
NetworkManager Dependencies
Required
jansson-2.14 and libndp-1.8
Recommended
cURL-8.5.0, dhcpcd-10.0.6, gobject-introspection-1.78.1, iptables-1.8.10, newt-0.52.24 (for nmtui), nss-3.96.1, Polkit-124 (runtime), PyGObject-3.46.0, elogind-252.9, Vala-0.56.14,
and wpa_supplicant-2.10 (runtime, built with D-Bus support)
Optional
BlueZ-5.72, D-Bus Python-1.3.2 (for the test suite), GnuTLS-3.8.3 (can be used instead of nss-3.96.1), GTK-Doc-1.33.2, libpsl-0.21.5, (Qt-5.15.12 or qt-components-5.15.12 with qtdoc) (for examples), ModemManager-1.18.12, UPower-1.90.2, Valgrind-3.22.0, dnsmasq, firewalld, libaudit, libteam, mobile-broadband-provider-info, PPP, and RP-PPPoE
Kernel Configuration
If you wish to run the tests, check that at least the following options are enabled in the kernel configuration. Those options have been determined to be necessary, but may not be sufficient. Recompile the kernel if necessary:
[*] Networking support ---> [NET]
Networking options --->
[*] TCP/IP networking [INET]
<*/M> IP: tunneling [NET_IPIP]
<*/M> IP: GRE demultiplexer [NET_IPGRE_DEMUX]
<*/M> IP: GRE tunnels over IP [NET_IPGRE]
<*> The IPv6 protocol ---> [IPV6]
<*/M> IPv6: IPv6-in-IPv4 tunnel (SIT driver) [IPV6_SIT]
<*/M> IPv6: GRE tunnel [IPV6_GRE]
[*] IPv6: Multiple Routing Tables [IPV6_MULTIPLE_TABLES]
[*] MPTCP: Multipath TCP [MPTCP]
[*] MPTCP: IPv6 support for Multipath TCP [MPTCP_IPV6]
<*/M> 802.1Q/802.1ad VLAN Support [VLAN_8021Q]
[*] QoS and/or fair queueing ---> [NET_SCHED]
<*> Stochastic Fairness Queueing (SFQ) [NET_SCH_SFQ]
<*> Token Bucket Filter (TBF) [NET_SCH_TBF]
<*> Fair Queue Controlled Delay AQM (FQ_CODEL) [NET_SCH_FQ_CODEL]
<*> Ingress/classifier-action Qdisc [NET_SCH_INGRESS]
Device Drivers --->
[*] Network device support ---> [NETDEVICES]
[*] Network core driver support [NET_CORE]
<*/M> Bonding driver support [BONDING]
<*/M> Dummy net driver support [DUMMY]
<*/M> Ethernet team driver support ---> [NET_TEAM]
<*/M> MAC-VLAN support [MACVLAN]
<*/M> MAC-VLAN based tap driver [MACVTAP]
<*/M> IP-VLAN support [IPVLAN]
<*/M> Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN) [VXLAN]
<*/M> Virtual ethernet pair device [VETH]
<*/M> Virtual Routing and Forwarding (Lite) [NET_VRF]
Installation of NetworkManager
If Qt-5.15.12 is installed and the Qt based examples are desired, fix two meson.build files:
sed -e 's/-qt4/-qt5/' \
-e 's/moc_location/host_bins/' \
-i examples/C/qt/meson.build &&
sed -e 's/Qt/&5/' \
-i meson.build
Fix the python scripts so that they use Python 3:
grep -rl '^#!.*python$' | xargs sed -i '1s/python/&3/'
Install NetworkManager by running the following commands:
mkdir build &&
cd build &&
CXXFLAGS+="-O2 -fPIC" \
meson setup .. \
--prefix=/usr \
--buildtype=release \
-Dlibaudit=no \
-Dlibpsl=false \
-Dnmtui=true \
-Dovs=false \
-Dppp=false \
-Dselinux=false \
-Dsession_tracking=elogind \
-Dmodem_manager=false \
-Dsystemdsystemunitdir=no \
-Dsystemd_journal=false \
-Dqt=false &&
ninja
An already active graphical session with a bus address is necessary to run the tests. To test the results, issue ninja test.
A few tests may fail, depending on enabled kernel options.
Now, as the root
user:
ninja install &&
mv -v /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager{,-1.44.2}
If you have not passed the -Ddocs=true
option to meson, you can install the pregenerated manual pages with (as the root
user):
for file in $(echo ../man/*.[1578]); do
section=${file##*.} &&
install -vdm 755 /usr/share/man/man$section
install -vm 644 $file /usr/share/man/man$section/
done
If you have not used -Ddocs=true
, the pregenerated HTML documentation can also be installed with (as the root
user):
cp -Rv ../docs/{api,libnm} /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-1.44.2
Command Explanations
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -fPIC"
: These compiler options are necessary to build the Qt5 based examples.
--buildtype=release
: Specify a buildtype suitable for stable releases of the package, as the default may produce unoptimized binaries.
-Ddocs=true
: Use this switch to enable building man pages and documentation if GTK-Doc-1.33.2 is installed.
-Dnmtui=true
: This switch enables building nmtui.
-Dsystemdsystemunitdir=no
and -Dsystemd_journal=false
: systemd is not used for sysv init systems, so prevent installing units and using the systemd journal.
-Dlibpsl=false
and -Dovs=false
: These switches disable building with the respective libraries. Remove these if you have the needed libraries installed on your system.
-Dmodem_manager=false
: This switch is required if ModemManager is not installed. Omit this switch if you have built ModemManager and mobile-broadband-provider-info.
-Dsession_tracking=elogind
: This switch is used to set elogind as the default program for session tracking.
-Dppp=false
: This switch disables PPP support in NetworkManager since the programs necessary for it are not installed. Remove this switch if you need PPP support and have PPP installed.
-Dlibaudit=no
and -Dselinux=false
: This switch disables support for libaudit and SELinux since they are not used in BLFS.
-Dqt=false
: This switch disables the Qt examples. Omit if you have Qt available and wish to install the examples.
-Dcrypto=gnutls
: Use this switch if you have GnuTLS installed and want to use it for certificate and key operations in NetworkManager, instead of using NSS (the default).
-Dcrypto=null
: Use this switch if neither NSS nor GnuTLS is installed but you want to build NetworkManager anyway. This switch will make NetworkManager lack some features (for example 802.1X).
-Dsuspend_resume=upower
: Use this switch if you have UPower-1.90.2 installed and want to use it (instead of elogind-252.9 ) for suspend and resume support.
Configuring NetworkManager
Config Files
/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
Configuration Information
For NetworkManager to work, at least a minimal configuration file must be present. Such a file is not installed with make install. Issue the following command as the root
user to create a minimal NetworkManager.conf
file:
cat >> /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf << "EOF"
[main]
plugins=keyfile
EOF
This file should not be modified directly by users of the system. Instead, system specific changes should be made using configuration files in the /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d
directory.
To allow polkit to manage authorizations, add the following configuration file:
cat > /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/polkit.conf << "EOF"
[main]
auth-polkit=true
EOF
To use something other than the built-in dhcp client (recommended if using only nmcli), use the following configuration (valid values include either dhcpcd or internal):
cat > /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/dhcp.conf << "EOF"
[main]
dhcp=
dhcpcd
EOF
To prevent NetworkManager from updating the /etc/resolv.conf
file, add the following configuration file:
cat > /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/no-dns-update.conf << "EOF"
[main]
dns=none
EOF
For additional configuration options, see man 5 NetworkManager.conf.
To allow regular users to configure network connections, you should add them to the netdev
group, and create a polkit rule that grants access. Run the following commands as the root
user:
groupadd -fg 86 netdev &&
/usr/sbin/usermod -a -G netdev <username>
cat > /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.rules << "EOF"
polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
if (action.id.indexOf("org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.") == 0 && subject.isInGroup("netdev")) {
return polkit.Result.YES;
}
});
EOF
Boot Script
To automatically start the NetworkManager daemon when the system is rebooted, install the /etc/rc.d/init.d/networkmanager
bootscript from the blfs-bootscripts-20231119 package.
Note
If using Network Manager to manage an interface, any previous configuration for that interface should be removed, and the interface brought down prior to starting Network Manager.
make install-networkmanager
Contents
Installed Programs: NetworkManager, nmcli, nm-online, nmtui, and, symlinked to nmtui: nmtui-connect, nmtui-edit, and nmtui-hostname
Installed Libraries: libnm.so and several modules under /usr/lib/NetworkManager
Installed Directories: /etc/NetworkManager, /usr/include/libnm, /usr/lib/NetworkManager, /usr/share/doc/NetworkManager-1.44.2, /usr/share/gtk-doc/html/{libnm,NetworkManager} (if the documentation is built), and /var/lib/NetworkManager
Short Descriptions
nmcli
|
is a command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager and getting its status
|
nm-online
|
is an utility to determine whether you are online
|
nmtui
|
is an interactive ncurses-based user interface for nmcli
|
nmtui-connect
|
is an interactive ncurses-based user interface to activate/deactivate connections
|
nmtui-edit
|
is an interactive ncurses-based user interface to edit connections
|
nmtui-hostname
|
is an interactive ncurses-based user interface to edit the hostname
|
NetworkManager
|
is the network management daemon
|
libnm.so
|
contains functions used by NetworkManager
|