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--- networkmanager [2020/10/07 16:52]
Andrew Zaborowski 1.28 post rc1 should hopefully drop the <1.0 compatibility
+++ networkmanager [2021/05/23 00:52]
Andrew Zaborowski Instructions for converting existing NM network profiles for IWD
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==== Using IWD with Network Manager ====
+===== Using IWD with Network Manager =====
 [[https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/NetworkManager|Network Manager]] version 1.12 integrated a basic IWD-based wifi backend as an alternative to wpa_supplicant.  To use Network Manager (NM) with the IWD backend one NM configuration change is necessary.  Additionally the versions of the two software packages need to be compatible, this is because IWD's API and capabilities are evolving and the NM backend is adapting to those changes.  IWD and the NM backend are work in progress and the capabilities are still limited.
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 | 1.0 and later  | 1.20.6 and later | Open, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 Personal and Enterprise networks, Infrastructure/AP/Ad-hoc modes, no hidden networks or P2P |
 | 1.0 and later  | 1.24.0 and later | Open, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 Personal and Enterprise networks, Infrastructure/AP/Ad-hoc modes, infrastructure-mode Hidden networks, no P2P |
+| 1.0 and later  | 1.30.0 and later | Open, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 Personal and Enterprise networks, Infrastructure/AP/Ad-hoc modes, infrastructure-mode Hidden networks, no P2P, IWD-side autoconnect |
+| 1.0 and later  | 1.34.0 and later | Open, WPA/WPA2/WPA3 Personal and Enterprise networks, Infrastructure/AP/Ad-hoc modes, infrastructure-mode Hidden networks, no P2P, IWD-side autoconnect, network config editing from NM |
-=== Building NM ===
+==== Building NM ====
 If you can use an NM build provided by the Linux distribution that will simplify things a lot.  So far Arch linux is known to ship compatible [[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Iwd|iwd]] and [[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NetworkManager#Using_iwd_as_the_Wi-Fi_backend|NM]] packages so there's no need to manually build the sources.
@@ Line 18: / Line 20: @@
 <code>
-$ wget https://github.com/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/archive/1.26.2.tar.gz
+$ wget https://github.com/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/archive/1.30.2.tar.gz
-$ tar -xvzf 1.26.2.tar.gz
+$ tar -xvzf 1.30.2.tar.gz
-$ cd NetworkManager-1.26.2
+$ cd NetworkManager-1.30.2
 $ ./autogen.sh --with-crypto=gnutls --disable-ppp --without-tests --disable-ovs --without-wext --disable-maintainer-mode --disable-qt --disable-gtk-doc --disable-introspection --with-iwd
 $ make -j 3
@@ Line 31: / Line 33: @@
 <code># /etc/init.d/apparmor stop</code>
-=== NM configuration ===
+==== NM configuration ====
 To switch NM from the wpa_supplicant backend to the IWD backend the following lines need to be added in ''nm.conf''.  This file is normally located at ''/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/nm.conf'' but if you've built NM from source it may be in your ''/usr/local/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/'' instead.
@@ Line 39: / Line 41: @@
 </code>
-The example above switches all NM-managed WiFi devices to use the IWD backend.  NM configuration syntax allows for other possibilties, see NM documentation in ''**NetworkManager.conf**(5)''.
+The example above switches all NM-managed WiFi devices to use the IWD backend.  NM configuration syntax allows for other possibilties, for details see [[https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/1.31/NetworkManager.conf.html#id-1.2.3.12|the relevant section]] of ''**NetworkManager.conf**(5)''.
 After this Network Manager needs to be restarted.  The wpa_supplicant daemon will often still be running in the background and needs to be explicitly stopped with ''killall wpa_supplicant''.  IWD is currently not automatically started by NM, see [[gettingstarted|Getting Started]] about starting IWD -- this can be done either before or after starting NM.  wpa_supplicant and IWD should not generally be active at the same time, neither will be able to manage WiFi connections correctly during the time both are active.
@@ Line 45: / Line 47: @@
 Once this is done you should be able to see a list of available networks from your Network Manager client interface (nm-applet, Gnome Shell or one of the command line NM clients) and be able to connect to Open and WPA/WPA2-Personal networks (Pre-Shared Key networks) as normal.
-==== Limitations ====
+The following settings fine-tune NM's IWD backend.
+----
+//(Since 1.30)// Selects between IWD-driven (when ''yes'', default) or NM-driven (when ''no'') autoconnect logic:
+<code>
+[device]
+wifi.iwd.autoconnect=yes
+</code>
+For details see [[https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/1.31/NetworkManager.conf.html#id-1.2.3.12|the relevant section]] of ''**NetworkManager.conf**(5)''.
+----
+//(Currently in master, to arrive in 1.32 or 1.34)// Tells NM to re-write IWD network configurations whenever an NM network profile is changed thus enabling editing settings such as EAP authentication from //nm-connection-editor// GUI.  With IWD versions 1.15 and later this is on by default (set to ''no'' or an empty string to disable).  With IWD versions 1.14 you must specify a valid path (''iwd-config-path=/var/lib/iwd'') to enable. //Warning:// when enabled NM profiles are the authoritative ones and IWD's ''/var/lib/iwd'' files can get overwritten any time:
+<code>
+[main]
+iwd-config-path=auto
+</code>
+For details see [[https://developer.gnome.org/NetworkManager/1.31/NetworkManager.conf.html#id-1.2.3.7|the relevant section]] of ''**NetworkManager.conf**(5)''.
+==== Converting network profiles ====
+If you've been using the NM + wpa_supplicant combo and switched to IWD it's possible to bulk-convert your existing network profiles to [[networkconfigurationsettings|the IWD format]], so that you can keep using them with the IWD backend.  Especially useful for EAP (802.1X) networks.  You will need to have the ''iwd-config-path'' mechanism enabled (see previous section).  Optimally these steps would be done automatically by distribution scripts such as Debian's ''update-alternatives'' but they require a few changes to the profile settings so the user needs to be conscious this is happening.  This is how to do it:
+  - Remove any ''[wifi].mac-address='', ''[connection].interface-name='' and ''[connection].permissions='' settings from the profiles.  In some NM versions some of those keys were set by default on new profiles.  IWD profiles are global so any user can activate them on any interface, so NM's IWD backend will refuse to use profiles that have any of those settings.
+  - Delete, then restore all NM profiles.  The IWD backend will notice new NM profiles being added and will automatically create IWD network configuration files for each one.  From that point on, the ''iwd-config-path'' mechanism will automatically keep the IWD configuration files in sync with NM connection profiles when you add, modify or delete them.
+This can look something like this:
+<code>
+# cd /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections
+# mkdir ../system-connections-iwd
+# for f in *; do grep -v '^\(mac-address\|interface-name\|permissions\)=' "$f" > ../system-connections-iwd/"$f"; done
+# chmod 0600 ../system-connections-iwd/*
+# cd /etc/NetworkManager
+# mv system-connections system-connections-backup
+# dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.ReloadConnections
+# sleep 1
+# mv system-connections-iwd system-connections
+# dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Settings.ReloadConnections
+</code>
+Check if you can now see all your usual network names in ''/var/lib/iwd'' to confirm if it worked.
+(Note this method will flush NM "agent-owned secrets" -- a rarely-used NM feature)
+===== Limitations =====
 === EAP-PWD, EAP-GTC, EAP-MsCHAPv2 Identity ===
@@ Line 63: / Line 113: @@
 The NM-side profile for the 802.1X network should match the settings stored in the IWD provisioning file for given network, as closely as possible, but using the standard NM settings sytntax (''**nm-settings**(5)'', ''**nm-settings-keyfile**(5)'') -- this will allow the NM clients to ask users for the right secrets during a connection attempt, if any secrets are required.  If no connection-time secrets are needed, e.g. because they're provided in the provisioning file already, then the NM profile can have any settings in it -- the profile will not be used by IWD, it only tells NM that given network is known and connectable.
-==== Distribution info ====
+===== Distribution info =====
 Debian: https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkManager/iwd

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