On Wed, May 16 2012, Michael Biebl <[email protected]> wrote: >> If I fail to understand the role of consolekit please do enlighten me. >> From /usr/share/doc/network-manager/README.Debian: >> >> Security >> ~~~~~~~~ >> >> To allow users to connect to the NetworkManager daemon they have to be in >> the >> group "netdev". If you want to add a user to group "netdev" use the command >> "adduser username netdev" or one of the graphical user management >> frontends. >> After that you have to reload D-Bus with the command "service dbus reload". >> >> Alternatively you can install the "consolekit" package which will grant >> access >> for all locally logged in users. >> >> Are you telling me this is incorrect? The implication here is clearly >> that I could unintsall consolekit and still be able to use >> network-manager if I was in the netdev group, which I am. > > This information is outdated. And yes, I should remove it.
No, this should NOT be removed; it should be extensively expanded. The biggest point of this bug report seems to be a severe lack of documentation about how to get network-manager working. The package seems to have a lot of subtle dependencies that are neither expressed in the actual package dependencies and recommends, or in any of the included documentation. >> network-manager neither Depends or Recommends consolekit. If consolekit >> is required to use network-manager then the network-manager package is >> currently broken. > > network-manager has a Recommends on policykit (which will pull consolekit). I have both the policykit and consolekit daemons running and that wasn't enough for network-manager. It apparently requires a specific configuration or state of interaction between these daemons that is again not ever described. Since network-manager requires very specific configurations of these other tools it really needs to have clearer documentation of what those configurations are, and how to achieve them. I still have no idea what they are. >> I am using XDM and am plenty happy with it. Suggesting that I use a >> different login manager is not a solution to this problem. Again, if >> there are unmet dependencies for this package, then the package is >> broken. > > Well, XDM does not have proper ConsoleKit integration. If this is true, then again, there is a severe failure in network-managers documentation. But I don't even believe that's the issue. I tried some of the other display managers you suggested and *still* network-manager failed to work. Eventually I was able to at least edit the connections with some black-magic incantation: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=643028#59 But then network-manager still failed to provide me with any way to actually connect to any of the networks! I'm tempted to insist that this package include a big WARNING that if you're not running some sort of bloated display manager and desktop environment then it will fail to work. I wasted five hours trying to get this thing working and it ultimately failed. I'm pretty pissed about it. Thank god the issue that broke wicd for me got fixed with a simple upgrade. Anyway, I do appreciate your help, Michael, and particularly your incredibly speedy responses. My frustration is not meant to be directed at you. But I do hope this can lead to some positive change in the packaging that will reduce the suffering of those who follow me. jamie.
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