To summarize the results from our discussion earlier today:

The Automatic NCP will to totally automatic with the following features:

* wired interfaces are preferred over wireless interfaces
* all wired interfaces are in the same shared priority-group
* all wireless interfaces are in the same exclusive priority-group
* NCUs for hotplugged and newly discovered interfaces are created as above
* NCUs are removed when interfaces are hot(un)plugged or not found 
during nwamd startup
** The result is that only interfaces that currently exist in the system 
have NCUs.

The User NCP will be all manual.

* The user does everything.
* No NCUs will be added or removed by nwamd.
* NCUs added with manual activation-mode will be enabled by default
  ====> Change this behavior to "disabled by default"?

Upgrading from Phase 0/0.5 to Phase 1

* Known WLANs (for unique ESSIDs) will be created in the same priority 
order as in /etc/nwam/known_wifi_nets.
* The existing /etc/nwam/llp file will be upgraded to the User NCP.
* The User will be placed in the Automatic NCP.
* manpage, spec, online help, wiki, etc. and release notes will say that 
the old configuration has been upgraded to the User NCP and users can 
switch to that NCP at the convenience.
* The GUI may or may not do a one-time pop-up.

Did I miss out any details?

Anurag



John Leser wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm sending this out to close the loop on some hallways discussion 
> earlier today regarding how existing NWAM 0/.5 state will be handle 
> when the system is upgraded to phase 1.
>
> Prior to our discussion, the plan was that during an upgrade to NWAM 
> 1.0, existing NWAM state would migrated into the User NCP, and the 
> User NCP would be enabled after the upgrade.  This differs from a 
> newly installed system, which starts out with the Automatic NCP enabled.
>
> Thus, we end up with a set of users who's systems are running with the 
> User NCP, just because they happened to get to NWAM 1.0 via upgrade 
> rather than fresh install.   AFAIK, this is independent of whether 
> they ever customized their previous NWAM configuration through the GUI 
> or by editing the llp files.  This is a problem for a number of 
> reasons, most importantly:
>
>  * Users end up with non-default NWAM 1.0 behavior, having likely 
> never expressed a desire for non-default behavior.
>
>  * It is a significant, unnecessary difference in system 
> state/behavior between freshly installed and upgraded systems.
>
>   * If users might have either Automatic or User NCUs active for such 
> an unrelated reason as install method, the line between the User and 
> Automatic NCP becomes blurred to the point where the distinction is 
> not helpful.
>
> With phase 1.0, I think we really, really want the Automatic NCP to 
> work for most run-of the mill laptop/desktop use cases.  Due to a 
> variety of factors, it is not possible to reliably determine if a user 
> ever modified the NWAM 0/.5 configuration, so we cannot base NCP 
> selection or upgrade strategy on whether the old environment was 
> customized.
>
> Having outlined the concerns with the current method, the solution we 
> are now considering for upgrades is:
>
>  1. At upgrade time, migrate existing NWAM state into the User NCP.
>  2. Always activate the Automatic NCP after an upgrade.
>  3. At first interaction with the NWAM GUI, inform the user that the 
> previous configuration has been saved in into the User profile, 
> provide information about how to activate that NCP, but encourage 
> trying/sticking with the Automatic profile.
>  4. Augment #3 with release notes/other documentation.
>
> The exact manner and wording of step 3. will be critical.  Darren, I 
> don't know if you have any suggestions for how best this can be 
> handled through the GUI.
>
> -John
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