https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/MigrateIfcfgToKeyfile
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes
process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive
community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved
by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.
== Summary ==
Migrate NetworkManager network connection profiles stored in ifcfg
format to the keyfile format.
== Owner ==
* Name: [[User:bengal| Beniamino Galvani]], [[User:ffmancera| Fernando
Fernández Mancera]], [[User:Till| Till Maas]]
* Email: <bgalv...@redhat.com>, <ferfe...@redhat.com>, <t...@fedoraproject.org>
== Detailed Description ==
NetworkManager supports different formats to persist connection
profiles to disk. On Fedora the two formats used are ''keyfile'' and
''ifcfg''. The former stores connections in
`{/etc,/usr/lib,/run}/NetworkManager/system-connections` in a format
similar to INI files. Connections in ifcfg format are compatible with
the legacy network scripts and are saved in
`/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts` as a collection of shell variables.
Not all connection types are supported by ifcfg, and NetworkManager
always uses the keyfile format for unsupported types.
Since
[https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NetworkManager_keyfile_instead_of_ifcfg_rh
Fedora Linux 33], NetworkManager writes profiles by default in the
keyfile format. Also, since
[https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NoIfcfgFiles Fedora Linux 36]
the plugin to persist ifcfg files is included in a separate package
(`NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh`) and is not shipped in new
installations.
The upstream NetworkManager project has recently declared the ifcfg
plugin as
[https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/networkmanager/2023-May/000103.html
deprecated]. This means that the code will only receive bug fixes,
and will not get new functionality such as supporting new properties.
With this change, existing profiles in ifcfg format will be
automatically migrated to the native keyfile format via a migration
service shipped with the `NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh`
package. In Fedora, we plan to drop the plugin by Fedora Linux 41.
== Benefit to Fedora ==
Until recently, both keyfile and ifcfg supported the same set of
properties. With the ifcfg deprecation, new properties are only
implemented for the keyfile plugin and not for ifcfg. When users try
to set an unsupported property on a ifcfg profile, they get an error:
$ nmcli connection modify ethernet-enp1s0 link.tx-queue-length 1234
Error: Failed to modify connection 'ethernet-enp1s0': failed to
update connection: The ifcfg-rh plugin doesn't support setting 'link'.
If you are modifying an existing connection profile saved in ifcfg-rh
format, please migrate the connection to keyfile using 'nmcli
connection migrate c3f6f067-e1d5-4bb1-8d67-e09109253a79' or via the
Update2() D-Bus API and try again.
At the moment there are only 4 unsupported properties but the list is
going to increase with time. Furthermore, ifcfg support will be
dropped in future versions of NetworkManager.
The benefit of this change is that users having ifcfg files will be
migrated to the more modern and future-proof format supporting all the
functionalities offered by NetworkManager.
== Scope ==
* Proposal owners: introduce a migration service and ship it with the
`NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh` package
* Other developers: N/A
* Release engineering: N/A
* Policies and guidelines: N/A
* Trademark approval: N/A
== Upgrade/compatibility impact ==
The majority of users will not be impacted by the change. Only users
that meet all the following criteria will be affected:
* the user is upgrading from a previous Fedora version
* the user has the the NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh package installed
* the user has at least one connection profile stored in ifcfg format
Since keyfile was made the default in Fedora 33, and ifcfg was dropped
from new installations in Fedora 36, the only scenarios in which users
meet those criteria are:
* the user originally installed Fedora 32 or a previous version
* the user installed Fedora 33 or later, then manually switched the
default plugin to “ifcfg-rh” in the configuration and then added new
connections
* the user installed Fedora 36 or later, explicitly installed the
NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh package, manually switched the
default plugin to “ifcfg-rh” in the configuration and then added new
connections
== How To Test ==
* Install the NetworkManager-initscripts-ifcfg-rh package
* Restart NetworkManager
* Migrate a connection to ifcfg-rh via nmcli: `nmcli connection
migrate --plugin ifcfg-rh $NAME`
* Check that the migration had effect with `nmcli -f name,filename
connection`: the profile should now be stored in
`/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts`
* Upgrade to Fedora 39
* Check that all profiles are now stored in
`/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections` in keyfile format.
== User Experience ==
For users that are affected by the migration, there should not be any
observable change in behavior. The keyfile format supports a superset
of the features supported by ifcfg. Furthermore, the migration is done
by the NetworkManager daemon using the same code path used to store
new connections in keyfile format. Any bug in the migration would also
affect the creation of new connections.
If users have custom scripts or tools that parse the ifcfg files,
those will break and need to be adjusted. One notable example of such
tools is in package `initscripts-rename-device`, which provides a udev
helper to rename interfaces based on the MAC and interface name found
in ifcfg files. Users relying on this mechanism will need to switch to
systemd .link files (or udev rules) to perform the renaming.
The release notes for the Fedora version shipping this change will
mention these aspects.
== Dependencies ==
N/A
== Contingency Plan ==
* Contingency mechanism: Revert the change, try again the next Fedora release.
* Contingency deadline: Beta freeze
* Blocks release? no
== Documentation ==
No doc change required.
== Release Notes ==
The change will be mentioned in the Release Notes.
--
Aoife Moloney
Product Owner
Community Platform Engineering Team
Red Hat EMEA
Communications House
Cork Road
Waterford
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