Matt (Trudel), I agree with you that the GUI does provide a low level of entry for users who are unfamiliar with VPNs. I would argue however that setting a bunch of configuration options in a GUI will always be more complicated than using a configuration file provided by a VPN administrator. Any company/organization that is running its own VPN is probably more likely to provide users with a customized configuration file than a bunch of different sets of instructions on how to configure OpenVPN for Windows/Mac/Linux. It seems to have become almost "standard" to write OpenVPN GUIs that act as config file managers. Add to his list Tunnelblick (http://www.tunnelblick.net) which takes a similar approach.
As you mention, NetworkManager does seem to have the functionality to import an OpenVPN configuration file. The main problem with the approach NetworkManager takes (from my limited understanding of what it is doing in the import process) is that it is very hard to maintain going forward. Each option that OpenVPN supports has to be somehow worked into NetworkManager's import code. To give an example: as it stands now (I'm trying it on Ubuntu 9.10) the OpenVPN plugin does not recognize a configuration file that includes the keys directly in the file with the <ca>, <cert> and <key> directives. Those have been supported by OpenVPN since version 2.1-beta7, released in November of 2005. Would it not be much simpler to let NetworkManager it be a simple configuration file manager instead? That way, as OpenVPN changes and progresses, the NetworkManager code does not have to be constantly updated. By all means, keep the GUI aspect; that can be very helpful. But my suggestion would be to let the GUI be a front-end for writing out a configuration file OpenVPN style. You'd have the best of both worlds in that case. Hope this is helpful. Matt -- K/X/Ubuntu - Network Manager OpenVPN support NEEDS an overhaul. It should be a simple config file manager. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/392420 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
