14 DAY TRIAL // NetworkManager, a program that works as network connection manager for most RPM and Debian-based distributions, is now at version 0.9.10.
NetworkManager 0.9.10 is not a stable release, but the developers have made a huge number of changes and improvements in this latest version. In fact, it's one of the biggest updates in years and it looks like the devs are finally preparing to release 1.0 soon.
From all the packages that are usually promoted with each new GNOME version, NetworkManager is one of the most used. There are several alternatives out there that provide some features that can't be found in this software, but NetworkManager is a lot more famous.
"We found a usability gap between full-fledged CLI tools like nmcli and GUI-based ones, and thus nmtui was born. Sometimes you don’t want to remember esoteric commands and options, but you also don’t want to run X. Boom, first wish granted: a curses-based tool for configuring and managing your network, no X involved."
"The command-line still rules with divine mandate, and we’re here to please so nmcli was a huge focus for this release. We’ve added interactive editing support, single-command editing, detailed help, tab completion, and enhanced bash completion," said the developers in a blog post.
According to the changelog, a new curses-based client called "nmtui" has been added for easier console operation, an interactive connection editing and creation mode to nmcli with detailed help and tab completion support has been added, support has been added for Data Center Bridging (DCB) and FibreChannel over Ethernet (FCoE), the IPv6 autoconfiguration is now done in userspace with libndp instead of the kernel, and the D-Bus daemon is no longer required for root-only operations.
Also, support for Infiniband Partitions has been implemented, connections can now be locked to interface names in addition to hardware/MAC addresses, a new "ignore-carrier" configuration option has been added, a new "dns=none" option has been integrated to suppress changes to /etc/resolv.conf, the "root" user is no longer subject to PolicyKit access controls, and much more.
Check out the official changelog for a complete list of new features and updates, as well as changes added in previous versions. You can download NetworkManager 0.9.10 right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.