Port request

[Matthias Andree]

Am 26.05.2010 14:19, schrieb Jesse Smith:
> I was told that requests for new ports should be submitted here. There's
> one tool which I would like to see brought into the Ports system and
> that's Network Manager
> (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Tools/NetworkManager)
> 
> It's the only networking tool I've found so far which will properly
> handle my Novatel mobile modem and I would really like to be able to
> make use of the modem while running FreeBSD.

Hi Jesse,

Network Manager (NM) will just automate steps you can do with other means, too.
It is not doing magic of any kind, and chances are your modem needs firmware
that is available for Linux but not for FreeBSD, but I know nothing about your
Novatel device.

Regarding a FreeBSD port:

(a) NM needs major porting efforts, and is an open, non-trivial, project of the
GNOME team, see <http://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/volunteer.html>

(b) I personally find that NM is an abomination that - particularly on Laptops -
causes more problems than it could possibly solve for me.
    I routinely deinstall NetworkManager from openSUSE, Fedora, and Ubuntu Linux
distributions, because it frequently fails to configure WPA2-Enterprise with
EAP-TLS or EAP-TTLS, fails to detect online state (making several applications
start in offline mode or refuse to even attempt to connect), fails to configure
hidden 802.11 (WiFi/WLAN) networks, and causes other artifacts I don't have
without NM.

I'd personally also say Network Manager needs upstream bugfixing much more than
a port. Haven't tried Fedora 13 "Goddard" yet though.

-- 
Matthias Andree