NetworkManager 1.4: with better privacy and easier to use

Operating Systems & Open Source Open Source & Web-Based
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https://blogs.gnome.org/lkundrak/2016/08/24/networkmanager-1-4/

https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/NetworkManager

What’s new?

  • It is now possible to randomize the MAC address of Ethernet devices to mitigate possibility of tracking. The users can choose between different policies; use a completely random address, or just use different addresses in different networks. For Wi-Fi devices, the same randomization modes are now supported and does no longer require support from wpa-supplicant.

  • API for using configuration snapshots that automatically roll back after a timeout has been added. The remote network configuration tools (think Cockpit) are expected to use this to avoid situations where a mistake in the configuration renders the remote host unreachable.

  • A new “dns-priority” property of ipv4 and ipv6 settings can be used to tweak the order of servers in resolv.conf. This will make things easier for users who often use multiple active connections.

  • VPN plugins are no longer released together with NetworkManager. It is intended that for most plugins no 1.4.0 release exists because the newest version of the plugin works equally well with any NetworkManager version 1.2.0 or newer.

What’s next?

  • The Linux kernel 4.6 includes support for a Layer 2 encryption known as MACsec and we’re almost done implementing support for configuring it with NetworkManager.

Happy Networking!

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change mac without Root? with ifconfig you could change your mac already ah user level nice!

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Is there a ppa for network-manager?

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Arch has it in testing.

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I appreciate this, it's great to see all these projects grow up
Mac address features will be useful

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what kernel are you on?

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Currently 4.4.0-34-generic provided by canonical ... yes ... ubuntu 16.04 is the distro .

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You can get t from here : https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/NetworkManager

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Yeah I found that resource - thanks a lot. Sadly it needs a hell of dependencies that are not standard. I likely will wait, so I do not have to take care of further updates later in time.

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Breaks broadcom wireless.

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Thanks for the heads up - wont touch it until later than - the wwan modem in that laptop is like a delicate flower ... one's not meant to touch it to harsh XD

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I guess there's a patch out for the issue. I don't know if it's pushed out to the ppas yet. I'll let you know when Arch gets the fix.