From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Chris Marusich Subject: Re: On network management and documenting nmcli Date: Sat, 12 May 2018 19:31:16 -0700 Message-ID: <87y3goe16z.fsf@gmail.com> References: <87in7u33xy.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="=-=-="; micalg=pgp-sha256; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:51009) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fHgnI-0004wh-1L for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 12 May 2018 22:31:29 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fHgnE-0002dY-Uc for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 12 May 2018 22:31:28 -0400 Received: from mail-pf0-x234.google.com ([2607:f8b0:400e:c00::234]:36774) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1fHgnE-0002d8-N5 for help-guix@gnu.org; Sat, 12 May 2018 22:31:24 -0400 Received: by mail-pf0-x234.google.com with SMTP id w129-v6so4413659pfd.3 for ; Sat, 12 May 2018 19:31:24 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <87in7u33xy.fsf@gmail.com> (Pierre Neidhardt's message of "Fri, 11 May 2018 12:02:49 +0200") List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-guix-bounces+gcggh-help-guix=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Help-Guix" To: Pierre Neidhardt Cc: "help-guix@gnu.org" --=-=-= Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Pierre Neidhardt writes: > During my first encounter with GuixSD, I could not connect to the > Internet for reasons that puzzled me, and I could not find any mention > of it in the manual either. > > At first I assumed I had done something wrong with the setup. > > I had tried to run wpa_supplicant manually, like I often do on other > distributions. It's only later that I understood why wpa_supplicant > failed: it was because it was already running! (It's stupid but > wpa_supplicant's error messages are extremely misleading.) > > The manual is extremely scarse about network configuration. Sure > enough, if nm-applet is running it's rather straightforward. But for a > desktop-environment-less setup and during the install, the default tool > is nmcli only (unless another manager is used, but then the user > probably knows what they are doing). > > I don't think any of this is mentioned at all in the manual: I believe > something so essential should be very explicitly documented. Did you know we have an example in the manual a (guix) Preparing for Installation? Here it is: =2D-8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Wireless connection To configure wireless networking, you can create a configuration file for the =E2=80=98wpa_supplicant=E2=80=99 configuration tool (its = location is not important) using one of the available text editors such as =E2=80=98nano=E2=80=99: nano wpa_supplicant.conf As an example, the following stanza can go to this file and will work for many wireless networks, provided you give the actual SSID and passphrase for the network you are connecting to: network=3D{ ssid=3D"MY-SSID" key_mgmt=3DWPA-PSK psk=3D"the network's secret passphrase" } Start the wireless service and run it in the background with the following command (substitute INTERFACE with the name of the network interface you want to use): wpa_supplicant -c wpa_supplicant.conf -i INTERFACE -B Run =E2=80=98man wpa_supplicant=E2=80=99 for more information. =2D-8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- What do you think of this example? I think it's good to add an example or two for common use cases and provide a reference for further reading, but I don't think we should try to provide an example in the manual for every possible situation. For example, if you need to connect over a WEP-"secured" network (which is not secure at all) using wpa-supplicant, you will need to adjust the config file, but I don't think even the official wpa-supplicant official documentation gives you an example of how to do it. As far as I know, WPA (WPA2, I guess?) is the preferred and common choice nowadays, so I think the example is appropriate. =2D-=20 Chris --=-=-= Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIzBAEBCAAdFiEEy/WXVcvn5+/vGD+x3UCaFdgiRp0FAlr3o3QACgkQ3UCaFdgi Rp3KAw/7BtvAuDRtdo6c6WdPpsu6W1/U3nBzmSmVKhKU3xo9xxwwQyGcAAv/X25q Fy6cDgSPYn4UykdqnYbC6sadWhrAmQVCwH7wy3oYNySeHp+W34HeBTg93wA7U4Oi UODhukNWKFeW4YRT8PWdybD/X5gXLGY2DzEVuS+R2k44VO/W+Tg+yejalxVm8KQB 5KCHg3y689acdsE88p8U6/Wab9Xemek5VJjO+7/iceGendRSaK63WqKK0A9Zac+F Fmfg3bF94hezWFO6g1VR87anzpC3pt0/JuvEVH44CyWiCrDEvoooPAWEMbou6IML HSbSXYkpK/dPeggKpSpbyXV84MZqHtb92i/tQ9e5GX9TIr9EhiHDlN0FNhfY3L+k UhADLQ29Y2kwkABN+tDrb30PqEvUBqfZBDUny/apYUkH4qLnj6HyzwAYS+Rm5fQY qALpB+mgggHeo59fgL3TKyoUp9WnGSQgNWMHblEUdJ3W+cY3c229nbirQyoBQt2Q 6ypVJV7/fUGuQ9ca7y+NL2i80HQOtChqf2Rc1BzSgifXmODPHuGViT4ELeGGENd7 nKG4Ypdreri/V+5ABnejrxfLMI7VarqyNGw7uOAK1ekaGc373x4o6uftdkM9/2fA tH42xlePRrpKuAJmhpVBjczKNW/uEawBtBAP4rWi5SD2YRXYd8s= =EGD+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-=-=--