The launch of the new stable version of the interface to simplify the configuration of network parameters, Network Manager 1.28.0. This version 1.28.0 was in a development state for several weeks, but the launch was delayed due to some DNS related issues.
But without further ado, the new version is here and as such it does not present great functions, but includes many small corrections and improvements.
For those who are unfamiliar with NetworkManager should know that this is a software utility for simplify the use of networks of computers on linux and other Unix-based operating systems. This utility takes an opportunistic approach to network selection, trying to use the best available connection when outages occur, or when the user moves between wireless networks.
You prefer Ethernet connections over "known" wireless networks. The user is prompted for WEP or WPA keys, as required.
NetworkManager has two components:
- A service that manages connections and reports of changes in the network.
- A graphical desktop application that allows the user to manipulate network connections. The nmcli applet provides similar functionality on the command line.
On the other hand plug-ins to support VPN, OpenConnect, PPTP, OpenVPN, and OpenSWAN are developed as part of their own development cycles.
What's new in NetworkManager 1.28?
In this new version we can find that the "rc-manager = auto" mode was added and enabled by default, which determines the presence of "systemd-resolve", "resolvconf" and "netconfig" in the system, and selects the optimal option for the current configuration (first, "systemd-resolve" is selected, but in the configuration you can change the priority in favor of "resolvconf" or "netconfig").
Another important change is in the initrd generator that allows you to specify the MAC address to identify the network interface and adds support for creating Infiniband connections.
Also, it is mentioned that the D-Bus interface "org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.Device" has stopped supporting the previously deprecated property "Ip4Address", which now always returns zero.
Fixed issues building NetworkManager with LTO (Link time optimization) enabled.
Of the other changes that stand out of this new version:
- The "active_slave" option has been deprecated and its effect is now identical to that of the "main" option.
- Nm-cloud-setup implements a driver for automatic configuration of network parameters in the Azure cloud.
- Added the ipv4.dhcp-verify-servers setting, which determines the list of DHCP server identifiers whose use is denied.
- Added the ipv4.dhcp-vendor-class-identifier property to send arbitrary values via DHCP to the Vendor Class Identifier option.
- Added support for getting the hostname through the FQDN options in DHCPv6.
- If the kernel supports the configuration of network bridges, it is provided to use the netlink interface instead of sysfs.
- Enhanced DHCPv6-PD over PPPoE.
- All C code has been reformatted, where all tabs are replaced by spaces, and "clang-format" is used for indentation.
How to get NetworkManager 1.28.0?
For those interested in being able to obtain this new version of NetworkManager 1.28.0, you should know that at the moment there are no packages built for Ubuntu or derivatives. So if you want to get this version they must build NetworkManager 1.28.0 from source code.
Although it is a matter of a few days for it to be incorporated into the official Ubuntu repositories for its prompt update.
So if you want, is to wait for the new update to be made available within the official Ubuntu channels, you can check if the update is already available in this link.
As soon as that happens, you can update your list of packages and repos on your system with the help of the following command:
sudo apt update
And to install the new version of NetworkManager 1.24.0 on your system, just run any of the following commands.
Update and install all available packages
sudo apt upgrade -y
Update and install only networkmanager:
sudo apt install network-manager -y