Next steps (Was Re: Initial version of a SuSE backend)

[David Zeuthen <davidz redhat com>]

On Wed, 2005-06-08 at 22:29 -0400, Dan Williams wrote:
>  since NM doesn't have a configuration applet 
> (which arguably it should not).  

I'm actually starting to feel that we need some kind of (sysadmin) GUI
for things this because 

 a) it's nicer using a tool to configure this that is integrated into
    NetworkManager rather than the distro tool (s-c-n on Fedora) which
    most likely is very different UI; and

 b) I'm pretty sure there are some things the user needs to
    tweak/configure when we start supporting e.g. Bonding, PPP 
    over dialup, Bluetooth, GRPS, PPPoATM, PPPoE.

Ideally, I'd like to see a plug-in based solution (both back-ends and
front-ends), much like the VPN stuff we're doing now, leaving
NetworkManager proper as a core that controls these plug-ins and deals
with core stuff such as dhcp, named etc. Yes, this means wired and
wireless networking would be plug-ins as well. Things would probably
need to be layered too. I would start by considering the UI we need and
the use that to design the API interfaces.

One extremely nice side-effect of this (which I think is the thing that
justifies this rework) is that it's rather easy and straightforward to
contribute functionality e.g. PPP over dialup.

But now I'm thinking out loud (and I may very well be on crack). What do
you think?

    David