re: autoip config option?

["Ben Roberts" <ben l roberts gmail com>]

Is there a case for a configuration option to disable autoip? It
drives me absolutely nuts ...

I understand that this enables a minimal network to be set up
automatically in the case when there is no DHCP server present, but
this is *surely* a relatively rare use case. In the majority of
instances users are just going to be confused about why Network
Manager is showing them connected to a network but they can't actually
connect to anything.

I particularly query why autoip is used on wireless connections, I'm
not even sure Windows does this by default...? The problem is that in
situations where there is bad reception or a slow DHCP server you end
up getting autoip-ed onto a network when that is the last thing you
actually want. What would be more useful is to show a broken
connection so that you can at least try again or try a different
network.

I suppose having a different icon for autoip connections (as Nikolaus
suggests) would be a start but equally that might increase confusion.

Great software by the way -- it has really made the difference when
recommending Linux to non-technical users.

best,

Ben

--
Ben Roberts
University of Bradford