NM, static IPv4 addresses, IPv6 and Mobile IPv6 support

[Benoit LE TEXIER <benoit letexier enst-bretagne fr>]

   Hello all,
 
   I am using NM with my Ubuntu Feisty and I really like the idea of 
such tool to give an easy access to the network, that's great. But I 
have some questions about some features.

   First, i know that static IPv4 addressing will be provided in the 
next release (0.7). Does anyone have more information about the status 
of it?

   Secondly, I have tested NM in an "IPv6 only" Wifi network (so 
without any DHPC or static IPv4 address). The reaction of NM is the same 
as if no DHCP server is present: it considers that the connection is not 
possible and switch to another ESSID. I know that NM is not designed at 
the origin for IPv6 networks, but does anyone is also interested to have 
this feature in NM? Is there a unoffical (or official of course ;)) 
patch to have an IPv6 support on NM? For the moment, the only way to 
cheat about that is to have a network with IPv6 and IPv4 with DHCP. In 
that situation, the interface is working with IPv6, expect some routes 
issues perhaps. If no patch is available or planned to be, does 
developers have clues to see if a lot of effort is necessary or not? 
Perhaps some ideas of functions to modify or things that are necessary 
to do (or not to do :)).

   Thirdly, I also tried it in a Mobile IPv6[1][2] context. Here a 
quick description of this context: The idea is simple: seamless 
connectivity. You keep your IPv6 address anywhere you are connected 
using tunnels. Do do that, a daemon is running on the computer that is 
moving (also called a Mobile Node) and when changing IPv6 network, a new 
tunnel is established with an element called a Home Agent that forward 
the traffic to the Mobile Node using this tunnel. So if you are in 
communication with another computer, the service will not cut because 
you change your address.

   So you can see the advantage of NM is this situation to switch from 
one ESSID to another easily. Unfortunately, when changing ESSID, NM 
looks to be a little violent with the wifi interface: it seems that it 
"down" the interface, change ESSID and "re-up" the interface. But the 
mipv6d daemon does not look to appreciate it. So, like about IPv6, any 
clues to make a smooth change of ESSID? Every piece of advice is welcome ;).

Best regards,
Benoit LE TEXIER.

[1]: http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3775.txt
[2]: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Mobile-IPv6-HOWTO/intro.html