Re: [PATCH] core: add internet connectivity check

[Marcel Holtmann <marcel holtmann org>]

Hi Thomas,

> >>>>> However if your long term goal is WISPr support, then you have to look
> >>>>> at the whole page anyway. There is no guarantee that the WISPr XML is at
> >>>>> the beginning. Some providers actually just attach it to the end.
> >>>>
> >>>> personally i don't care about WISPr. I just want to know if i have a
> >>>> working internet connection.
> >>>
> >>> Doing this without also handling WISPr seems rather pointless. I prefer
> >>> my system to automatically log me into a hotspot if I have access
> >>> credentials for it.
> >>
> >> why do you think that's pointless?
> >> eg i have a embedded device with an usb-gadget (detected as ethernet
> >> device). when i connect my pc with the device over usb, the device has
> >> no internet connection. but when i configure my pc to forward some
> >> traffic from the device, the device has internet connection. for this
> >> usecase it's very nice to check the connectivity.
> >> the device can do different task if a connection is available.
> >
> > I would solve that entirely different, but fair enough.
> 
> would be interessting for me to know your solution for this. but that's 
> not the point for NM.
> 
> What about a solution with both - header check and content check. we add 
> another field to the configuration file. Then we have 3 fields:
> 
> - connectivity-uri
> - connectivit-response-header
> - connectivity-response-content
> 
> if no uri is given, the check is disabled.
> if only a response-header is given, only the header will be checked
> if only a response-content is given, only the content will be checked 
> (first with a simple string match. later we can implement something to 
> handle WISPr)
> if both response-header and response-content are given, we check both.

personally I do not care on how this gets solved or if this gets solved
at all for NetworkManager. It is not my construction site. I personally
would go straight for handling WISPr support and then the rest falls out
of it for free. That is my experience since I spent way too much time
traveling and looking a hotspots from different providers. And we have
run into all the wrong directions already. Only deeply integrated
support for WISPr can make this work. Options and variable string
parsing is not going to help in the end.

These are my 2 cents here. Take it or leave it.

Regards

Marcel