Can I manually edit /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*

[Ravi Parimi <rparimi gmail com>]

Forgive me if this is a FAQ or has already been answered elsewhere. I
read through a few man pages and searched the archives but didn't find
anything related to my question.

I'm trying to provide a text-based user interface to a linux system
wherein a user will enter IP address settings that need to be
configured on the host. I later convert this data into
NetworkManager-friendly format and write it directly to
/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/eth0.

For e.g I convert the user-input data for static IP settings into:

[ipv4]
method=manual
addresses1=10.10.24.16/16,10.10.0.1
dns=10.12.0.254

On my jessie/sid debian, these settings take effect soon after I write
the file. However, the same procedure doesn't work on Ubuntu 14.04.1.
Is there an additional step (such as send SIGHUP to network-manager
etc.) that is needed for NM to apply the settings?

Is this method of directly editing the file under system-connections
recommended/correct? If not, what is the best way of applying changes
via the CLI?

Thanks!