Re: Only root can utilize nm-applet and nmcli as part of NetworkManager - how can other users use it w/o root?

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Wed, 2015-01-07 at 23:42 +0100, poma wrote:
> On 07.01.2015 18:29, Dan Williams wrote:
> > On Mon, 2015-01-05 at 19:14 +0100, Thomas Schneider wrote:
> > > Hello!
> > >  
> > > I have installed latest version of NetworkManager and nmcli
> > > respectively + OpenVPN plugin or NetworkManager.
> > >   
> > > user pc1-asus:~$ apt-cache policy network-manager
> > > network-manager:
> > >   Installiert:           0.9.10.0-5
> > >   Installationskandidat: 0.9.10.0-5
> > >   Versionstabelle:
> > >  *** 0.9.10.0-5 0
> > >         500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main i386 Packages
> > >         100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> > > user pc1-asus:~$ apt-cache policy network-manager-gnome
> > > network-manager-gnome:
> > >   Installiert:           0.9.10.0-2
> > >   Installationskandidat: 0.9.10.0-2
> > >   Versionstabelle:
> > >  *** 0.9.10.0-2 0
> > >         500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main i386 Packages
> > >         100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> > > user pc1-asus:~$ apt-cache policy network-manager-openvpn
> > > network-manager-openvpn:
> > >   Installiert:           0.9.10.0-1
> > >   Installationskandidat: 0.9.10.0-1
> > >   Versionstabelle:
> > >  *** 0.9.10.0-1 0
> > >         500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main i386 Packages
> > >         100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> > > user pc1-asus:~$ apt-cache policy network-manager-openvpn-gnome
> > > network-manager-openvpn-gnome:
> > >   Installiert:           0.9.10.0-1
> > >   Installationskandidat: 0.9.10.0-1
> > >   Versionstabelle:
> > >  *** 0.9.10.0-1 0
> > >         500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie/main i386 Packages
> > >         100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
> > >  
> > > All maintained connections are working. This includes OpenVPN
> > > connection type, too.
> > > However, in order to use either nm-applet or command-line client
> > > nmcli, I need to be root.
> > > The issue I'm facing is that with older release I could use either
> > > nm-applet or nmcli without root authorization.
> > > This becomes a critical issue in a multi-user desktop PC where most
> > > user neither have root authorization nor can utilize sudo.
> > >  
> > > Question:
> > > How can I ensure that both, nm-applet and nmcli, can be used without
> > > root authorization?
> >
> > It's certainly intended that they can all be used without root.  When
> > you try to run 'nmcli' as a normal user, what error do you get?  What is
> > the output of "nmcli gen perm" as a normal user?
>
> $ nmcli -v
> nmcli tool, version 0.9.10.0-14.git20140704.fc21
>
> $ nmcli general permissions 
> PERMISSION                                               VALUE 
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-network    yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-wifi       yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-wwan       yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.enable-disable-wimax      yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.sleep-wake                no    
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.network-control           yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.share.protected      yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.wifi.share.open           yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.system    yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.own       yes   
> org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.settings.modify.hostname  auth  
>
> Is this expected output?

Yes, that is expected output for "permissive" installs.

> What manages the sleep state?

The sleep-wake permission is actually unused.  It was previously used
for the "private" Sleep() dbus method, the only user of which was
pm-utils scripts.  Unfortunately the pm-utils scripts didn't wait for a
dbus reply, which meant NM couldn't determine the UID of the caller,
which meant polkit permission couldn't be used.  So instead, the Sleep()
method is locked to root and the permission isn't used.

When upower or systemd are active, NetworkManager listens internally for
suspend/resume signals from those services instead of using permissions
or a D-Bus method.

Dan