Re: Disable autoconnect for new wifi connections by default

[Marcin Zajączkowski <mszpak wp pl>]

On 2017-01-28 17:57, Thomas Haller wrote:
> On Sat, 2017-01-28 at 17:29 +0100, Marcin Zajączkowski wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I would like to disable autoconnect for new wifi connections by
> > default.
> > I prefer to control when my device is connected to public/shared wifi
> > which identity cannot be determined ultimately (aka fake networks
> > with
> > well known ssid).
> >
> > I know I can do it manually via UI or nmcli, but I would prefer to
> > configure it once (in the way as cloned-mac-address in global
> > configuration) and only enable autoconnect for well know (and
> > properly
> > configured - with certificates) networks.
> >
> > Two questions:
> > 1. Is it currently possible? 'device' section doesn't seem to accept
> > that property.
>
> It's not possible, only the properties mentioned in `man
> NetworkManager.conf` support to have their default values overwritten.
>
> Note that these default-values are only a fallback setting.
> That is, the connection is still fully determined by the client
> (nmcli). But it may explicitly configure certain properties as
> ~unspecified~ to allow for a fallback.
>
> In case of connection.autoconnect, it only allows for "yes" or "no".
> There is no space to express ~unspecified~.

That was something I had suspected. Would it be hard to allow
connection.autoconnect to be defined for the device to make it possible
to change the default value (here - do not autoconnect by default) for
*new* networks (and their implicitly created connections)?

I realize it would not rather be a commonly used feature, but IMHO it
would be a good companion to already implemented MAC spoofing support.


> > 2. How can I read/list default configuration for new wifi connections
> > (e.g. wifi.cloned-mac-address - nmcli allows that only for existing
> > connections, not devices)?
>
> nmcli still shows you the value ~unspecified~, and that correct. The
> value is only determined when needed -- which for example depends
> on the device on which you activate the connection.
>
> It's not possible to see via D-Bus (clients) which value the server
> would use when needed.
>
> Try:
>   /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --print-config

Thanks. With that I can see global configuration of NM.

Marcin

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