NetworkManager for Ubuntu Touch

[florian ubports com]

Greetings,

my name is Florian Leeber and I am in the BoD of the upcoming UBports 
Foundation, which promotes Ubuntu Touch since Canonical has abandoned 
it. We have so far achieved a continuation of the project, delivering an 
upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 and so forth.

When it comes to networking, some things are crucial for a smooth user 
experience on a mobile device. Unlike to a desktop or fixed server 
device, a mobile device has to tackle a lot of challenges with changing 
networks, WiFi connections, loosing contact, constantly changing IP 
addresses etc.

NetworkManager has been patched for that by Canonical and others, but we 
still think it could improve a lot. But we are a small team, and we are 
constantly looking for help. So in this context, I am currently looking 
for an experienced dev that knows NetworkManager fairly well, in order 
to help us test and improve it for the mobile experience we want to 
achieve. If necessary he/she can receive a test device with Ubuntu Touch 
and the necessary support. However, we cannot pay for the support at 
them moment.

The first goal will be to update/backport things if necessary for the 
currently used 16.04 LTS version (1.2.2 I think). I know this is quite 
old, but we are bound to what we get from usual Ubuntu sources for the 
time being. Backporting can be done by our developers as well, if they 
are guided which things to be aware of.

Another very urgent task is to get connectivity / captive portal 
recognition working, so that users can more easily connect to public 
networks. This involves signalling from NM to the OS in some way so that 
a popup notification with a link to the web browser is being shown.

I am looking forward to hearing from anyone who is interested, her eon 
the ML or on my email addy.

BR Florian