Re: [Setup-tool-hackers] network.glade

[Arturo Espinosa Aldama <arturo mezcal dyndns org>]

I see that the networking settings tool looks and configures almost the
same stuff as nameresolution-admin. If having a little "Network Interfaces
Settings" frontend cannot be agreed, you should consider adding a
"Connections" tab to nameresolution-admin and go on from there. I've
finished with the nameresolution-admin's UI, so you could take it from
here and make it become the general networking tool you are proposing.

I like the idea of grouping all the windows networking stuff inside one
frame, but I think that would have to be discussed with Hans Petter.
It would be cool if shares-admin would check if SAMBA is running, and if
not, tell the user to go to the networking tool and activate it. Or maybe
this is not a desireable thing.

Regarding DNS.

Tools such as dhcpcd and pppd are broken, because they overwrite the
/etc/resolv.conf information with the new, dynamic content. This way, the
user doesn't have fallback information for those situations where the
dynamic protocols leave the computer with wrong settings. Maybe location
mannagement will help deal with this situation. 

The helix setup tools can't change the way the system behaves, so we have
to do the broken thing, also. Or, we could change the system behaviour,
but this could go as deep as having to ship dhcpcd with our own
modifications and changing the pppd connection scripts (the ones that call
pppd).

Miguel says changing the system behaviour is necesary, but that we will
have to bare with this brokenness until 1.0 is released.

It is possible to code the nameresolution backend so that it detects if a
network interface is overriding the DNS settings and make the frontend
tell the user about it. We could save our own resolv file to let the user
have fallback settings, and let the user override the information provided
by dhcp or pppd. Still, he would have to go to nameresolution-admin and
override manually. At least the fallback information wouldn't be lost.

Think on the Server tab in nameresolution-admin having a label saying "One
of your network interfaces is overriding the server information shown
here. If name resolution doesn't seem to work, press the 'Fallback' button
to use the information show here.". Then the Fallback button. The DNS
frame would be unsensitive in this mode.


Other stuff:

We should let the user know that the interface that is brung up the latest
is the one that will override all previous DNS settings.

I don't think the modem tab is relevant, as it is not a network interface:
for that matter, any serial, paralel or usb port may be a network
interface. Let's have the configuration for these devices somewhere
else.

The ppp section should have a "Serial port:" label with a popup by
it, and maybe make the backend a little bit smarter so that it delivers a
description of what the serial ports may be being used for at that moment.

plip connections are sometimes handy, so we should have that too. It won't
be too difficult to set. 

We should also have support for IP aliasing. A "Clone" button in the
connections section comes to my mind.


Some general comments, which may not be the kind of feedback you want:

* Use template.glade as a base for the frontend. This is just a copy/paste
  operation.

* Don't use "..." to show a dialog will come up. I like this cue, but
  others decided it looked ugly.

* Use a colon (:) for all the labels, and make them right-justified so
  that they have a more aligned fashion. I'm not sure if this is the best
  in every situation. (Anna?)


Well, that's all.

Greetings,
Arturo




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