Re: Merging "Proxy" and "Network" applets

["Pierre Mazoyer" <pmazoyer gmail com>]

2006/9/8, Carlos Garnacho <carlosg gnome org>:

On Fri, 2006-09-08 at 10:31 +0200, Rodrigo Moya wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-09-08 at 03:21 +0200, Carlos Garnacho wrote:
> > There's a branch in g-s-t to make it use PolicyKit to authenticate, and,
> > if there's a more general adoption of it in the desktop, g-s-t will end
> > using it. besides other stuff, PolicyKit could allow to mix in the same
> > GUI protected (system) elements with non-protected (user) elements [1].
> > This way would allow the user to be always able to deal with user
> > settings, and unlock those protected elements if he requires it (and has
> > permissions, etc...).
> >
> someone suggested to me the other day to move the proxy settings to
> NetworkManager, and I'm starting to think it makes a lot of sense. NM
> provides the ability to manage your different network connections, and
> usually you want a proxy per connection, so why not put it there?

That's another solution to the same problem. network-admin approach is
to store a list of user-defined "locations", that's more conservative
but puts the user more in control of what she wants. NetworkManager
tries to manage it more automatically, with the disadvantage of being
much more specific in its scope (which interfaces does it configure,
etc...). It would certainly be a better world if both things could be
merged.

The approach you describe is the one used by Mac OS X.
The administrator can define "locations" for which he enables and sets up the interfaces he wants. Interfaces can be sorted by "priority" (indicating the default route). The administrator can configure as well proxies per interface. Some network settings are only available to administrators, but some other settings are customizable by normal users (a "lock" icon on the Network control panel permits authenticating as an administrator).
Any normal user can then select a location in the Apple > Network settings submenu and Mac OS X automatically manages and configures interfaces when they become available (switching from one to the other using the priority setting).

I believe this is an powerful and user-friendly approach.