Recently we posted a Fedora 21 update delivering the huge new awesome that is NetworkManager 0.9.10-beta1. Among a literal Triple E Class boatload of enhancements and fixes, this update continues our fine tradition of making the core of NetworkManager smaller and more flexible by splitting out Wi-Fi support into the NetworkManager-wifi package. If you don’t have or don’t use Wi-Fi on your system, you don’t need to install stuff for it and you can save some disk space and RAM.
The Problem
To ensure upgrades work correctly and people didn’t unexpectedly lose Wi-Fi support we set RPM Obsoletes to ensure that when upgrading the new package was installed even though it didn’t exist before. Unfortunately this didn’t work for those using DNF instead of yum for package management.
It turns out that DNF treats RPM obsoletes differently than yum, and it’s unclear right now how package splitting is actually supposed to work with DNF. You can track the issue here.
The Workaround
If you suddenly find yourself without Wi-Fi, find a wired network connection and:
dnf install NetworkManager-wifi systemctl restart NetworkManager
and harmony will return to the Universe. We understand the pain, will continue to monitor the situation, and will update the Fedora NetworkManager packages when DNF has a solution.