NetworkManager 1.4: with better privacy and easier to use

After we released version 1.0 of NetworkManager, it took us sixteen months to reach the 1.2 milestone. This means that it took over a year for some newly added features to reach the user base. Now we are releasing the next major release after just four months.

Guglielmo Marconi, checking out NetworkManager 1.4 Wi-Fi MAC address changing
Guglielmo Marconi, checking out NetworkManager 1.4 Wi-Fi MAC address changing

This improved release cadence was made possible by the excellent work of Red Hat’s Quality Engineering team during the development cycle. Their thorough testing gave us confidence in the new code and dramatically lowered the number of bugs late in the release cycle.

Despite a somewhat shorter release cycle the new version of NetworkManager, while still API and ABI compatible with previous versions, is by no means short on improvements. Let’s take a detailed look!

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Modem support in Fedora 25: a call for testing

The central component of good modem support on Linux is ModemManager.  The components, such as NetworkManager, that make use of modems in Linux would typically use the convenient D-Bus interface ModemManager provides.

A fairly typical USB modem dongle

Nevertheless, there’s more to good modem support than just ModemManager.  There’s little standardization in the protocols that modems use and multiple components need to coordinate to support a wide range of hardware with all of its idiosyncrasies.

There’s more to good modem support than just ModemManager.

This article will provide a short overview of the modern Linux modem support stack and some recent changes to it. If you own a modem, we may need your help to ensure it’s well supported. Read on to find out how can you help!

Continue reading Modem support in Fedora 25: a call for testing