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On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 10:11 AM, <gottlieb@×××.edu> wrote: |
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[ ... ] |
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|
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> So far I guess I have been following todd (actually I never noticed them |
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> before posting) |
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> |
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> David's method may be better (logs less cluttered) but does run an |
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> unneeded service. I am hoping someone (guess who :-) ) will chime in |
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> with the magic incantation to have the system not try to start |
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> modemmanger. |
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|
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I don't know If you meant me, but I'm going to try to answer anyway ;) |
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|
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The thing is, under the GNOME Grand View of How Things Should Work™, |
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ModemManagar is never "unneeded", since you don't actually *know* if |
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and when you'll want to use a "modem" (there are *several* pieces of |
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hardware that can be considered "modems" nowadays). The idea, as with |
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everything else, is that if you plug/pair *anything* that could work |
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as a modem, then it should Just Work™. |
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As is the normal position with GNOME (if I understand correctly, which |
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I think I do), they are interested in making the life easier for the |
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regular case, and since everyone has a (potential) modem in their |
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pockets right now in the form of a cellphone with bluetooth |
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connectivity, the regular case is to have the system prepared to work |
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with them, even if most GNOME users will never use their cellphones as |
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modems. |
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If you say "my desktop computer has no bluetooth and I will *never* |
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use any kind of modem with it", that's perfectly reasonably; but the |
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GNOME devs will probably say something along the lines of that being a |
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"particular" case, not the general one (which is technically true, |
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BTW). |
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|
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So no, there is no magic incantation to have NetworkManager (is not |
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the system, is NM) not try to start ModemManager. We could patch the |
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code for that, and actually before GNOME 3.10 or 3.8, Gentoo did that; |
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but with every new version of NM is harder and harder, since the GNOME |
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devs make the (technically correct) assumption that everyone now has a |
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modem for their computers, and they code under that assumption; so |
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Gentoo stopped patching NM. |
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|
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I (like Todd) have ModemManager enabled. From what I can see, it is a |
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single threaded process that uses basically no memory nor processor |
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(it's idle until you connect/plug a modem), and that opens no ports to |
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the outside world, so it doesn't brings any (obvious) security issues |
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If someone wrote the necessary code to make ModemManager optional to |
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NM, I think (but I could be wrong) that the Gentoo GNOME devs would |
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take it; but it will never be accepted upstream. At this point I think |
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I agree with them. |
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Sorry if this doesn't help. |
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|
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Regards. |
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-- |
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Dr. Canek Peláez Valdés |
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Profesor de Asignatura, Facultad de Ciencias |
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |