Re: trying to use wireless not from gnome... what's the incantation?

[Britton Kerin <britton.kerin@gmail.com>]

On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 2:35 PM, Nikolaus Rath <Nikolaus@rath.org> wrote:
> On May 22 2016, Britton Kerin <britton.kerin@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Got a new laptop after 10 years of excellent stable ancient debian,
>> and my wireless works from gnome, and only from gnome.  Unfortunately
>> I find that gnome3 is not for me.  I've been trying dwm.
>
> What trouble did you have? Network manager works perfectly well for me
> without using Gnome as my desktop environment.

It sometimes sor of works under nmcli, but it doesn't behave the same as
under gnome.  For example trying to bring a connection up with the radio
disabled fails completely differently:

Under gnome:

     $ nmcli networking off
     $ nmcli general status
     STATE   CONNECTIVITY  WIFI-HW  WIFI     WWAN-HW  WWAN
     asleep  none          enabled  enabled  enabled  disabled
     $ nmcli radio wifi off
     $ nmcli general status
     STATE   CONNECTIVITY  WIFI-HW  WIFI     WWAN-HW  WWAN
     asleep  none          enabled  enabled  enabled  disabled
     $ # So with networking off radio shutdown command is silently
ignored.  Lucky planes don't really care
     $ nmcli networking on
     $ nmcli general status
     STATE      CONNECTIVITY  WIFI-HW  WIFI     WWAN-HW  WWAN
     connected  full          enabled  enabled  enabled  disabled
     $ nmcli radio wifi off
     $ nmcli general status
     STATE         CONNECTIVITY  WIFI-HW  WIFI      WWAN-HW  WWAN
     disconnected  none          enabled  disabled  enabled  disabled
     $ nmcli connection up "MotoG3 9820"

     (process:6447): libnm-glib-WARNING **: async_got_type: could not
read properties for
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/3: Method "Get" with
signature "ss" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't
exist

     Error: Connection activation failed: Creating object for path
'/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/3' failed in
libnm-glib.
     4 $

If I run dbus-monitor while trying that connection up command it shows
a message:

     signal sender=:1.34 -> dest=(null destination) serial=63
path=/org/gnome/zeitgeist/storagemonitor;
interface=org.gnome.zeitgeist.StorageMonitor;
member=StorageUnavailable
        string "net"
     signal sender=:1.34 -> dest=(null destination) serial=64
path=/org/gnome/zeitgeist/storagemonitor;
interface=org.gnome.zeitgeist.StorageMonitor;
member=StorageUnavailable
        string "net"

Under my dwm .xsession:

     # All the same prep commands and responsess as above up to this point:
     $ nmcli connection up "MotoG3 9820"

     (process:8697): libnm-glib-WARNING **: async_got_type: could not
read properties for
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/10: Method "Get" with
signature "ss" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't
exist


     (process:8697): libnm-glib-WARNING **: async_got_type: could not
read properties for
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/10: Method "Get" with
signature "ss" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't
exist


     (process:8697): libnm-glib-WARNING **: async_got_type: could not
read properties for
/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/10: Method "Get" with
signature "ss" on interface "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties" doesn't
exist

     Error: Timeout 90 sec expired.

Nothing so helpful as an indication of what timed out, but I suspect it's
dbus-related.  I've also had it hang after bringing a connection up (which does
work if the radio is correctly enabled).  It took me a while to realize the
the connection was working and the hang happened later.  I don't know exactly
how to reproduce that at the moment though.

Running dbus-monitor during the connect command under dwm shows no messages
whatsoever.  A dbus-launch command is being performed on my behalf by whatever
code is responsible for launching my .xsession from the gnome-ish login screen:

     $ ps ax | grep dbus-launch | grep xsession
      8298 ?        S      0:00 /usr/bin/dbus-launch
--exit-with-session /bin/bash /home/bkerin/.xsession
     $

Once one of these failed connection attempts has been made, /var/log/syslog
gets filled with message like this:

     May 24 11:01:59 debian NetworkManager[1962]:
(NetworkManager:1962): NetworkManager-wifi-CRITICAL **:
scanning_allowed: assertion 'priv->sup_iface != NULL' failed
     May 24 11:02:02 debian NetworkManager[1962]:
(NetworkManager:1962): NetworkManager-wifi-CRITICAL **:
scanning_allowed: assertion 'priv->sup_iface != NULL' failed

But this happens for both gnome and my dwm .xsession.

Bringing the connection up with nmcli sometimes work but othertimes I
get stuff like this:

     $ nmcli connection up dlink_223_dome_rd

     Error: Timeout 90 sec expired.
     3 $
     $ nmcli connection up dlink_223_dome_rd
     Error: Connection activation failed.
     4 $ nmcli connection up dlink_223_dome_rd
     Error: Connection activation failed.
     4 $ nmcli connection up dlink_223_dome_rd
     Error: Connection activation failed: Creating object for path
'/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/4' failed in
libnm-glib.
     4 $ nmcli connection up dlink_223_dome_rd
     Error: Connection activation failed.

The maddening thing about this is that it does work consistently under
gnome.  Bringing a connection up and down with nmcli works.

So somehow network-manager in that environment is massaging the card
correctly.  I suppose I could dive into network-manager to try to get a view
of what it's actually doing, but short of that its a mystery.

Britton