GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 696793
Lost feature: "Shared for other computers" IPv4 link type
Last modified: 2021-06-09 16:33:32 UTC
In gnome 3.6 and earlier, nm-connection-editor offered an option to select "Shared for other computers" under the Method label of the IPv4 Settings tab on wired connections. In the new Network panel, the only possible options are "DHCP", "Manual" and "Link Local only" This feature ("Shared for other computers") made it possible to easily share your wifi/3G connection with other devices. Usecases: 1) You only have one 3G modem, and want to demonstrate GNOME's awesomeness in a stand in a conference. You have two laptops, but there's no wifi available. You then use "shared for other computers" to easily and securely share your 3G connection with the second laptop via an Ethernet cable. 2) You want to provide network access to devices with no builtin wifi support, ie. Raspberry Pi. Technical: When using "Shared for other computers" your computer acts as a DHCP server that's active only on the Ethernet port selected, thus enabling "plug&play" network sharing to a secondary device (of which your computer will be the gateway) using a standard Ethernet cable. This feature was not removed from NetworkManager, and if you use nm-connection-editor to set it up, the combo box in the Network panel of Settings will be empty until you chose another option. Quick fix: Add the "Shared to other computers" option to the Addresses combo-box on the Network panel profile editing window.
Actually, in gnome 3.8, there seems to be a checkbox for that. But it doesn't work.
(In reply to comment #1) > Actually, in gnome 3.8, there seems to be a checkbox for that. But it doesn't > work. What checkbox? "use this connection only for resources on this network" means something completely different.
(In reply to comment #2) > (In reply to comment #1) > > Actually, in gnome 3.8, there seems to be a checkbox for that. But it doesn't > > work. > > What checkbox? "use this connection only for resources on this network" means > something completely different. Well, in the "Identity" section, I have a "Make available to other users". I thought it might be the one. But I guess it's just something to let other users from the same computer to be able to launch the connection...
I just upgraded my desktop box to F19 and I miss this feature too.
*** Bug 708504 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 709547 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Would be nice to see this as a feature for 3.12? Do we know why it was removed ?
Created attachment 283418 [details] [review] network: Add "Shared" setting for IPv4 / IPv6 Here's a patch. It was easier than I thought. The enums were already there, so it might be that this option was simply forgotten by the person who implemented the panel. A review would be appreciated.
(In reply to comment #8) > Created an attachment (id=283418) [details] [review] > network: Add "Shared" setting for IPv4 / IPv6 > > Here's a patch. It was easier than I thought. The enums were already there, so > it might be that this option was simply forgotten by the person who implemented > the panel. > > A review would be appreciated. I'm really not convinced that this is the best UI for this. I wouldn't look under "method" to share the connection, I would expect a toggle somewhere instead. Needs designer input.
I discussed this with aday on IRC. Here is his mockup: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5031519/connection-sharing.png From implementation point of view I assume that when the user clicks the connection sharing switch we'd need to create a temporary NetworkManager connection with sharing enabled and switch to it, and delete it when the connection sharing is turned off. It would also make sense to disable the profile selector when sharing is on, because there's no point in switching profiles when you have sharing enabled. Another point to consider is shell integration: it would make sense to remind the user sharing is active. In the menu we could write "wired (sharing)" instead of "wired" and we'd need an entry labeled "Turn off network sharing" to turn this off from the shell itself. I'm starting to feel this is above my skill level to implement correctly.
Now that I bought the rasp pi I really miss this feature... :(
In my initial design I had the equivalent to "Use as HotSpot..." for wired networks as "Use as a Router..." to cover the aformentoned use cases. My initial design didn't consider profiles tho, I'll try to adapt that logic to what we currently have and report
as a temporary work-around tho is possible to use a bridge which is doable in the network panel
Created attachment 359823 [details] [review] Patch to add UI for IPv4 shared method This patch has been tested that it works as described.
Created attachment 359824 [details] Screenshot of change This is what it looks like with the patch applied
Review of attachment 359823 [details] [review]: Feature-wise, I think this would be a good addition to Settings. I'm just not sure that the approach taken in this patch is the right one (adding another radio button there). We need some design input here.
Can we put a time limit on this? This issue has been sitting here for years waiting for design input already. For example, if no one makes a better suggestion within one month, can we please take this as it is.
(In reply to David Lechner from comment #17) > Can we put a time limit on this? This issue has been sitting here for years > waiting for design input already. For example, if no one makes a better > suggestion within one month, can we please take this as it is. We're running short on designers, unfortunately. I don't think "taking as it is" is a good option either.
> We're running short on designers, unfortunately. I don't think "taking as it > is" is a good option either. If we're running short on designers, that means that the only alternative to "taking as it is" is "not taking it at all", which is not an option when our users actually need the feature. So, please, just commit it and look for a better design later.
We'll take a patch that makes it work similarly to the Wi-Fi hotspot feature.
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