Chapter 1.  Package Updates

NetworkManager allowed users to create completely insecure ad-hoc wireless networks and indeed, the default security setting for wifi sharing was "none". Because of this default setting and because NetworkManager did not warn users of the potential security risks, users could unwittingly compromise the security of their computers. Now, NetworkManager uses "WEP Passphrase" as the default security option for creating a new wifi network, and allows administrators to disable users' ability to share wifi connections without security in place, or their ability to share wifi connections at all. These measures make it less likely that a user could inadvertently compromise a sensitive system. (BZ#496247)

accessing the context (right-click) menu of the NetworkManager GNOME applet could trigger the GNOME Keyring Unlock dialog to appear, after which no X11 applications could receive keyboard or mouse events. Now, NetworkManager closes the context menu before requesting keyring items, and therefore avoids this situation. (BZ#476020)

NetworkManager did not export VPN configurations. When a user selected this function, NetworkManager would present an error message: "VPN setting invalid", even for a connection with valid settings. Network manager now exports VPN connections correctly. (BZ#485345)

due to faulty logic in the code, nm-applet would choose the lowest signal strength of all APs of the same SSID in the area and display this strength in the menu to represent the signal strength for that SSID. NetworkManager now correctly calculates wireless signal strength when multiple access points with the same SSID are present. (BZ#485477)

when NetworkManager fails to connect to a wifi network, it re-prompts the user for the passphrase for that network. Previously, NetworkManager did not retain the original text of the passphrase entered by the user. Therefore, when users selected the "Show password" option so that they could see what they had typed after a failed connection attempt, NetworkManager displayed the passphrase in hexadecimal form. NetworkManager now retains the original text of the passphrase and displays the original passphrase instead of a hexadecimal string when the user selects the "Show password" option. (BZ#466509)

NetworkManager has its own internal method of starting loopback devices, and does not use the configuration settings stored in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-lo. Previously, NetworkManager would produce an error, alerting users that the configuration settings were ignored. This error message could mislead users to think that a problem had occurred. Now, NetworkManager does not present this error message to the user, and avoids the potential confusion. (BZ#484060)

the NetworkManager package requires wpa_supplicant, but previously omitted the Epoch term for the wpa_supplicant package. Consequently, installing NetworkManager did not ensure that a suitable version of wpa_supplicant was installed on the system. Now, the NetworkManager package specifies the epoch for the version of wpa_supplicant that it requires. (BZ#468688)

NetworkManager displayed configuration options for VPN even when no VPN software was installed on the system. This could mislead users to think that they could make VPN connections in situations when it was not possible to make these connections. Now, the VPN submenu is hidden if no VPN services are installed on the system, avoiding the potential confusion. (BZ#464604)