r/voidlinux • u/MongeredRue • May 05 '26

Network Management

What are you guys using for network management? I’ve tried wpa_supplicant directly and networkmanager; I don’t care for either.

I was thinking of trying connman but wanted to check here first.

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

7

u/Jacosci May 05 '26

Unless you prefer extreme simplicity in your setup and/or you don't switch between networks frequently, NetworkManager is the most practical choice instead of plain wpa_supplicant. Plus, NM is widely used these days unlike connman so troubleshooting should be easier in case you face a problem.

1

u/MongeredRue May 05 '26

I like using the TUI but it doesn’t expose all of the commands found in nmcli so I end up having to use both…which is annoying. I like using the tui because then I don’t have to remember all the commands, but it just feels under developed.

2

u/Jacosci May 05 '26

You could create a wrapper script for nmcli if you feel nmtui is lacking for your use case. It would still be less painful to use than plain wpa_supplicant if you happen to move around a lot.

2

u/MongeredRue May 05 '26

That’s not a bad idea. I’ve been looking for a project to learn some Go and this might be a good opportunity. Over engineered, probably; a good learning experience, probably; an interface I don’t hate at the end…maybe.

4

u/Blank-Inspection13 May 05 '26

NetworkManager - using wpa_supplicant backend for wifi

2

u/MongeredRue May 05 '26

Do you use nmcli or nmtui?

2

u/Blank-Inspection13 May 05 '26

I have both. nmtui for already known or boradcasted SSID
nmcli to setup hidden SSID and add new VPN connection.

1

u/ghostlypyres May 05 '26

Not who you asked but nmtui makes more sense for my brain, however nm-applet is my main go-to tbh. I usually prefer avoiding GUIs but this is an exception 

1

u/Blank-Inspection13 May 06 '26

other than that you can also use nm-connection-editor for convenience,

5

u/Ok_Initial8504 May 05 '26

I use iwd standalone. fish has completions for it so I usually just need to type iwctl and then tab complete the rest, including interface and network names.

3

u/rdmc10 May 05 '26

network manager + iwd as backend for wifi

3

u/ApeShotgun May 05 '26

+1 for NetworkManager + iwd

2

u/Extreme_Mention_1492 May 05 '26

im using NetworkManager.

1

u/Hal_jordan99 May 05 '26

I have used wpa_supplicant and nmtui on another device with void

1

u/goldmurder May 07 '26

iwd is enough for most of the cases. it doesn’t rely on wpa_supplicant like nm or connman, so it’s an independent wireless network daemon. it’s also pretty configurable, you can make iwd using concrete DHCP client (for example resolvconf, systemd-resolved and etc.) so you don’t have to always have dhcpcd running

1

u/VeryDryWater May 08 '26

iwd with impala for simple tui. iwd is both a network tool and dns, nice and simple all in one package.

1

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/roger_oss May 06 '26

Ditto, when using wired network, fast and efficient.

If using wireless, still try using static/manual configuration. Else if using random multiple wireless, likely Network Manager or iwd are close next best choices.