Bug 1919312

Summary:	Should not Requires: nm-connection-editor in Fedora Workstation
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Michael Catanzaro <mcatanza>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	Anaconda Maintenance Team <anaconda-maint-list>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	33	CC:	anaconda-maint-list, jonathan, kellin, klember, mkolman, rvykydal, thaller, vanmeeuwen+fedora, vponcova, vslavik, wwoods
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OS:	Linux
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Last Closed:	2021-01-26 17:06:23 UTC	Type:	Bug
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Description Michael Catanzaro 2021-01-22 15:08:31 UTC

Beginning in Fedora 34, nm-connection-editor is removing NotShowIn=GNOME from its desktop file, to allow GNOME users to run this app once it is installed. See: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/network-manager-applet/-/commit/297610d0c5b21b51d3bdf606317dd701a7e6524a. The NetworkManager developers have wanted to do this for a long time, but they've been blocked because gnome-control-center depended on it for a long time. Workstation Working Group has a requirement that all apps installed by default be approved by the Working Group, and nm-connection-editor is not approved, and we don't want it since it's a rather complex tool for experienced technical users only, so this meant the NetworkManager developers had to delay the change for quite a while until we got gnome-control-center sorted out.

Well that's all been handled now, but surprise! we didn't realize that anaconda also depends on nm-connection-editor. This dependency is not needed in Workstation because anaconda does not offer network configuration options in Workstation, but I presume it's required for non-Workstation products? So we need to find some way to ensure nm-connection-editor is present for the editions that require it, while ensuring it's not installed at all on Workstation. There are multiple ways to do that, but probably the nicest way would be to add an anaconda-networking subpackage with the dep, and have non-Workstation images pull that in via kickstart or comps.

If we can't find a solution in time for F34 beta, we'll need to ask the NetworkManager developers to patch in NotShowIn=GNOME downstream. They would strongly prefer to avoid this.

Comment 1 Radek Vykydal 2021-01-25 13:01:37 UTC

Perhaps the short-term solution could be removing nm-connection-editor in a similar way as fcoe-utils in LiveCD kickstart https://pagure.io/fedora-kickstarts/blob/main/f/fedora-live-base.ks (in %packages section).

In a more generic way it could be solved in scope of bug 1893019 ?

Comment 2 Michael Catanzaro 2021-01-25 16:05:07 UTC

(In reply to Radek Vykydal from comment #1)
> Perhaps the short-term solution could be removing nm-connection-editor in a
> similar way as fcoe-utils in LiveCD kickstart

Hm, that might work if anaconda drops its Requires to a Recommends. It's not going to work as long as anaconda maintains the Requires.

I have neither fcoe-utils nor device-mapper-multipath installed on my system, so maybe that should be good enough.

Comment 3 Michael Catanzaro 2021-01-25 17:05:08 UTC

OK, I've been reminded that a Recommends will not work, because if anaconda ever gets upgraded, the extra deps will get installed. So This makes the current solution for fcoe-utils and device-mapper-multipath rather fragile. My understanding is that the Recommends should be downgraded to Suggests, and another way found to ensure the right dependencies get installed. :/

The best solution would be to teach anaconda to uninstall itself from the target system as the final step in installation, so anaconda could just Requires: whatever it really needs. But I understand that would be a lot harder....

Comment 4 Radek Vykydal 2021-01-26 09:13:55 UTC

(In reply to Michael Catanzaro from comment #2)
> (In reply to Radek Vykydal from comment #1)
> > Perhaps the short-term solution could be removing nm-connection-editor in a
> > similar way as fcoe-utils in LiveCD kickstart
> 
> Hm, that might work if anaconda drops its Requires to a Recommends. It's not
> going to work as long as anaconda maintains the Requires.
> 
> I have neither fcoe-utils nor device-mapper-multipath installed on my
> system, so maybe that should be good enough.

You are right, the dependency would need also to be moved to anaconda-install-env-deps (as fcoe-utils) and perhaps something else needs to be done. But unlike fcoe-utils nm-connection-editor would be moved from anaconda-gui (not anaconda-core), ie it is GUI specific anaconda runtime environment requirement which may complicate things. Another angle to keep in mind would be if initial-setup required nm-connection-editor for GUI network configuration.

I think we should focus on resolution in bug 1893019 (creating metapackage specifically for lorax / installer image build tool IIUIC).  

I am CCing mkolman (created anaconda-install-env-deps) and vslavik (assigned to the bug 1893019) so they are aware of this BZ and can correct my comments eventually.

Comment 5 Michael Catanzaro 2021-01-26 17:06:23 UTC

OK the Workstation WG met again today and was not happy with the current plan since nm-connection-editor would appear to be installed when upgrading from F33 -> F34, since the nm-connection-editor package is of course already present on previously-installed systems, and there's no good way to remove it on upgrade without causing problems for non-GNOME users who really want it to stay installed after upgrade. So instead the NetworkManager developers are going to create a new subpackage to contain just its .desktop and .appdata files.

That means no changes are required by anaconda after all, since the Requires: nm-connection-editor will no longer pull in the desktop file or appdata, and so it will not appear to be installed after all. Apologies for wasting your time with this bug.

Comment 6 Michael Catanzaro 2021-02-01 16:04:44 UTC

This request is obsoleted by bug #1923262.