Beyond Linux® From Scratch (systemd edition) - Version 7.6-systemd

Chapter 16. Networking Utilities

Wicd-1.7.2.4

Introduction to Wicd

Wicd is a network manager written in Python. It simplifies network setup by automatically detecting and connecting to wireless and wired networks. Wicd includes support for WPA authentication and DHCP configuration. It provides Curses- and GTK-based graphical frontends for user-friendly control. An excellent KDE-based frontend is also available here.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.6 systemd platform.

[Note]

Note

Make sure you disable systemd-networkd service or make it not configure the connections you want to manage with Wicd.

Package Information

Wicd Dependencies

[Note]

Note

Wicd uses ifconfig to activate network connections. ifconfig is provided by both the Inetutils and Net-tools packages. The Inetutils package is part of LFS, but the ifconfig command is not installed by the LFS instructions. If you choose to install the Inetutils version of ifconfig, you need to reinstall the package and configure it without the --disable-ifconfig switch.

Required

Python-2.7.8, D-Bus Python-1.2.0, Wireless Tools-29, and Net-tools-CVS_20101030 (Wicd needs ifconfig and mii-tool from this package)

Recommended

PyGTK-2.24.0 (for the GTK frontend), wpa_supplicant-2.2 (for WPA support), and dhcpcd-6.4.3 or DHCP-4.3.1 (for DHCP support)

Optional

pm-utils-1.4.1 (for suspend/resume integration), Urwid (for the Curses-based frontend), and Babel (for internationalization)

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/wicd

Installation of Wicd

Install Wicd by running the following commands: 

rm po/*.po &&
python setup.py configure --no-install-kde     \
                          --no-install-acpi    \
                          --no-install-pmutils \
                          --no-install-init

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now, as the root user, install the package: 

python setup.py install

Command Explanations

rm po/*.po: This command removes the international messages associated with this package. The command is required unless Babel is installed. If it is installed, po/ast.po still needs to be removed in order for the build to complete.

--no-install-kde: Prevent installation of an autostart desktop file for KDE. If you use KDE, you should instead install the Wicd KDE Client.

--no-install-acpi: Prevent installation of suspend and resume scripts for acpid. Omit this option if you use acpid.

--no-install-pmutils: Prevent installation of hooks for pm-utils. Omit this option if you use pm-utils.

--no-install-init: Prevent installation of any init scripts, as a bootscript is installed later in the instructions.

--wicdgroup=<group>: The group that will have permission to use the Wicd client (default is the users group).

Configuring Wicd

Config Files

/etc/wicd/manager-settings.conf, /etc/wicd/wired-settings.conf and /etc/wicd/wireless-settings.conf

Systemd Units

To start the wicd daemon at boot, enable the previously installed systemd unit by running the following command as the root user: 

systemctl enable wicd

No manual configuration of Wicd is needed if you use the graphical frontends. If you are only going to use Wicd from command-line, you can configure it using the configuration files in /etc/wicd. For a list of available options, look at the man-pages for: wicd-manager-settings.conf, wicd-wired-settings.conf and wicd-wireless-settings.conf.

Be sure to add all users who are to have rights to open and close network connections with Wicd to the users group (or the group specified with the --wicdgroup configuration option).

Contents

Installed Programs: wicd, wicd-cli, wicd-client, wicd-curses, and wicd-gtk
Installed Libraries: none
Installed Directories: /etc/wicd, /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/wicd, /usr/share/doc/wicd, /usr/share/pixmaps/wicd, /usr/share/wicd, /var/lib/wicd, and /var/log/wicd

Short Descriptions

wicd

is the wicd daemon.

wicd-cli

is a command line interface for configuring the wicd daemon.

wicd-client

is the wicd client. This script attempts to automatically choose the relevant configuration interface.

wicd-curses

is a curses interface for configuring the wicd daemon.

wicd-gtk

is a GTK interface for configuring the wicd daemon

Last updated on 2014-08-25 13:50:07 -0700