Networkmanager-dmenu

Manage NetworkManager connections with dmenu, Rofi, Bemenu, Wofi or fuzzel instead of nm-applet

NOTE

PR #124 changes rofi_highlight to highlight in config.ini.

Features

• Connect to existing NetworkManager wifi or wired connections
• Connect to new wifi connections. Requests passphrase if required
• Connect to existing VPN, Wireguard, GSM/WWAN and Bluetooth connections
• Enable/Disable wifi, WWAN, bluetooth and networking
• Launch nm-connection-editor GUI
• Support for multiple wifi adapters
• Optional Pinentry support for secure passphrase entry
• Delete existing connections
• Rescan wifi networks
• Uses notify-send for notifications if available
• Start/stop/delete existing NetworkManager Hotspots

Installation

• Copy script somewhere into $PATH OR

  • Archlinux: AUR package OR
  • Gentoo: Woomy Overlay
  • Nix: Nix Packages

Requirements

1. Python 3.7+
2. NetworkManager
3. Dmenu (X), Rofi (X or XWayland), Wofi (Wayland) or Bemenu (X or Wayland)
4. Python gobject (PyGObject, python-gobject, etc.)
5. (Debian/Ubuntu based distros) libnm0 (libnm-util-dev on older distributions) and gir1.2-nm-1.0 (you have to explicitly install the latter on Debian Sid)
6. (optional) The network-manager-applet package (in order to launch the GUI connection editor, if desired. The nm-applet does not need to be started.)
7. (optional) Pinentry. Make sure to set which flavor of pinentry command to use in the config file.
8. (optional) ModemManager for WWAN support.
9. (optional) notify-send for notifications (connected, disconnected, etc.)
10. (optional) bluez package for bluetooth control

Configuration

• To customize behavior, copy config.ini.example to ~/.config/networkmanager-dmenu/config.ini and edit.
• All theming is done through the respective menu programs. Set dmenu_command with the desired options, including things like -i for case insensitivity. See config.ini.example for examples.
• If using dmenu for passphrase entry (pinentry not set), dmenu options in the [dmenu_passphrase] section of config.ini will set the normal foreground and background colors to be the same to obscure the passphrase. The Suckless password patch -P option is supported if that patch is installed. Rofi, Wofi and Bemenu will use their respective flags for passphrase entry.
• Set default terminal (xterm, urxvtc, etc.) command in config.ini if desired.
• Saved connections can be listed if desired. Set list_saved = True under [dmenu] in config.ini. If set to False, saved connections are still accessible under a "Saved connections" sub-menu.
• If desired, copy the networkmanager_dmenu.desktop to /usr/share/applications or ~/.local/share/applications.
• If you want to run the script as $USER instead of ROOT
  1. Set PolicyKit permissions. The script is usable for connecting to pre-existing connections without setting these, but you won't be able to enable/disable networking or add new connections.
• For bluetooth control, there are two options:

  1. If bluez is installed and the bluetooth service is running, no further action is needed.

  2. If not, the user needs to have access to /dev/rfkill. On some distros (e.g. Archlinux), /dev/rfkill belongs to a group such as rfkill. In this case, ensure $USER belongs to that group. For other distros (e.g. Fedora), you can use udev to ensure /dev/rfkill belongs to a group. For example, create /etc/udev/rules.d/10-rfkill.rules:

         KERNEL=="rfkill", GROUP="wheel", MODE="0664"
     

     and then ensure $USER belongs to the wheel group.

Config.ini values

Section	Key	Default	Notes
[dmenu]	compact	False
	dmenu_command	dmenu	Command can include arguments
	list_saved	False
	pinentry	None
	active_chars	==	Prefix of active connection
	highlight	False	Only applicable to rofi / wofi
	highlight_fg	None	Only applicable to wofi
	highlight_bg	None	Only applicable to wofi
	highlight_bold	True	Only applicable to wofi
	wifi_chars	None	String of 4 unicode characters
	wifi_icons	None	String of icon characters
	format	(depends on compact)	Python-style format string
[pinentry]	description	Get network password
	prompt	Password:
[dmenu_passphrase]	obscure	False
	obscure_color	#222222	Only applicable to dmenu
[editor]	gui_if_available	True
	gui	nm-connection-editor
	terminal	xterm	Can include terminal arguments
[nmdm]	rescan_delay	5	Adjust delay in re-opening nmdm following rescan

Usage

networkmanager_dmenu [-h] <menu args>

• Run script or bind to keystroke combination

• If desired, menu options can be passed on the command line instead of or in addition to the config file. These will override options in the config file.

• Networkmanager_dmenu cannot create hotspots, but can manage existing ones. To create a new NetworkManager hotspot and show a QR Code with the password:

    nmcli device wifi hotspot ifname wlp0s20f3 ssid testing password pass123456 band a
    nmcli connection up hotspot (or use networkmanager_dmenu to enable)
    nmcli device wifi show-password
  

  This may not work for your setup. Linux-wifi-hotspot is an option if straight NetworkManager wifi sharing doesn't work for you. Unfortunately, these hotspots cannot be managed with networkmanager_dmenu.

MIT License