HackWeek: NetworkManager Python library

It is Hack Week again, a time when we venture into unexplored territories. So why am I returning to cnetworkmanager?

It is because I am doing a complete rewrite, based on an easy-to-use library that hides some rough edges in dbus-python. If you ever thought NM needed some programmatic prodding but were put off by the tedious details, the library might be just the thing for you. For me, it is also an opportunity to learn more Python.

Compare how you get the interface names.
Before:

#! /usr/bin/python
import dbus
bus = dbus.SystemBus()
NM = 'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager'
nm = bus.get_object(NM, '/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager')
for dev_opath in nm.GetDevices(dbus_interface = NM):
 dev = bus.get_object(NM, dev_opath)
 print dev.Get(NM + '.Device', 'Interface',
               dbus_interface='org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties')

After:

#! /usr/bin/python
from networkmanager.networkmanager import NetworkManager
nm = NetworkManager()
for d in nm.GetDevices():
 print d["Interface"]

It is in the librarize branch of the git repo. Beware, the code is still messy. Getting it:

git clone git://repo.or.cz/cnetworkmanager.git cnetworkmanager.librarize
cd cnetworkmanager.librarize
git checkout -b librarize origin/librarize
./cnetworkmanager -h