Frisbee Network Manager - Beta 2

Configuration wizards, scanners, remote desktop, etc.
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stray_dog
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#361 Post by stray_dog »

Joking aside and such, they both seem really smart & I bet them comparing notes would be fascinating.

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rerwin
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Location: Maine, USA

#362 Post by rerwin »

Scooby,
Thanks for taking the time to discover the problems you mentioned. Sorry to take so long to respond. Many distractions. Although I have sent you a more detailed PM about it, here is a summary of my answers:
  • 1. Removal of dropwait option: I am updating frisbee to remove all code that handled the user adjustment of the delay value, now that I have settled on a dropwait version of dhcpcd 6.4.2 that checks for reconnection after only 1, 2, and 3 seconds before abandoning the link.

    2. Single instance execution: I have added the "flock" solution, of which I was unaware. Brilliant!

    3. Version numbering: OK. I cave. If we consider the 20140724 version to be 1.2.1, then the new one can be 1.2.2. Right?

    4. Hook scripts: The zero-length "99-" hook script files were there to support uninstallation of frisbee, to restore 6 old files from either the Frisbee "betas" or my initial attempt to reorganize the "99ers" -- I am removing those files, so uninstall will no longer restore any old versions of them; the only "99ers" should be 99-notify and 99-network_tray.

    5. TERMEMLTR: Actually, it was set in the wrong place in the code; I have moved it to where it works as intended, without an export.

    6. DHCPCD messages: They are logged in the system log, which usually is /var/log/messages; but gentoo linux and "metalog" appear to use /var/log/everything/current, instead, resulting in my having frisbee check for the existence of either and reading whichever is present (but not both).
Richard

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rerwin
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Updated Frisbee 1.2.2 Available

#363 Post by rerwin »

I have made Scooby's changes to frisbee and uploaded frisbee-1.2.2 to the usual place on page 21:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 962#780962
The details of the changes are there, as well.

For the best performance and to use the almost-latest dhcpcd with the new dropwait implementation, also install dhcpcd-6.4.2-patched-dropwait, the third (or fourth, for slacko) attachment here:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 629#790629
Richard

UPDATE: The package is back in the usual place, as 20140818.

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rerwin
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Frisbee-1.2.3 Now Available

#364 Post by rerwin »

I have uploaded another version of the frisbee network manager, frisbee-1.2.3-20140912:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 962#780962

The main improvements are to the dialogs involving selection of items in a table and to the support of multiple wifi devices, plus various bug fixes.

Be sure to use only this version of "1.2.3", because its predecessors, 20140910 & 20140911, contain code that prevents wifi support from operating reliably or even normally. Any of those older copies of the pet packages should be uninstalled (if installed) and deleted permanently, to avoid inadvertent usage.

As usual, please report any problems with "1.2.3", so that I can continue to refine frisbee.
Richard

stray_dog
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#365 Post by stray_dog »

Hi there, rerwin. For other folks, this refers to http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 870#800870 & I'm bringing the conversation to the right spot. I'm not sure how much insight I can offer, but I'll try. The first thing I've noticed is the pop-up asking for ssid only happens on the machine I'm using right now, an hp elitebook 8530p that uses the iwlwifi driver. I've also used an hp dv1227us (somewhat old) that has never ever displayed the popup box. So I can only conclude that something about the driver/firmware for each wifi card plays a role. What that is though, I don't know. The other thing I notice is that on this machine I'm using now, it has only happened to me when attempting to connect to open unencrypted wifi networks. But then - most of my time accessing a network is to an open one, so I haven't had enough time trying it out on WPA or other types of networks requiring a password, etc. I've experienced it using the Frisbee version that was built-in to Slacko 5.6. And I've seen it with your Frisbee 1.2-20 as well. If you're on 1.2.3, that kind of gives you a window. One thing I noticed in late spring is that on our university network, when the students are here & there's a lot of network activity, it didn't happen much. But when they left for the summer & there was a lot less activity, it happened a lot more to me. Which was funny, because when I got on, the bandwidth was spectacular, but it could take a while to get on. Now that they're back, it hasn't happened once for weeks and weeks, until today! I've been using your patched dhcpcd 6.4.2 for slacko for most of this summer & fall season. Since the phenomenon literally *just* happened to me trying to get on tonight, I turned off my wifi rfkill switch & ran the frisbee diagnostic to get a tarball, I'll try to attach it here if it could yield any useful information.
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pdiag-20140926.tar.gz
(140.8 KiB) Downloaded 279 times

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cimarron
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#366 Post by cimarron »

When I installed the bash "shellshock" fix (either the first or second one, using ubuntu precise packages for my precise 5.7.1 pup) it seems to have broken frisbee somewhat. It connects okay (to the previously configured network) and I can run the manager, but no networks show up in the scan results window, and no interfaces show up in the interfaces tab window. Anyone else have this problem?

When I switch back to a save file without the bash fix, frisbee works fine.
Last edited by cimarron on Sun 28 Sep 2014, 00:31, edited 1 time in total.

stray_dog
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#367 Post by stray_dog »

Weird! I will test & report back.

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cimarron
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#368 Post by cimarron »

Here's at least one confirmation, by OscarTalks:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=95819&start=65
I was testing Slacko 5.7 with the first slackware patch applied yesterday and did notice that Frisbee seemed dead as a dodo. Other network tools were still OK.
When I uninstalled the patch, Frisbee was okay again. I'd rather have bash unpatched than lose Frisbee, but if there is a way to fix it, all the better.

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don570
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#369 Post by don570 »

Request - if samba or samba client is running then warn the user.

_______________________________________________________

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Geoffrey
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#370 Post by Geoffrey »

cimarron wrote:When I installed the bash "shellshock" fix (either the first or second one, using ubuntu precise packages for my precise 5.7.1 pup) it seems to have broken frisbee somewhat. It connects okay and I can run the manager, but no networks show up in the scan results window, and no interfaces show up in the interfaces tab window. Anyone else have this problem?

When I switch back to a save file without the bash fix, frisbee works fine.
Frisbee beta4 in Carolina won't import functions with all versions of the patched bash that I've tested.

Sample:

Code: Select all

sh: error importing function definition for `get-interfaces'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-dhcp-auto-wireless'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-bssid'
sh: error importing function definition for `start-wpa'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-priority'
sh: error importing function definition for `wpaconf-edit'
sh: error importing function definition for `wait-disconnect'
sh: error importing function definition for `reset-dhcp'
sh: error importing function definition for `set-drop-timeout'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-static-ip'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-conn-state'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-dhcp-auto'
sh: error importing function definition for `update-dhcp'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-gateway'
sh: error importing function definition for `set-ap-scan'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-status'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-enc'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-auth-alg'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-mask-wireless'
sh: error importing function definition for `connection-check'
sh: error importing function definition for `get-key'
sh: error importing function definition for `current-status'
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watchdog
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#371 Post by watchdog »

With the patched bash there is a problem using hyphens in functions: you have to change them in underscores. I reached some success in patching frisbee but I am not a programmer. It's a job for more experienced guys.

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rerwin
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Re: stray_dog's and cimmaron's Issues

#372 Post by rerwin »

Sorry to be so silent on these issues. Distracted by other high priority activities. I have been working the SSID prompt problem as part of my next frisbee upload, 1.2.4. The problem appears to be a timing problem in that the networks are scanned every 15 seconds and the results obtained. Independently, when the user clicks "Connect", the results are also obtained at that time, regardless of the state of scanning. In my testing, too, I sometimes see only a partial list of the available networks, indicating that a desired network may not always be seen by wpa_supplicant (which is doing the scanning).

For connecting, the SSID and encryption settings are obtained from reading the scan results. If the entry for the desired network is not obtained, the SSID prompt is issued. That prompt appears to be intended only for "hidden" SSIDs; but the other case is not separately detected. I am changing that. I am about to make a "debug" version of frisbee to log what happens in these cases, so that I can add code to handle them.

Regarding the Bash patches and frisbee's function names containing hyphens, I would like to wait to see if the intolerance of the hyphens is now permanent in Bash or is just a bug in the patch. So that I can continue working on frisbee, could some of you research the prospect for hyphens and Bash going forward? If it turns out that hyphens will be forbidden, I will change the names to use underscores. But I first need to know whether that is actually necessary.

Afterthought: Since puppy seems to use underscores instead of hyphens in function names, I think I will go ahead and convert the function names to use underscores. That just seems better, to conform to puppy convention.
Richard

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mavrothal
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#373 Post by mavrothal »

AFAIK hyphens were never allowed in shell names and thus variable names.
I do not think that is the new bash versions that did that.
(here is a fast ref). They are allowed in function names, however and this still works with the new bash versions.
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cimarron
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#374 Post by cimarron »

I can verify that watchdog's advice can be used to fix Frisbee so it works with the updated bash. Mine works fine now.

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rerwin
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Debug tool for SSID prompt problem

#375 Post by rerwin »

Here is a debug patch to frisbee that logs info when a "Connect" cannot be processed due to absence of an SSID when frisbee needs it. Instead of the "Enter the SSID" message (unless the SSID is hidden), the message will be:
"Network information for [interface] not available. Please try again to connect."

The data will be logged to /tmp/debug.log, which will be captured by a pdiag operation.

The debug code is in the 'func' file, which contains some other fixes going into 1.2.4. It should work, though, with the 1.2.3-20140912 that you are probably using. You can uninstall the debug package to restore whatever you had before as the 'func' file.

Please send me the debug.log file or a pdiag containing it, or just post the content of the file if it is small. Thanks for your help with this.
Richard
Attachments
frisbee_debug-20140928.pet
Debug package for users seeing the "Enter SSID" message when trying to
connect to a wireless network.
(19.96 KiB) Downloaded 336 times
Last edited by rerwin on Mon 29 Sep 2014, 15:46, edited 1 time in total.

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Geoffrey
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#376 Post by Geoffrey »

Frisbee is working again with the latest bash update version 4.3.27-1
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stray_dog
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#377 Post by stray_dog »

Please send me the debug.log file or a pdiag containing it, or just post the content of the file if it is small. Thanks for your help with this.
Thank you, rerwin - I will try this when I get home.

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rerwin
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#378 Post by rerwin »

Frisbee-1.3 Now Available
I have uploaded another version of the frisbee network manager, frisbee-1.3-20140930:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 962#780962

The main improvements are further improvements to the main dialog "Connect" function, particularly a bug fix in connecting to the selected wireless network. The details are in the usual place at the above link.

I bumped the version to 1.3 because of the many upgrades to the button and field "greying out" and other bug fixes begun in 1.2.3, which constitute visible and operational improvements over 1.2.

Please report any regressions or annoyances, so that I might address them. Thank you for your continued interest in frisbee.

BTW, do not install the "debug" package on the previous page into "1.3", because it would "undo" some of the latest fixes. I suspect that the debug package is unlikely to find anything to log, due to one of the fixes in 1.2.3 -- and now 1.3 -- which appears to avoid the problem that would trigger the logging.
Richard

stray_dog
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#379 Post by stray_dog »

Hello, rerwin! Of course I was all ready to encounter the phenomenon, then it didn't happen. But tonight I installed your debug .pet and got the error message! The debug file contains:

add-profile - INTERFACE: wlan0 FLAGS: [ESS]
12866 add-profile - BSSID: '08:d0:9f:87:f5:a0' STATE: 'wpa_state=SCANNING' SSID: '' scan_results:
'bssid / frequency / signal level / flags / ssid'

I'll attach the pdiag tarball if it turns out to be useful. I'm using the original frisbee that came with slacko 5.6 and your updated dhcpcd for slacko. I'll try more updated versions of frisbee according to your comments above and see what happens.

Also, thank you for your explanation of what frisbee is doing in your earlier post. It's interesting - I often have clicked on a displayed network to connect to it, only to have the screen go blank & then repopulate networks bit by bit & never understood why that was happening. It's interesting!
Attachments
pdiag-20141001.tar.gz
(142.26 KiB) Downloaded 323 times

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rerwin
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#380 Post by rerwin »

stray_dog wrote:add-profile - INTERFACE: wlan0 FLAGS: [ESS]
12866 add-profile - BSSID: '08:d0:9f:87:f5:a0' STATE: 'wpa_state=SCANNING' SSID: '' scan_results:
'bssid / frequency / signal level / flags / ssid'
Thanks for trying the debug package. Your result confirms my suspicion that the "connect" logic looked for results while the periodic scan was in progress. Frisbee-1.2.3 and 1.3 should prevent that from happening.

In 1.3, if the scanning were to take a long time, then maybe the "connect" would see 'scanning'. If that happens we would see the new message "Network information for [interface] not available. Please try again to connect.". That would mean that I need to add logic to wait for any slow scanning. So, if anyone sees that message, please tell me about it.
Richard

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