[needs-packaging] wicd

[Murat Gunes]

http://wicd.sourceforge.net/

"wicd was started because of the lack of useful, functional wireless network connection managers in Linux. It is also capable of connecting to wired networks as an added bonus."

License: GPL

[Jean Azzopardi (aragorn-waldonet)]

I second this. For many people, wicd works where Network Manager doesn't. If not packaged by default, it could at least be available in the repo? And if possible preloaded as a deb, so that people can chose it?

[Murat Gunes (mgunes)]

"needs-packaging" bugs are filed to indicate the need for the addition of software to the Universe repository; this is not about wicd being default. If you'd like to "second" the statement made in a bug report, that is, show your support and/or interest in a bug getting fixed, the best thing to do is subscribe to it. Comments are best reserved to information needed in fixing the bug.

[Dan MacDonald (allcoms)]

Excuse me Murat, but I do feel the need to comment on this one, as this is a major sore spot in the progress of free software.

I have been an avid Linux user now since 1996 and I have watched Linux be transformed from a niche geek toy to what it is today- a very viable solution to the desktop OS monopoly. It pains me to see that wicd still isn't in the Ubuntu repos and I'm regularly checking up to see if its any nearer to getting in. Not only that but it badly needs to become standard part of he Ubuntu base distro install discs.

People keep on harping on about networkmanagers world-saving backend or how it is shortly going to become the greatest net tool ever but I don't see that happening. Far as I'm concerned NM is a poor excuse for a tool compared to wicd and ubuntu can't drop NM fast enough.

Let me make the situation perfectly clear:

Easy wifi internet config and access is of absolute A1 prime importance to most of todays computer users, especially laptop owners. Ubuntu is failing to set the computing world alight as it should be because many newcomers will try it, fail to get on the net because of NMs many shortcomings and then go straight back to their previous proprietary OS of choice, because at least they could connect to the net. They won't be aware of wicd, let alone know how to install it but they can't anyway as they have no net connection!

All is not lost though, thankfully antiX (a lightweight, ubuntu based distro) have had the good sense to include wicd by default and so I am no longer restricted to recommending Mandriva to Linux newbies. Unless NM undergoes some SERIOUS improvement or Ubuntu replaces it with wicd then I can assure you that Monopolysoft have little to loose sleep over.

[Moritz Reiter (schallstrom)]

Dan, I think you definitely made a point. network-manager is just a big pain. On my laptop it fails to see most wifi networks were wicd has no problem to discover and connect. On my desktop computer it even fails to remember the DNS configuration. For me network manager just totally broken and unusable and its by far the weakest part of Gnome based Linux distributions.

[Dan O'Reilly (oreilldf)]

One of the main reason's wicd hasn't gotten packaged yet is because we had some design issues that made it somewhat difficult to do. In the next few days we'll be releasing a new version, 1.5.0, that will take care of most of them. I think we already missed the deadline for Intrepid, but right now the plan is to try to get into the repos for whatever comes next.

You won't see it replacing NM anytime soon, though. Right now wicd doesn't have support for VPN, dial-up, and some other less common, but still important to support protocols. NM has been in development longer, and has more people working on it, so right now its got some extras that wicd doesn't.

[Dan MacDonald (allcoms)]

Hi Dan (and all other Ubuntu fans/devs)

It really is a shame 1.5.0 has just missed the cut-off point for being included in II. If it makes it into 9.04 then far as I'm concerned that will be the Ubuntu release to watch out for, the one which could really start a large number of people switching and hence trigger the mythical 'year of the Linux desktop' the tech press has been speculating about all these years. Easy wifi/internet config and use really is such a critical component of the Linux desktop experience- make or break in fact.

Yes, I am aware that wicd currently lacks dial-up and VPN, but these connections are only used by a small minority of users compared to those who just want a regular ethernet or (protected) wifi link thats easy to setup, auto-connects and most importantly just works, which is what wicd offers.

If wicd gets into the repos in time for 9.04 but is still lacking dial-up and VPN support then Ubuntu would be wise to replace NM with a combination of connectivity apps. wicd would do it all for most users, gnome-ppp could be included for those who need dial-up and openvpn for those who require VPN. Yes, taking this route might consume a little more space on the install disc and would be less elegant than having one app (try) to do it all but the important thing is that this setup would actually WORK and many, many more people would be able to access the net under Ubuntu and hence Ubuntu would, for the first time, have a serious chance at becoming a real contender in the desktop OS space.

[Murat Gunes (mgunes)]

Dan, I've said nothing for or against WICD being the default in Ubuntu; in fact, I pointed precisely to the fact that this bug report is not the venue for the discussion of that. Discussions of policy and defaults are best held on the ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list. If you'd like to carry out such a discussion, make sure you've read the past discussion of this topic on the Ubuntu mailing lists, and that you base your arguments on the 0.7 branch of Network Manager, which is worlds apart from the 0.6x series, which we've had in Ubuntu so far.

[Dan MacDonald (allcoms)]

Could someone please give an update on the status of wicd getting into Deb/Ub repos? Might it make it into ubuntu in time for 9.04?

I tried nm 0.7 under the last 8.10 alpha and was disappointed. I failed to get it to work with an unprotected wireless static IP connection and the interface is no better than 0.6 - very poor.

[lifestream (lifestream)]

I would like an update on this too.
I always have to use a friend's computer to download wicd deb, install it on my machine.. and any dependencies.

:/

[Wouter Stomp (wouterstomp-deactivatedaccount)]

Wicd is in Jaunty:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/wicd

[Xwang (xwang1976)]

Now that wicd is in the repo, will a qt interface be created/packaged so that kubuntu user can use the same libraries?
There is the following project:
http://code.google.com/p/wicd-qt/
Xwang

[Dan O'Reilly (oreilldf)]

We don't have any plans to create one right now, but there has been some preliminary work done to create a system that makes it pretty easy to implement the UI using a different GUI toolkit. If someone wanted to update the wicd-qt project in the meantime (it's almost a year behind the current codebase), that'd be great.

[Przemek K. (azrael)]

Wicd is in Jaunty = Wicd is in Baltix 4.2. Closing Baltix task.