The major NetworkManager 1.2 release of the open-source network connection manager software used by default in numerous GNU/Linux operating systems has been announced today, April 20, 2016.
NetworkManager 1.2 is the latest, most advanced stable branch, replacing the now old 1.0 one, and it comes with major new features like random MAC addresses for Wi-Fi access point scanning, support for Wi-Fi powersave, support for creating more types of software devices, as well as support for wpa_supplicant's AP list during Wi-Fi scannings.
Furthermore, VPN secrets support has been added to the command-line secret agent, software devices can now be stacked arbitrarily, the interoperability with other network management software has been enhanced as well, and it looks like NetworkManager 1.2 now offers better handling of network connectivity in namespace-based containers, such as Docker and LXC.
NetworkManager 1.2 has fewer dependencies
Besides the cool new features mentioned above, NetworkManager 1.2 also comes with built-in support for configuring the Ethernet Wake-On-Lan feature, major improvements to the route management feature, a new LLDP listener functionality, colored output for the command-line client, and support for device instances on all software connections. Also, NetworkManager 1.2 has fewer dependencies.
Other than that, the new address-based host tracking protection functionality now relies on the RFC7217 stable privacy addressing, DNS options are now supported in the resolv.conf file, a new DHCP_FQDN key was added in ifcfg files, there's now support for event and native logging, along with multicast_snooping support, and the ability to manage hostnames via systemd-hostnamed on systemd-based OSes.
Download the NetworkManager 1.2 sources right now via our website, but you should wait until the new version arrives in the main software repositories of your GNU/Linux distribution, and then upgrade. There are numerous other small improvements implemented in the NetworkManager 1.2 release, so please check the changelog attached below for more details.
