NetworkManager Now Supports Bridging, AP-Mode Hotspot

NetworkManager 0.9.8 was released today and while being called a "new stable bugfix release" it does introduce several new features for users of this Linux networking component.

New features to NetworkManager 0.9.8 include bridging support, AP-mode Hotspot, a smoother WiFi experience, better WWAN support, IPv6 fixes, and other support improvements.

The change-log bundled within the NetworkManager 0.9.8 source package notes:

- New AvailableConnections property for Device objects
- Better handling of various rfkill/Airplane Mode switches
- Fixed handling of DNS servers for some mobile broadband devices
- Don't duplicate various IPv6 routes added by the kernel
- Ensure buggy ethernet driver carrier indications are handled correctly
- Fix crash in dnsmasq plugin when no nameservers were present
- Add support for 4G LTE network modes
- Fix signal handling when daemonizing at startup
- Don't autoconnect to WiFi networks that have never successfully connected
- Only request new WiFi secrets during the initial association or when the secrets are known to be wrong, not every time the connection randomly fails
- Add capability to autoconnect VPN connections when a parent connection succeeds
- Add configure-time option for "permissive" system connection editing policy
- Various libnm-glib fixes for asynchronous usage
- Fix gateway handling when given with secondary IP addresses
- Optionally listen to systemd for suspend/resume events instead of UPower
- Fix 'seen-bssids' property when retrieving WiFi connections via D-Bus
- Add support for AP-mode WiFi hotspots (instead of just Ad-Hoc)
- Add a "slaves" property to Bond devices
- Add support for ModemManager 0.7/0.8
- Allow more human-readable formatting of IP address in keyfile connections
- Drop support for dhclient v3
- Add support for DHCPv6 server-side Dynamic DNS
- Add support for bridge master devices and bridge ports
- Fix canceling secrets requests in GUI agents
- Always enable Proactive Key Caching (PKC, also called OKC) for WPA Enterprise WiFi configurations
- libnl 3.2.7 or later is required
- The internal crashdump handling has been removed
- A DHCPv6 DUID is now generated from /etc/machine-id and sent to the DHCPv6 server if not overridden by an administrator-defined DUID
- Bond interfaces now wait for a ready slave before starting automatic IP configuration
- The kernel WiFi rfkill state is now synced to the user-requested WirelessEnabled state at startup
- Fix issue with duplicate ActiveConnection objects if a connection was reactivated on a device
- Fix race when looking up hostname and concurrently updating DNS
- Always load the 'keyfile' settings plugin, even if no plugins are specified
- Add a new WiFi device ADHOC capability; not all devices/drivers support IBSS mode
- Fix an issue with quick wpa_supplicant restarts not being noticed
- Expose the AvailableConnections property through libnm-glib
- Fix usage of libnm-glib's NMRemoteConnection from GObject Introspection bindings

Download NetworkManager 0.9.8 at GNOME.org.