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+
+******************
+2008-12-11: NetworkManager core daemon has moved to git.freedesktop.org!
+
+git clone git://git.freedesktop.org/git/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.git
+******************
+
+
+Networking that Just Works
+--------------------------
+
+NetworkManager attempts to keep an active network connection available at all
+times.  The point of NetworkManager is to make networking configuration and
+setup as painless and automatic as possible.  NetworkManager is intended to
+replace default route, replace other routes, set IP addresses, and in general
+configure networking as NM sees fit (with the possibility of manual override as
+necessary).  In effect, the goal of NetworkManager is to make networking Just
+Work with a minimum of user hassle, but still allow customization and a high
+level of manual network control.  If you have special needs, we'd like to hear
+about them, but understand that NetworkManager is not intended for every
+use-case.
+
+NetworkManager will attempt to keep every network device in the system up and
+active, as long as the device is available for use (has a cable plugged in,
+the killswitch isn't turned on, etc).  Network connections can be set to
+'autoconnect', meaning that NetworkManager will make that connection active
+whenever it and the hardware is available.
+
+"Settings services" store lists of user- or administrator-defined "connections",
+which contain all the settings and parameters required to connect to a specific
+network.  NetworkManager will _never_ activate a connection that is not in this
+list, or that the user has not directed NetworkManager to connect to.
+
+
+How it works:
+
+The NetworkManager daemon runs as a privileged service (since it must access
+and control hardware), but provides a D-Bus interface on the system bus to
+allow for fine-grained control of networking.  NetworkManager does not store
+connections or settings, it is only the mechanism by which those connections
+are selected and activated.
+
+To store pre-defined network connections, two separate services, the "system
+settings service" and the "user settings service" store connection information
+and provide these to NetworkManager, also via D-Bus.  Each settings service
+can determine how and where it persistently stores the connection information;
+for example, the GNOME applet stores its configuration in GConf, and the system
+settings service stores it's config in distro-specific formats, or in a distro-
+agnostic format, depending on user/administrator preference.
+
+A variety of other system services are used by NetworkManager to provide
+network functionality: wpa_supplicant for wireless connections and 802.1x
+wired connections, pppd for PPP and mobile broadband connections, DHCP clients
+for dynamic IP addressing, dnsmasq for proxy nameserver and DHCP server
+functionality for internet connection sharing, and avahi-autoipd for IPv4
+link-local addresses.  Most communication with these daemons occurs, again,
+via D-Bus.
+
+
+Why doesn't my network Just Work?
+
+Driver problems are the #1 cause of why NetworkManager sometimes fails to
+connect to wireless networks.  Often, the driver simply doesn't behave in a
+consistent manner, or is just plain buggy.  NetworkManager supports _only_
+those drivers that are shipped with the upstream Linux kernel, because only
+those drivers can be easily fixed and debugged.  ndiswrapper, vendor binary
+drivers, or other out-of-tree drivers may or may not work well with
+NetworkManager, precisely because they have not been vetted and improved by the
+open-source community, and becuase problems in these drivers usually cannot
+be fixed.
+
+Sometimes, command-line tools like 'iwconfig' will work, but NetworkManager will
+fail.  This is again often due to buggy drivers, becuase these drivers simply
+aren't expecting the dynamic requests that NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant
+make.  Driver bugs should be filed in the bug tracker of the distribution being
+run, since often distributions customize their kernel and drivers.
+
+Sometimes, it really is NetworkManager's fault.  If you think that's the case,
+please file a bug at http://bugzilla.gnome.org and choose the NetworkManager
+component.  Attaching the output of /var/log/messages or /var/log/daemon.log
+(wherever your distribution directs syslog's 'daemon' facility output) is often
+very helpful, and (if you can get) a working wpa_supplicant config file helps
+enormously.
+
+