#981352 "VPN Connections" menu entry moves around and is frustrating to click

Package:
network-manager-gnome
Source:
network-manager-applet
Description:
network management framework (GNOME frontend)
Submitter:
Enrico Zini
Date:
2021-05-16 23:15:03 UTC
Severity:
normal
#981352#5
Date:
2021-01-29 18:03:17 UTC
From:
To:
Hello,

thank you for maintaning Network Manager!

The "VPN Connections" submenu in the NM applet appears after the WIFI
connections list, and the WIFI connections list tends to often refresh
once the menu is open. ISTR opening the menu triggers a rescan?

The result is that often I want to turn on a VPN, open the menu, and
before I managed to click on the VPN I want to activate, everything has
suddenly moved, and I end up either activating a different VPN, or
clicking somewhere else.

Ideally, moving the "VPN Connections" submenu above the available
networks list would work around this issue.

More generally, I guess the part of the applet popup that refreshes
while the popup is open should go right at the bottom.

Even more generally, the menu refreshing while open is still tricky, as
a badly timed refresh could still cause me to connect to a wifi network
I didn't intend to connect. I guess the applet could use an invariant
that options can appear at the end, or get grayed out, but not change
position?

But yeah, it would be plenty enough to me if I could reliably hit the
VPN I want to connect to. It frustrates me multiple times during a work
day :(


Enrico
#981352#14
Date:
2021-03-30 11:23:20 UTC
From:
To:
Can you attach a screenshot / screencast illustrating the issue?

For me, the list of VPN is stable and so is the number of VPNs (IIRC
nm-applet trims the list to 5).

Regards,
Michael
#981352#21
Date:
2021-03-30 12:09:33 UTC
From:
To:
I'm on bustser.

As root, I do:

  # systemctl restart NetworkManager

When I open the menu, there are no wifi networks in the available list.

As the menu stays open, it gets populated, shifting the VPN submenu
down.

From where I usually am, there are generally less than 5 WiFi networks
in view, and they oscillate.

I suppose that it stabilizes when one gets above 5 networks in range, as
the list then gets trimmed.

I'm attaching a screencast. It seems to play well at least with vlc.


Enrico
#981352#26
Date:
2021-03-30 12:28:08 UTC
From:
To:
Am 30.03.2021 um 14:09 schrieb Enrico Zini:

Ok, I see. The main difference is that you use a systray at the top

Since this is not a Debian specific / integration issue, but is likely
to require a UI redesign, this really needs input from upstream.

Can you raise this at
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/network-manager-applet/ please and report
back with the issue number.

Regards,
Michael
#981352#31
Date:
2021-03-30 15:19:15 UTC
From:
To:
I referenced #83, which covers indeed only part of the problem.


Enrico