Provided by: wicd-daemon_1.7.4+tb2-1_all bug

NAME

       Wicd - Wired and Wireless Network Connection Manager

THEORY OF OPERATION

       Wicd  is designed to give the user as much control over behavior of network connections as
       possible.  Every network, both wired and wireless,  has  its  own  profile  with  its  own
       configuration  options  and  connection  behavior.  Wicd will try to automatically connect
       only to networks the user specifies it should try, with a  preference  first  to  a  wired
       network, then to wireless.

       For  wired  connections,  users have many options for determining what network settings to
       use.  Wicd allows creation of an unlimited number of wired profiles, each of which has its
       own  unique  settings.  The user can choose to automatically connect to a selected default
       profile, choose a profile from a pop-up window every time  wicd  connects,  or  have  wicd
       automatically choose the last profile used to manually connect.

       For   wireless   connections,  users  can  select  any  number  of  wireless  networks  to
       automatically connect; wicd will choose the one with the highest signal strength to try to
       connect.

       If  the  user  chooses,  wicd  will  try to automatically reconnect when it detects that a
       connection is lost.  If the last known connection state is wired, wicd will first  try  to
       reconnect  to  the  wired network, and if it is not available, wicd will try any available
       wireless networks which have automatic connection enabled.  If the last  known  connection
       state  is  wireless,  wicd will first try to reconnect to the previously connected network
       (even if that network does not have automatic connection enabled), and should  that  fail,
       it  will  try  both  a  wired  connection  and  any available wireless networks which have
       automatic connection enabled.

       Wicd uses built-in linux wireless-tools,  such  as  ifconfig  and  iwconfig,  to  get  and
       configure  network  info.  There is some flexibility in its use of DHCP, providing support
       for dhclient,  dhcpcd,  and  pump.   Wicd  uses  wpa_supplicant  to  handle  all  wireless
       encryption  settings,  and  uses a template-based system to create the configuration files
       used by wpa_supplicant.  These templates can be edited, and new templates can  be  created
       by  the  user  and  imported  into  wicd,  allowing  connection  to networks with uncommon
       encryption settings.

STRUCTURE

       Wicd has two major parts: the daemon, which  runs  with  root  privileges;  and  the  user
       interface,  which  runs  with  normal  user  privileges.   The  two  parts run as separate
       processes and make use of D-Bus to communicate.

       The daemon is responsible for making and  configuring  connections,  reading  and  writing
       configuration  files  and logs, and monitoring the connection status.  The daemon's job is
       split between two processes: wicd-daemon.py and monitor.py.   All  the  connection  status
       monitoring, as well as the auto-reconnection logic, takes place in monitor.py.  Everything
       else is done by wicd-daemon.py.

       The user interface (stored in wicd-gtk), which is made up of  a  tray  icon,  a  main  GUI
       window,  and its child dialogs, gets configuration and network info from the daemon either
       by querying it using the methods in the daemon's dbus interface or  by  receiving  signals
       emitted  from the daemon over D-Bus.  Any configuration changes made in the user interface
       are passed back to the daemon, which actually applies  the  changes  and  writes  them  to
       configuration files.

       Since  the  user  interface  just  queries  for connection and configuration info from the
       daemon, it is possible to run wicd without the GUI at all.  Also, the daemon is started by
       wicd's  init script during system startup (before any user logs in), making it possible to
       use wicd with "headless" machines.

USAGE HINTS

       Choosing Alternate Tools
       Wicd supports several alternatives regarding  the  networking  tools  on  linux.   In  the
       "External  Programs"  tab  of  the  Preferences  menu,  you can choose your preferred DHCP
       client, link detection tool, and routing tool if the defaults  aren't  suitable  for  your
       particular distribution or system.

       Custom Scripts
       If you need to run any custom commands before or after connecting to or disconnecting from
       a network, Wicd supports this; however, you will need to  have  a  graphical  sudo  helper
       installed  (currently  supported are kdesu, gksu, and ktsuss). Also see /etc/wicd/scripts/
       in FILES.
       If you do not have a graphical sudo helper installed, you still have the  ability  to  use
       custom   scripts,   but   you  will  have  to  set  them  up  manually.   See  wicd-wired-
       settings.conf(5) and/or wicd-wireless-settings.conf(5) for more information on how  to  do
       so.

       Automatically Connecting to Networks
       Wicd  uses  the  BSSID  to  recognize  a particular network (and thus to decide whether it
       should automatically connect to it).  If you are on a  network  that  has  many  different
       access  points which all have the same ESSID (many universities have such networks), there
       is an option in the "Advanced Settings" to "Use these settings for  all  networks  sharing
       this  essid."  With this option enabled, Wicd will autoconnect to that network, regardless
       of which node it sees.

FILES

       /etc/wicd/manager-settings.conf
       This file contains global settings for Wicd.
       See this file's own man page for more information about it.

       /etc/wicd/wired-settings.conf
       This file contains settings related to the wired interface.
       See this file's own man page for more information about it.

       /etc/wicd/wireless-settings.conf
       This file contains settings related to the wireless interface.
       See this file's own man page for more information about it.

       /etc/wicd/dhclient.conf.template
       This is  used  to  replace  /etc/dhclient.conf  during  Wicd  activity,  if  you're  using
       dhclient(1) as DHCP client. See dhclient.conf(5) for more information.

       /etc/wicd/encryption/templates/
       This  directory contains various templates for encrypted (WEP, WPA, etcetera) connections.
       If none of them fit your needs, you may create your own and add it to this directory.   If
       you do this, please contact the authors (see below) of Wicd.

       /etc/wicd/scripts/
       Dropping  a  script  in  the  relevant  directory  will  cause  it to be executed when the
       specified event is preformed upon connection or disconnect from or to any network.  Please
       note  that  pre/post  disconnect  scripts  may  be  executed  multiple  times  on already-
       disconnected interfaces.
       The scripts will be passed different parameters, depending if Wicd is acting on a wired or
       a  wireless  network. In the former case, "wired wired wired" will be passed (three times,
       just for compatibility with the wireless case). If Wicd is acting on a  wireless  network,
       it will pass "wireless ESSID BSSID" to the script.
       Available directories are:
       /etc/wicd/scripts/predisconnect
       /etc/wicd/scripts/postdisconnect
       /etc/wicd/scripts/preconnect
       /etc/wicd/scripts/postconnect

       /var/lib/wicd/configurations/
       This  directory contains individual configuration files for each encrypted network you set
       up in Wicd.

       /var/log/wicd/
       This directory contains logfiles of Wicd's activity.  Please refer to the log if  you  are
       having connection or other problems.

SEE ALSO

       wicd-manager-settings.conf(5),         wicd-wired-settings.conf(5),         wicd-wireless-
       settings.conf(5),    dhclient.conf(5),    wicd-curses(8),    ifconfig(8),     iwconfig(8),
       wpa_supplicant(8),  route(8),  ip(8),  mii-tool(8),  ethtool(8),  dhclient(8),  dhcpcd(8),
       pump(8).

WICD AUTHORS

       Adam Blackburn <compwiz18@gmail.com>
       Dan O'Reilly <oreilldf@gmail.com>
       Andrew Psaltis <ampsaltis@gmail.com> (curses client)
       David Paleino <d.paleino@gmail.com>

MANPAGE AUTHOR

       Robby Workman <rworkman@slackware.com>

                                            wicd-1.7.4                                    WICD(8)