Requirements

This page details all the requirements needed to use nmrs effectively.

System Requirements

Operating System

nmrs is Linux-only and requires:

• Any modern Linux distribution (kernel 3.10+)
• NetworkManager 1.0 or later
• D-Bus system bus

Tested on:

• Arch Linux
• Ubuntu 20.04+
• Fedora 35+
• Debian 11+
• NixOS

NetworkManager

NetworkManager must be:

• Installed on your system
• Running and accessible via D-Bus
• Version 1.0 or later (1.46+ recommended for latest features)

Check your NetworkManager version:

NetworkManager --version

Ensure it's running:

systemctl status NetworkManager

D-Bus

The D-Bus system bus must be available and running. This is standard on all modern Linux distributions.

Verify D-Bus is working:

dbus-send --system --print-reply \
  --dest=org.freedesktop.NetworkManager \
  /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager \
  org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get \
  string:'org.freedesktop.NetworkManager' \
  string:'Version'

Rust Requirements

For nmrs Library

• Rust: 1.78.0 or later
• Edition: 2021

The library uses stable Rust features only.

For nmrs-gui

• Rust: 1.85.1 or later
• Edition: 2021

The GUI requires a newer Rust version due to GTK4 bindings.

Dependencies

nmrs Library Dependencies

The library depends on:

• zbus 5.x - D-Bus communication
• tokio or another async runtime
• serde - Serialization
• thiserror - Error handling
• futures - Async utilities

All dependencies are automatically handled by Cargo.

nmrs-gui Dependencies

Additional system libraries required:

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S gtk4 libadwaita

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev libadwaita-1-dev build-essential

Fedora:

sudo dnf install gtk4-devel libadwaita-devel

NixOS:

# Handled automatically by the Nix package

Permissions

PolicyKit

nmrs needs permission to manage network connections. This is typically handled by PolicyKit on modern Linux systems.

User Groups

Your user should be in the appropriate groups. On most systems:

# Check current groups
groups

# Add to network group (may vary by distribution)
sudo usermod -aG network $USER

On some distributions, no special group is needed if PolicyKit is properly configured.

Running as Root

While nmrs can run as root, it's not recommended for security reasons. Use PolicyKit instead.

Hardware Requirements

WiFi

• A WiFi adapter supported by NetworkManager
• WiFi hardware must be recognized by the Linux kernel

Check your WiFi adapter:

nmcli device status

Ethernet

• Network interface card (NIC)
• Recognized by the Linux kernel

Bluetooth

For Bluetooth network features:

• Bluetooth adapter
• BlueZ stack installed and running

VPN

For WireGuard VPN:

• WireGuard kernel module or userspace implementation
• WireGuard tools (usually bundled with NetworkManager)

Check WireGuard support:

modprobe wireguard
lsmod | grep wireguard

Or use userspace implementation (automatic with NetworkManager 1.16+).

Development Requirements

Additional requirements for developing nmrs:

Testing

• docker and docker-compose (for containerized testing)
• WiFi hardware or mac80211_hwsim kernel module

Building Documentation

• mdbook for this documentation
• cargo-doc for API documentation

IDE/Editor

Recommended:

• rust-analyzer
• clippy
• rustfmt

Optional Dependencies

Logging

For detailed logging, use any logger that implements the log facade:

[dependencies]
env_logger = "0.11"

TLS/Certificates

For WPA-EAP with certificate validation:

• CA certificates installed in system certificate store
• OpenSSL or rustls (handled by NetworkManager)

Troubleshooting

NetworkManager Not Found

If you get "Failed to connect to D-Bus":

# Check if NetworkManager is running
systemctl status NetworkManager

# Start it if needed
sudo systemctl start NetworkManager

# Enable it to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager

Permission Denied

If you get permission errors:

1. Check PolicyKit rules: /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.policy
2. Ensure D-Bus is accessible: ls -l /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket
3. Try with PolicyKit agent running

Dependency Issues

For build issues:

# Update Rust
rustup update stable

# Clear Cargo cache
cargo clean

# Update dependencies
cargo update

Version Compatibility

nmrs Library

nmrs-gui

Next Steps

Once you have all requirements met:

1. Install nmrs
2. Follow the Quick Start guide
3. Start building with WiFi Management

If you encounter issues, see Troubleshooting.