Network preferences: change/improve the handling of DNS

[Giova84]

On other operating systems is possible to set DNS servers independently from other IP addresses, also if DHCP mode is activated. On Haiku, instead, is only possible to manually set DNS if in network preferences the mode is set to static. DNS servers should be also manually set in DHCP mode. Besides, the network preflet, should also contain two entries for set the DNS servers: currently they have to be inserted just in one field, separating them by a comma; this could be not clear and seems odd. If I attempt to edit the "resolv.conf" file with other DNS, at the next boot this file will be reset with DNS servers retrieved by DHCP.

hrev48061

[Giova84]

How Network preferences could appear

[Giova84]

Mockup attached

[jackburton]

The Network preflet (except for the "manually set" checkbox) was pretty much as you described. I was the one which changed it like it is now, because it's more flexible, allows for more than two dns servers, and wastes less space. Other systems I know (Gnome, KDE) use a similar method (except maybe Windows, where the standard network preflet has two dns server textboxes, and to add more you have to open the "advanced" settings). Why do you find it odd and not clear ?

[Giova84]

Hi, With "could be not clear" and "odd" i was thinking to the case of an user which never used Haiku before (also think about the force of habit due the default GUI on other OS), and about the fact that the user could do some mistake while write the comma or the space: two different fields, instead, in my humble opinion, restricts the possibility of typos and misspellings, also during edit. And with two distinct fields, the preflet could also appear more tidy. But i repeat, this is just my humble opinion, about the look. In anyway would be undoubtful the advantage of the ability to set the DNS independently. Thank you for your efforts and for your good work on enhancements!

[jackburton]

Replying to Giova84:

Hi, With "could be not clear" and "odd" i was thinking to the case of an user which never used Haiku before (also think about the force of habit due the default GUI on other OS)

As I said, this is how other OSes handle this:

​http://www.digrouz.com/mediawiki/images/Macosx-dns-conf1.png ​http://0.tqn.com/y/macs/1/W/S/B/-/-/dnsedit500x389.jpg ​http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/17/html-single/System_Administrators_Guide/images/Network_Configuration-NM-IPv4_Settings_Gnome3.png ​http://www.minihowto.org/network_howto/networksettings_dns.jpg

Only the Windows preflet looks different from the rest.

and about the fact that the user could do some mistake while write the comma or the space:two different fields, instead, in my humble opinion, restricts the possibility of typos and misspellings, also during edit.

Even if the preflet suggest to use commas to separate the DNS, it allows the user to use any kind of separator: commas, spaces, semicolon... and even a combination of separators. It just swallows any of them.

And with two distinct fields, the preflet could also appear more tidy. But i repeat, this is just my humble opinion, about the look. In anyway would be undoubtful the advantage of the ability to set the DNS independently. Thank you for your efforts and for your good work on enhancements!

[Giova84]

Replying to jackburton:

Even if the preflet suggest to use commas to separate the DNS, it allows the user to use any kind of separator: commas, spaces, semicolon... and even a combination of separators. It just swallows any of them.

Oh, i didn't know about this behaviour, so it's ok! :-) In anyway, since you worked on the enhancement of net preflet, could be this ticket assigned to you, to implement the ability to independently set DNS servers?

[pulkomandy]

I will remind people again that there is a new network preflet hiden in src/tests/kit/network. This one is planeed to have better support for advanced configurations such as manually setting DNSs.

Moreover there is already another ticket about this, when you have two network interfaces up and configured to use DHCP, they both get DNS entries, but only the last one to connect "wins" and set the DNS for everyone.

[Giova84]

I'm on hrev48167 and i can see the new and nice network preflet :-) So, this ticket can be closed as "no change required"?