OpenVPN from file not working in default install (Manjaro 25.0.1)

Hello everybody,

this is my first post, so please consider it as a curious question.

I did a fresh Manjaro 25.0.1 installation on a new machine with the gnome desktop.
When configuring a VPN from file in the gnome GUI (with correct username, password and so on) the VPN fails with the MetworkManager reporting (journalctl -u NetworkManager):

Failed to request VPN secrets #3: No agents were available for this request.

Actually the solution is described in the arch linux forum. See: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=2165112#p2165112

After installing libnma, the gnome GUI and NetworkManager work together as expected.

So, my question is: wouldn’t it be reasonable to install libnma as well, when installing from a release media? This would polish the user experience.

Otherwise thanks for this awesome distribution - have been running it on another machine for 4+ years.

Edit:
According to the archlinux wiki https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/NetworkManager, chapter 8.22, I’m not sure if libnma is (or should be) a package dependency.

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This library is actually needed for nm-connection-editor. So you configured it with a different GUI than Gnome?

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At least, not yet.

You can workaround that in the meantime by pasting the complete URL between backtick characters, similar to:

`https://forum.manjaro.org`

which will allow others to easily copy/paste the URL, if they wish.


Curiosity is a prerequisite to learning. :slight_smile:

Regards.


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No, I did not use a different GUI. For me it’s sufficient to use the gnome GUI (settings->network).
Currently I use NordVPN and they provide VPN config files, so I configured VPN ‘from file’. I didn’t check the other methods.

I checked my other machine: there VPN works, but libnma is not installed.
Sorry, I have to edit this for explanation: ‘the other machine’ is a year old Manjaro setup being kept up to date (also with gnome).
The machine this VPN issue popped up is a fresh Manjaro 25.0.1 install (as stated in the main post) from a couple of weeks ago. It’s manjaro-gnome-25.0.1-250508-linux612.iso, I downloaded it on May, 21st.

The gnome-control-center (where you edit network connections) depends on libnma-gtk4 so there should be no need to specifically add libnma :thinking:

The stable ISO was rebuilt on 25-05-26 and when all CDN mirrors had synced, it was updated on the website.

That’s right and libnma-gtk4 is installed. libnma should be required for GTK-3 only.
On the ‘fresh-install-machine’ I did the test:

  • uninstalled libnma (libnma-gtk4 remaining installed)
  • → no VPN possible
  • installed libnma again
  • → VPN OK

I have no idea, where the difference to my ‘other-machine’ with years old Manjaro installation is, on which libnma is not installed but VPN works.

hmm - I just tested with a new Gnome desktop and you are right - the libnma is providing the GUI asking for the password generated by NordVPN - although one would expect the input in the Network Manager to be enough.

It seems to me the libnma contains functionality not provided by libnma-gtk4.

It is a bit strange - one would expect libnma-gtk4 to provide the same as libnma - but it appears it does not. I think we need @Yochanan to look at it.

12:31:08 ○ [fh@tiger] ~
 $ pamac info libnma-gtk4
Name                  : libnma-gtk4
Version               : 1.10.6-3
Description           : NetworkManager GUI client library (GTK4)
URL                   : https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libnma
Licenses              : GPL-2.0-or-later LGPL-2.1-or-later
Repository            : extra
Installed Size        : 480,8 kB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : libnma-common=1.10.6-3 gtk4
Optional Dependencies : --
Provides              : libnma-gtk4.so=0-64
Replaces              : --
Conflicts With        : --
Packager              : T.J. Townsend <blakkheim@archlinux.org>
Build Date            : fre 12 jul 2024 22:47:55 CEST
Validated By          : MD5 Sum  SHA-256 Sum  Signature
12:31:17 ○ [fh@tiger] ~
 $ pamac info libnma
Name                  : libnma
Version               : 1.10.6-3
Description           : NetworkManager GUI client library (GTK3)
URL                   : https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libnma
Licenses              : GPL-2.0-or-later LGPL-2.1-or-later
Repository            : extra
Installed Size        : 500,5 kB
Groups                : --
Depends On            : libnma-common=1.10.6-3 gtk3
Optional Dependencies : --
Provides              : libnma.so=0-64
Replaces              : --
Conflicts With        : --
Packager              : T.J. Townsend <blakkheim@archlinux.org>
Build Date            : fre 12 jul 2024 22:47:55 CEST
Validated By          : MD5 Sum  SHA-256 Sum  Signature