gnome3 enables networkmanager, which disables useDHCP, which breaks initrd network

[andersk]

Issue description

On a system with initrd networking configured with DHCP, if you change services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome3.enable to true, suddenly

• nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix defaults networking.networkmanager.enable to true,
• so nixos/modules/services/networking/networkmanager.nix forces networking.useDHCP to false,
• so nixos/modules/system/boot/initrd-network.nix refuses to run udhcpc,
• so the initrd environment has no networking.

You might agree that this is a surprising consequence of enabling a desktop environment.

Technical details

• system: "x86_64-linux"
• host os: Linux 4.14.81, NixOS, 18.09.1373.50fb6820759 (Jellyfish)
• multi-user?: yes
• sandbox: yes
• version: nix-env (Nix) 2.1.3
• channels(root): "nixos-18.09.1373.50fb6820759"
• channels(anders): ""
• nixpkgs: /nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels/nixos

[andersk]

@volth #46459 was not backported to 18.09. (The scenario I’m describing really happened to my 18.09 system, it’s not hypothetical.)

[jahkeup]

I agree, NetworkManager enabled as a side effect of enabling a desktop manager is surprising to say the least. To me, this was especially confusing as I was enabling and configuring dhcpcd and configuring for appropriate interfaces - which was working up until I enabled gnome3 for another user.

I'm not positive how exactly, but it would seem as though the config's intent to configure another network "utility/daemon/manager" could result in NetworkManager /not/ being enabled.

[stale]

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[jaen]

Just came across that when trying to add SSH LUKS unlocking to a machine that uses NetworkManager.