Arch Linux

Enrico1989

Member

Registered: 2018-07-05

Posts: 357

Guidance in migrating from Connman to iwd+impala for ethernet+wifi

Recently I've come back to a workstation (that one) which is normally connected to internet via ethernet, but also has WiFi, if need be. (And bluetooth as well, fwiw.)

I installed connman when I initially set up this system 8 years ago or so, and the service is enabled and therefore has been running everytime I used this system.

But I haven't used it to switch to WiFi for 7 years or so, and `connmanctl services` now only shows the wired connection (I did use WiFi some time at the beginning just to experiment, but then I didn't need it anymore).

Now that I'm using the workstation regularly again, and since it's summer and power outages are around the corner here in the south of Italy, I would like to be able to swtich to WiFi (using a phone as a router) when there's such a disgrace. And since I've made use of it on my laptop, I'd like to make use of impala for WiFi (just like I use bluetui for bluetooth).

On https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Network_configuration the table tells me I could actually get rid of connman and use iwd (which I use on the laptop), because iwd works for Ethernet as well (which I didn't know/remember).

So the idea is that I would like to manage WiFi with impala and Ethernet... with what? I've used iwctl on the laptop to scan for networks and switch among them, but I've never seen how it behaves when a ethernet cable is connected.

How can I go about it? From the various wiki pages, I suspect I should first disable and stop connman.service, then enable and start iwd.service, and then impala should work out of the box?

Last edited by Enrico1989 (2026-06-11 14:50:13)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,223

Re: Guidance in migrating from Connman to iwd+impala for ethernet+wifi

Iwd doesn't do ethernet, you'd have to explicitly configure either another solution or just keep connman for the ethernet. Whatever you do  care must be taken that no two daemons try to manage the same interface at the same time.

FWIW connman would be able to do both and you can configure connman to use iwd as it's wifi backend, would that not be an option? https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ConnMa … supplicant

Enrico1989

Member

Registered: 2018-07-05

Posts: 357

Re: Guidance in migrating from Connman to iwd+impala for ethernet+wifi

Iwd doesn't do ethernet, you'd have to explicitly configure either another solution or just keep connman for the ethernet.

What is the meaning of the green at (row=iwd, col=Ethernet) here, then?

FWIW connman would be able to do both and you can configure connman to use iwd as it's wifi backend, would that not be an option? https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/ConnMa … supplicant

As childish as it may sound, I like the idea of using impala for managing the wifi, and that builds on top of iwd, iiuc.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,938

Re: Guidance in migrating from Connman to iwd+impala for ethernet+wifi

As it says: "IEEE 802.1X" - not sure about the color but it won't manage any rj45 (or token ring ) connection.

Last edited by seth (2026-06-11 15:54:37)

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