nm-tool

nm-tool [OPTIONS]

-h, --help
    Displays help information and exits.

-v, --version
    Shows the version of nm-tool and exits.

-i, --show-all
    Displays details for all network devices, including inactive ones.

-c, --show-active
    Shows only active network connections and their associated devices.

-a, --show-detail
    Provides detailed information for active connections and devices.

-p, --pretty
    (Deprecated) This option is no longer used and has no effect.

-t, --timeout=SECONDS
    Sets a timeout in seconds for NetworkManager to respond. If NetworkManager doesn't respond within this time, nm-tool will exit.

-w, --wait-ip
    (Deprecated) Waits for an IP address to be assigned to the active connection before exiting. No longer used.

nm-tool was a command-line utility for interacting with the NetworkManager daemon on Linux systems. It provided a simple way to display network device status, active connections, and basic network configuration details directly from the terminal. Its primary use cases included quickly checking the current network connectivity, listing available Wi-Fi networks, and reviewing IP address assignments.

While once a common tool for system administrators and users, nm-tool has largely been superseded and deprecated in favor of the more powerful and feature-rich nmcli (NetworkManager Command Line Interface) utility. Most modern Linux distributions recommend or only include nmcli for NetworkManager interaction, making nm-tool less relevant for current network management tasks.

The nm-tool utility is considered largely deprecated. It has been replaced by the more comprehensive and actively maintained nmcli utility, which offers a broader range of commands for managing connections, devices, and NetworkManager settings. Users are strongly encouraged to use nmcli for all NetworkManager-related tasks on modern Linux systems, as nm-tool may not be available by default or may provide limited functionality.

Before its deprecation, a common use of nm-tool was to quickly view the overall network status. Running nm-tool without any options would display a summary of current network activity, including whether networking was enabled, the primary connection, and details about active devices (e.g., Ethernet, Wi-Fi). For instance, it could show the IP address, gateway, and DNS servers for the active connection, and list detected Wi-Fi networks along with their signal strength.

Example of old output:

NetworkManager State: connected

- Device: eth0 -------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Wired
Driver: e1000e
State: connected
Default: yes

IPv4 Settings:
Address: 192.168.1.100
Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

DNS: 192.168.1.1


nm-tool was introduced as a command-line interface for NetworkManager, offering a simple way to display network status. It served as a basic diagnostic and information retrieval tool. However, as NetworkManager evolved, the need for a more robust and scriptable command-line utility became apparent. This led to the development of nmcli, which began to gain prominence around NetworkManager version 0.9. By NetworkManager 1.0 and subsequent releases, nmcli became the officially recommended and primary command-line interface, effectively deprecating nm-tool. While some older systems may still have it, it's generally omitted from newer installations or exists as a compatibility stub.

nmcli(1), ip(8), ifconfig(8)