NMLinux · v1.7.12

A unified network toolkit for Linux and macOS — inspect, connect, diagnose.

NMLinux is a single, unified GUI that brings together 29 network modules in one window: interface monitoring, Wi-Fi, DNS, SSH terminal, firewall viewer, topology map, traceroute, and more. Built from scratch in Python and PySide6 (Qt 6), with 8 interface languages and no external dependencies beyond standard system tools.

[!NOTE] NMLinux is not related to the Linux system daemon /usr/bin/NetworkManager (NetworkManager by Red Hat/GNOME). NMLinux is a standalone project built from scratch in Python and PySide6.

Built with Claude Code (Anthropic) and the contribution of its author.

Development process

NMLinux is built with AI assistance — Claude Code, specifically — and that's not hidden anywhere in this repo. Almost every serious software project today uses AI somewhere in its pipeline, whether it says so or not. So "was AI involved" isn't the interesting question. The interesting question is: does anything catch it when the AI gets something wrong?

Here's what does, if you'd rather check than take my word for it:

• 162 tests — pytest tests/ -v. Pure logic plus a handful of real Qt widget tests (menus, tables), no mocking away the interesting parts.
• docs/Decisions-Techniques.md — every non-obvious technical call, the alternatives that got rejected, and the bugs (including AI-introduced ones) that were found and fixed, with the reasoning written down.
• docs/Architecture.md and docs/Carte-des-Modules.md — the actual structure of the code, kept in sync with what ships.
• An i18n consistency check run before every release to catch missing translation keys across the 8 supported languages.

None of that exists because AI can't be trusted. It exists because nothing should ship without a process that checks it — hand-written code included. Judge the output and how it's verified, not the tool that helped write it.

Found a bug anyway? That's useful, not embarrassing — open an issue.

Community

GitHub Discussions are open — share feedback, report ideas, ask questions, or just say hello. The author has 30+ years in infrastructure and operations, and built this tool because good, free, and simple software should exist for Linux too.

Screenshots

Linux screenshots from v1.2.7 — macOS screenshots from v1.3.5. The app now has 29 modules and 8 interface languages (FR/EN/ES/DE/IT/PT/JA/ZH).

Linux (KDE)

Dashboard	Topology

Traceroute	Wi-Fi

macOS

Dashboard	Traceroute

Changelog

v1.7.12 — 2026-08-12

• Traceroute — fix: under Flatpak (v1.7.11, see below — now removed), traceroute always resolved on PATH via the host shim even when the host had no real traceroute binary installed, so the worker never fell back to tracepath and the trace finished instantly with no hops and no error shown. It now falls back to tracepath whenever traceroute produces no parseable output at all, regardless of why it failed.
• SSH terminal — askpass fix: when DISPLAY/WAYLAND_DISPLAY are set (any GUI session) and ssh doesn't have a clean tty, it can try $SSH_ASKPASS for the password prompt instead of the embedded terminal — silently failing auth if no askpass helper is installed. SSH_ASKPASS_REQUIRE=never now forces password prompts to always go through the terminal itself.
• Flatpak packaging removed: the local KDE Linux manifest shipped in v1.7.11 is discontinued. Investigating the SSH password-prompt bug above surfaced a kernel-level limitation: a process relayed via flatpak-spawn --host can never become the controlling-terminal owner of the forwarded pty ( refused with — a different, unrelated session already owns it; this is an intentional kernel security boundary, not a bug). The only working around (, allocating a fresh pty) fixes the password prompt but breaks live terminal-resize propagation for that session — judged a worse trade-off than not shipping Flatpak at all. AUR and the AppImage are the supported Linux install paths going forward.

v1.7.11 — 2026-08-03

• Flatpak packaging (KDE Linux): a local build manifest under packaging/flatpak/ targets KDE Linux and other Flatpak-only distros. Host CLI tools nmlinux shells out to (nmcli, pkexec, mount.cifs, ssh, nmap, …) are bridged via flatpak-spawn --host shims on PATH instead of sandboxing each one individually; PySide6 comes from Flathub's io.qt.PySide.BaseApp rather than the PyPI wheel. Not published on Flathub — a single .flatpak bundle is built with packaging/flatpak/build-bundle.sh and attached to each release instead, the same way the AppImage already is. Discontinued in v1.7.12 — see above.

v1.7.10 — 2026-08-03

• SSH terminal — fix: fixed a race condition where the PTY could start at the wrong (default 24×80) size if the terminal widget's actual size wasn't known yet when the session launched, silently dropping the resize request. This desynced remote full-screen apps (e.g. Claude Code CLI, htop, vim) from the real window size, causing stale/leftover text at the bottom of the screen that only cleared as new output scrolled past it. Reported by the user; reproduced with a real interactive session

v1.7.9 — 2026-08-02

• SSH terminal — copy/paste: select text with the mouse (click-drag, highlighted), copy with Ctrl+Shift+C or the right-click menu; paste with Ctrl+Shift+V (existing). Copying was previously impossible — no text selection existed at all
• SSH terminal — multiple simultaneous sessions: the SSH page now opens each connection in its own tab instead of a single shared session. Reconnecting to a saved connection — even the same one twice — used to kill the active session without opening a working replacement; now every connect action opens a new, independent tab

v1.7.8 — 2026-07-14

• Speed Test — new LAN (iperf3) tab: alongside the existing internet speed test, a new tab runs client-only iperf3 tests against either a bundled public server list (26 countries) or a saved custom server (e.g. an internal org server). Supports TCP/UDP, IPv4/IPv6/auto, and reverse (download) direction, with jitter/loss shown for UDP tests. Suggested by issue #6
• New optional dependency: iperf3 — install to enable the LAN tab; the tab shows a banner and stays disabled otherwise

v1.7.6 — 2026-07-05

• Asset Inventory — right-click refresh: right-click one or more already-scanned rows (multi-select supported) and choose "Refresh selected" to rescan just those hosts in place, instead of rerunning a full network scan
• Asset Inventory — SSH auth-failure feedback: a rejected SSH login now shows "SSH auth failed" instead of failing silently, without losing the Nmap-detected hostname/OS baseline — confirmed against a real Synology NAS where DSM's Auto Block rejected a correct password after other configured credential sets were tried first

v1.7.5 — 2026-07-04

• Ping Monitor — saved targets directory: a new left-hand panel lets you save ping targets (name, host, interval) to a persistent list, so hosts being monitored survive an app restart instead of having to be retyped. A ★ button on each actively-monitored row saves that host to the directory at any point during the session — no need to have planned ahead before the app closes unexpectedly
• Ping Monitor — "Start monitoring": select a saved target and start monitoring it with one click, reusing its saved interval

v1.7.4 — 2026-07-04

• Asset Inventory — fixed inconsistent scan results: the liveness check sent a single 1-second-timeout ping with no retry, which could drop a real device under the scanner's own concurrent load (up to 40 hosts probed at once) or when a Wi-Fi host was briefly asleep between beacons — confirmed live against a real subnet that returned different device counts across repeated runs of the same range. The check now retries the ping before falling back to the TCP port probe
• Asset Inventory — new "Refresh empty" button: after a scan, re-scan only the IPs that returned no data instead of the whole range again; newly found hosts are merged into the existing results

v1.7.3 — 2026-07-03

• SMB — mount shares from the right-click menu: right-click a share in the SMB tab and choose Mount/Unmount to mount it at a stable local path (~/mnt/<host>_<share>), usable from the terminal and any other app — not a transient browse view. Session-only (no fstab/systemd persistence), credentials reused from the existing user/password fields. Linux uses pkexec mount -t cifs with a restricted-permission credentials file (never exposed via ps); macOS uses mount_smbfs directly. Automatically retries with an older SMB dialect (vers=2.0) when a server rejects the default negotiation (common with older NAS units) — both attempts happen under a single authentication prompt via a dedicated helper process
• New optional dependency: cifs-utils (Linux) for SMB mounting; built into macOS

v1.7.2 — 2026-07-03

• macOS install — fixed two bootstrap bugs found on a bare Mac: bootstrap_macos.sh no longer forces NONINTERACTIVE=1 on the Homebrew installer, which aborted immediately on any fresh admin account instead of prompting for the sudo password; the documented one-liner now downloads the script first instead of piping it directly into bash, since nested interactive steps (Xcode CLT installer, Homebrew's own sudo prompt) could interfere with the outer script's own input stream when piped
• Universal right-click menu — SMB added: SmbNfsPage was the only target page missing from the inter-module right-click system shipped in v1.7.0; right-clicking a host and choosing SMB now prefills the host field and launches the scan immediately, bold in the menu when port 445 is detected open
• i18n — remaining Dashboard strings translated: the gateway latency label, TLS Watchlist card title and its status row were still hardcoded French; now translated across all 8 interface languages

v1.7.1 — 2026-07-02

• macOS 26 (Tahoe) — Wi-Fi SSID fixes: switched from system_profiler (returns <redacted> without Location Services) to CoreWLAN as primary data source; app now requests Location Services permission at first launch; Wi-Fi page shows all networks with real names once granted
• macOS — Connection Manager: connected SSID now read via CoreWLAN, with system_profiler for security mode
• macOS — SMB: clear "authentication required" message when NAS requires credentials; fixed spurious smb.conf warning from Homebrew smbclient
• macOS — Fixed potential crash on quit after first Location Services permission dialog

v1.7.0 — 2026-07-02

• Universal right-click context menu on every table that contains IPs or hostnames — navigate directly between modules without copy-pasting: right-click any discovered host and choose Ping, Scan ports, Whois, DNS, Traceroute, MTR, SSH, RDP, VNC, View in Topology, or Add to Inventory. Menu items SSH/RDP/VNC appear bold when the corresponding port is detected open. Labels are fully translated in all 8 interface languages.
• Source pages (emit right-click actions): IP Scanner, Nmap, Ping, Port Scanner, Traceroute, MTR, Topology (node right-click)
• Target pages (receive host and pre-fill): Whois (set_target + auto-query), DNS (set_target prefill only), Ping (set_target + auto-start), Traceroute (set_target + auto-start), MTR (set_target + auto-start), Port Scanner (set_target + focus), SSH / RDP / VNC (set_target opens new-connection form prefilled), Topology (load_hosts injects nodes from IP Scanner/Nmap scan without re-scanning — gateway detected automatically, edges drawn, origin node highlighted in red), Asset Inventory (prefill_hosts starts credential scan directly on discovered hosts, skips ICMP discovery phase)
• Dashboard — gateway ping graph: live latency sparkline updated every 2 seconds; color-coded (<20 ms green / 20–100 ms orange / >100 ms red / timeout red)

v1.6.4 — 2026-06-28

• macOS: menu bar now shows NMLinux instead of Python — root cause: after exec() into Python, NSBundle.mainBundle() resolves to the Python.framework bundle (CFBundleName = "Python") that Qt reads during QApplication construction; fixed by patching the bundle's infoDictionary() and renaming native menu items via AppKit before the application menu is created

v1.6.3 — 2026-06-28

• macOS: first attempt at fixing the menu bar using NSProcessInfo.setProcessName_ via pyobjc-framework-Cocoa (superseded by v1.6.4)

v1.6.2 — 2026-06-28

• macOS: replaced bash launcher script with a compiled C stub in install_macos_app.sh so macOS correctly associates the .app bundle with the running process; added setprogname and sys.argv[0] override as fallbacks

v1.6.1 — 2026-06-25

• SSH terminal — fixed remote echo: keystrokes typed in the embedded SSH terminal were sent to the remote shell but never echoed back (the keyboard appeared "dead" after login). nmlinux forced the local PTY echo off, and ssh propagated that "no echo" to the remote pty via its terminal modes (pty-req), so the remote shell stopped echoing input. Reproduced on a fresh Ubuntu 26.04 VM (recent OpenSSH applies these modes faithfully). The terminal now keeps the PTY in normal mode and lets ssh manage echo, matching real terminal emulators.

v1.6.0 — 2026-06-24

• Asset Inventory — WinRM Windows (complete): host detection via TCP port probe when ICMP is blocked by Windows Firewall; PowerShell now uses full absolute path + EncodedCommand (base64) to prevent cmd.exe from interpreting pipes |; full fallback chain without admin rights: OS via ver, CPU via registry, RAM via systeminfo, disk via wmic → fsutil (locale-aware EN comma / FR space) → dir /-C
• Asset Inventory — multi-credentials SSH: multiple SSH credential sets supported; macOS disk fixed (/System/Volumes/Data), Apple Silicon CPU fallback (hw.model), Synology (/volume1), Unraid (/mnt/user)
• Bug fixes: WinRM errors now shown in table instead of silent fallback; WinRM/SNMP host detection no longer blocked by SSH credentials presence; pywinrm timeout corrected

v1.5.3 — 2026-06-24

• macOS .app — Homebrew tool detection: sshpass, nmap and snmpget installed via Homebrew are now found and called using their absolute path; .app bundles on macOS do not inherit the Homebrew PATH (/opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin), so previously installed tools were silently ignored
• macOS update path: running git pull && bash packaging/install_macos_app.sh from the repo root is now the documented upgrade method; the script manages its own venv (~/.local/share/nmlinux/venv) and requires no system-level pip or pipx

v1.5.2 — 2026-06-24

• Asset Inventory — new module (29th); scans a CIDR range and collects OS, CPU, RAM, disk and uptime from each host via SSH, WinRM, SNMP or Nmap; supports multiple credential sets per protocol (try each in order); zero-retention policy: credentials never written to disk, cleared from memory after scan; export results as JSON, CSV or Markdown; animated geo map added to Dashboard IP Geolocation section
• SSH collection fixes: disk command awk quoting error fixed; free -h replaced with BusyBox-compatible free; macOS code path now uses sw_vers for OS name, hw.model fallback for Apple Silicon CPU, /System/Volumes/Data for the APFS user-data volume; Synology/Unraid volumes (/volume1, /mnt/user) detected before root; df | tail -1 || … false-success pattern fixed with test -d guards; lsb_release output stripped of surrounding quotes; multiple SSH/WinRM credential sets supported (tries each in order per host)

v1.5.0 — 2026-06-17

• File Transfer Server — new module to start/stop a lightweight TFTP or HTTP server directly from the app; classic use case: backup and restore router, switch or printer configs; one server active at a time (TFTP or HTTP), configurable port and root directory, local IPs displayed as copy-to-clipboard buttons; HTTP includes directory listing (browse from any browser on the LAN), GET (download) and POST/PUT (upload); TFTP supports GET and PUT (bidirectional), port 69 requires root — the app shows a "Start as root (pkexec)" button on permission error; live transfer log table (timestamp, filename, client IP, direction ↑/↓, size); port traversal protection; 8 interface languages; new dependency: tftpy

v1.4.3 — 2026-06-14

• TLS Watchlist fixes: self-signed and untrusted certs now correctly shown as "⚠ Invalid / untrusted cert" (orange) instead of green; SSL exception catching widened to cover all ssl.SSLError subclasses; entries now show "… (checking)" while the background check runs and "— (unreachable)" when the host cannot be reached

v1.4.2 — 2026-06-14

• TLS Watchlist — persistent list of hostnames to monitor certificate expiry; add hosts with + Watch (uses current host/port) or manually in the panel; background check runs automatically 2 seconds after launch; sidebar "TLS Inspector" entry shows a colored dot: red if any cert is expired, orange if any cert expires within 30 days; re-check button in the panel; list shows status per entry (✓ / ⚠ / EXPIRED) with color coding

v1.4.1 — 2026-06-14

• macOS — IP Scanner: fixed MAC address, vendor and interface lookup on macOS; _arp_entry() now calls arp -n <ip> on macOS and parses its output format (? (IP) at AA:BB:CC on en0) instead of reading /proc/net/arp (Linux-only); all four scanner columns now populate correctly on macOS
• VNC help: added a note in all 8 languages clarifying that Linux has no VNC server by default and listing common options to install (x11vnc, tigervnc-server, wayvnc)

v1.4.0 — 2026-06-14

• macOS — IP Scanner: replaced getent (Linux-only) with Python's socket.gethostbyaddr() for cross-platform reverse DNS resolution; hostname lookup now works natively on macOS without any extra tool
• macOS — SMB Browser: switched from smbclient (requires Homebrew samba) to smbutil view (built-in macOS tool); SMB share listing now works on macOS without any install
• macOS — NFS Browser: showmount is built-in on macOS but doesn't support --no-headers; flag removed on macOS, header line skipped in parser; NFS export listing now works natively
• macOS — RDP: when xfreerdp is not found, falls back to open rdp:// URL scheme; opens Microsoft Remote Desktop (App Store) if installed, with host, port, username and domain pre-filled
• macOS — VNC: when vncviewer is not found, falls back to open vnc:// URL scheme; opens macOS Screen Sharing (built-in, zero install required)

v1.3.9 — 2026-06-13

• SSH agent forwarding — new "Agent forwarding" checkbox in the SSH connection form; adds -A to the ssh command; allows jumping between servers without copying your private key (PC → A → B); requires an active SSH agent (SSH_AUTH_SOCK); contextual help updated in all 8 languages

v1.3.8 — 2026-06-13

• Command Palette (Ctrl+P) — instant keyboard navigation to any of the 27 modules; fuzzy search on name and keywords (e.g. "firewall", "tls", "ssh key", "scan"); Up/Down arrows + Enter or single click to navigate; opens with Ctrl+P from anywhere in the app
• Export Manager — export a full network snapshot (interfaces, routes, DNS resolvers) from File → Export Network Report… in JSON, Markdown, plain text or PDF (optional: pip install reportlab)
• Module-level export buttons — Export buttons added to Interfaces, DNS, Firewall, SSH Connections, and Connection Manager pages; each page exports its current data in the chosen format with live filename extension update when the format filter changes

v1.3.6 — 2026-06-12

• Topology — device icons — each node now displays a Lucide SVG icon matching its device type (router/wifi, computer/laptop, printer, NAS/server, smartphone, network switch, Raspberry Pi) instead of a generic circle; 5 new bundled SVG icons (printer, server, smartphone, cpu, laptop)
• Topology — mDNS detection — device type is detected via avahi-browse (optional, runs in parallel with nmap scan); identifies printers (_ipp._tcp, PDL Printer), Android phones and TVs (_googlecast._tcp, _androidtvremote2._tcp), Apple Macs (am=Mac16,x model in AirPlay TXT), NAS devices (Synology reports model=Xserve), KDE Connect desktops; falls back to MAC vendor OUI and hostname heuristics when avahi is unavailable
• shows the detected device class (Printer, Smartphone, NAS…) instead of the generic "Host" label; i18n in all 8 languages

v1.3.5 — 2026-06-06

• macOS compatibility — all 9 network modules now run on macOS without breaking Linux behaviour; each module detects the platform at startup (_IS_MACOS) and branches to native macOS commands: route -n get default, ifconfig, scutil --dns, networksetup, system_profiler SPAirPortDataType, pfctl, netstat -ib; privilege escalation uses osascript + with administrator privileges instead of pkexec; monospace font uses Menlo instead of Monospace
• Modules with dual Linux/macOS paths: Dashboard, Interfaces, Wi-Fi, Topology, Bandwidth, Firewall (pf.conf + pfctl), Connection Manager, Hosts File, MTR

v1.3.2 — 2026-06-06

• i18n extended to 8 languages — added Italiano, Português, 日本語 (Japanese) and 中文 (Chinese Simplified); the full UI (all 27 modules, ~720 translation keys) is now available in FR / EN / ES / DE / IT / PT / JA / ZH; a restart prompt appears after changing the language in Settings
• Contextual help in 8 languages — the ? badge panel (description, usage examples and equivalent CLI commands) now covers all 8 languages for every module; previously JA and ZH fell back to English
• Bug fix — nav tooltips for SMB/NFS and Hosts File were displaying in French regardless of the selected language; missing nav_hint_smb_nfs and nav_hint_hosts keys added to all 7 non-French language blocks

v1.3.1 — 2026-06-05

• SSH Key Manager — list all key pairs in ~/.ssh/ (file, type, bits, comment, SHA256 fingerprint); generate Ed25519 or RSA 4096 keys with optional passphrase (mismatch detection, auto-filename by type); copy public key to clipboard; deploy to a remote server via ssh-copy-id in an inline terminal with stdin support for password prompts; delete key pairs with confirmation; auto-creates ~/.ssh/ if missing; i18n: fr / en / es / de

v1.3.0 — 2026-06-03

• TLS / SSL Inspector — inspect any server's certificate: subject CN, SANs, issuer, validity dates (color-coded: green / orange < 30 days / red expired), serial number, TLS protocol, cipher suite and certificate chain (via openssl s_client); works for valid, expired and self-signed certs; friendly error messages for unreachable hosts
• SMB / NFS Browser — list shares and exports from any server; SMB tab: smbclient -L with optional credentials, shows share name / type / comment; NFS tab: showmount -e, shows export path and access list; detects missing tools with distro-specific install instructions
• Hosts File Editor — view and edit /etc/hosts; table with enable/disable toggle, add/edit/delete entries via dialog; filter by IP or hostname; saves via pkexec cp (polkit authentication dialog)
• install.sh — new script for Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint: creates a venv in ~/.local/share/nmlinux/venv, installs system deps via apt, creates launcher and .desktop entry (fixes PEP 668 externally-managed-environment error)

v1.2.9 — 2026-05-30

• VNC — new module for managing VNC connection profiles; groups/subgroups like SSH and RDP; launches vncviewer (TigerVNC); compatible with macOS ARD (DH30 auth handled natively by vncviewer); password never stored; detects missing vncviewer with distro-specific install instructions
• About — Tools & services — new section listing all third-party tools and APIs the app depends on
• Sidebar i18n — all 23 nav tooltips now translated into FR/EN/ES/DE (were hardcoded French); labels corrected: Topology, Connections, Subnet

v1.2.8 — 2026-05-30

• Remote Desktop (RDP) — new module for managing Windows RDP connection profiles; groups/subgroups like SSH; launches xfreerdp as an external process; password prompted at connect time, never stored; fields: host, port, username, domain, resolution, fullscreen; detects missing xfreerdp with distro-specific install instructions (Arch / Debian / Fedora)

v1.2.7 — 2026-05-26

• Bundled Lucide icons — 21 SVG icons from Lucide (MIT) are now bundled in assets/icons/; rendered at runtime via QSvgRenderer; coloured #60a5fa; app no longer requires any system icon theme (Breeze, Adwaita, Papirus…)

v1.2.6 — 2026-05-24

• GNOME / Adwaita compatibility — fixed icons on non-KDE desktops: main.py now auto-detects the GTK icon theme via gsettings and applies it to Qt; extended fallback chains for Wi-Fi, Traceroute, Speed Test, Interfaces, Port Scanner, Firewall, MTR; themed_icon() now validates that a real pixmap exists before accepting a theme icon
• NixOS / KDE compatibility — fixed all icons on NixOS: Breeze 6.x ships SVGZ-only icons; the Nix wrapper now adds qt6.qtsvg to QT_PLUGIN_PATH so Qt can render SVG icons; themed_icon() tries sizes 22/24/16/32/48 (Breeze uses 22 px, not 24); theme forced to breeze when the Nix-bundled icon set is detected; also checks /etc/xdg/kdeglobals for system-wide KDE config

v1.2.5 — 2026-05-23

• MTR — embedded My Traceroute: runs mtr --report, parses text output, displays a live table with Loss %, RTT Last/Avg/Best/Worst/Jitter per hop, colour-coded by loss severity; continuous mode; CSV + TXT export
• Speed Test — dependency-free speed test via curl + Cloudflare (speed.cloudflare.com): download (25 MB), upload (10 MB), ping to 1.1.1.1; up to 5 runs persisted in JSON; historical line graph (Download/Upload)
• Firewall Viewer — read-only ruleset viewer: parses /etc/nftables.conf and /etc/iptables/*.rules without root; live ruleset via pkexec nft list ruleset; columns: Table / Chain / Rule / Port / Action / Comment; colour-coded actions; live filter
• Sidebar hints — each nav entry now shows a subtle ? badge; hovering displays a tooltip describing what the module does; vertical separator added between sidebar and content area
• i18n — all new modules translated in French, English, and Spanish

v1.2.0 — 2026-05-22

• Theme adaptation — full runtime light/dark switching support across all pages; new core/theme.py with is_dark(), color_ok(), color_err(); custom painter widgets (_Graph, _MapWidget) read palette at paint time; all hardcoded Catppuccin Mocha colours replaced with semantic Qt palette roles
• Subnet mask — Dashboard, Interfaces, and Connexions pages now display dotted-decimal subnet mask (e.g. 255.255.255.0) derived from CIDR prefix
• Bandwidth Monitor — explicit Start/Stop button replaces unreliable auto-start on page load
• Export CSV/TXT — Nmap and Traceroute pages now offer Export CSV and Export TXT buttons (appear after scan/trace completes)
• i18n — new translation keys for all above features (fr/en/es/de)

v1.1.1 — 2026-05-16

• SSH terminal — complete rewrite with pyte (VT100/xterm emulator) + QPainter renderer; 2000-line scrollback, cursor blink, 256-colour support
• Visual Traceroute — world map (Natural Earth 110m), live geolocation per hop (ip-api.com), interactive zoom/pan, dual parser (traceroute / tracepath fallback)
• Bandwidth Monitor — real-time per-interface throughput, 60s sliding graph, live speeds, session totals and peaks
• Wake on LAN — pure Python magic packet (UDP broadcast), persistent host book (JSON)
• IP Scanner — hostname resolution via getent/avahi/nmblookup; MAC address, vendor (IEEE OUI 39K entries), interface columns; CSV/TXT export updated
• i18n — full fr/en/es/de translation for all new pages

v1.0.0 — 2026-05-14

Initial public release — 13 modules: Dashboard, Interfaces, Wi-Fi, Subnet Calculator, DNS Lookup, Ping Monitor, IP Scanner, Port Scanner, Nmap, Whois, SNMP, SNTP/NTP, SSH.

Features

Requirements

System tools

Linux — most are already present on a standard install:

# Arch / EndeavourOS
sudo pacman -S iproute2 networkmanager bind-tools nmap whois net-snmp iputils mtr curl

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install iproute2 network-manager dnsutils nmap whois snmp mtr-tiny curl

# Fedora
sudo dnf install iproute NetworkManager bind-utils nmap whois net-snmp-utils mtr curl

macOS — install via Homebrew:

# Required
brew install nmap mtr curl

# Optional — enable additional modules
brew install whois          # WHOIS page
brew install net-snmp       # SNMP page (snmpwalk / snmpget)
brew install samba          # SMB scan with credentials (smbclient)

macOS ships ping, dig, traceroute, netstat, ifconfig, smbutil and route natively. networksetup and scutil are built-in macOS tools, no install needed. OUI vendor lookup in IP Scanner needs no install either — the Wireshark manuf database is downloaded automatically in the background on first use and cached locally.

Optional tools

Python

• Python 3.11+
• PySide6 6.6+
• ptyprocess 0.7+
• pyte 0.8+ (pip install pyte or sudo pacman -S python-pyte)
• tftpy 0.8+ (pip install tftpy or sudo pacman -S python-tftpy) — File Transfer module

Installation

Option 1 — Arch Linux / Manjaro / EndeavourOS (AUR)

yay -S nmlinux

All dependencies (PySide6, ptyprocess, pyte, nmcli, …) are handled automatically.

Option 2 — NixOS / Nix

Run directly with the bundled flake.nix — no system-wide install needed:

git clone https://github.com/thongor77/nmlinux.git
cd nmlinux
nix run .

Or enter a development shell:

nix develop
python3 -m nmlinux.main

All Python dependencies (PySide6, ptyprocess, pyte, tftpy) and system tools (nmcli, nmap, freerdp, vncviewer, mtr, avahi-browse…) are provided automatically via the Nix wrapper.

Option 4 — AppImage (any Linux distro, no install)

Download NMLinux-x.y.z-x86_64.AppImage from the latest release:

chmod +x NMLinux-*.AppImage
./NMLinux-*.AppImage

No installation required — Python, Qt and all NMLinux modules are bundled in a single file.
Works on any x86_64 Linux with glibc 2.17+ (Ubuntu 16.04+, Fedora 26+, Arch, Mint, etc.).

System network tools (nmap, whois, mtr…) are not bundled — install them via your package manager for the corresponding modules to work. See Requirements below.

Option 5 — macOS

Quickest way — one-liner bootstrap. Works on a completely bare Mac: installs Xcode Command Line Tools, Homebrew, all system tools, then NMLinux itself. Safe to re-run (updates instead of reinstalling):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thongor77/nmlinux/main/packaging/bootstrap_macos.sh -o /tmp/bootstrap_macos.sh && bash /tmp/bootstrap_macos.sh

Install system-wide (/Applications) instead of ~/Applications:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thongor77/nmlinux/main/packaging/bootstrap_macos.sh -o /tmp/bootstrap_macos.sh && bash /tmp/bootstrap_macos.sh --system

No Apple Developer account or paid notarization involved — it's the same open-source install_macos_app.sh under the hood, just fetched and run for you. The script is plain, readable bash; feel free to open /tmp/bootstrap_macos.sh and read it before running, or check it directly here: packaging/bootstrap_macos.sh.

Download-then-run (rather than piping straight into bash) is intentional: on a fresh Mac, the script triggers nested interactive steps (Xcode Command Line Tools installer, Homebrew's own installer asking for your sudo password) that read from the terminal — piping the script directly into bash can make those nested prompts interfere with the script's own input stream and stop it partway through. Running from a downloaded file avoids that entirely.

Manual install — if you prefer to run each step yourself, or already have Homebrew:

# 1. Install Homebrew system tools (see Requirements above)
brew install nmap mtr curl

# 2. Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/thongor77/nmlinux.git
cd nmlinux
bash packaging/install_macos_app.sh

To update: git pull && bash packaging/install_macos_app.sh
To uninstall: bash packaging/uninstall_macos.sh
To install system-wide (/Applications): bash packaging/install_macos_app.sh --system

The script installs the following Python packages into the venv automatically:

• PySide6, ptyprocess, pyte, tftpy
• pyobjc-framework-Cocoa — macOS menu bar, native dialogs
• pyobjc-framework-CoreWLAN — Wi-Fi SSID scanning
• pyobjc-framework-CoreLocation — Location Services permission for Wi-Fi names

Wi-Fi on macOS 26 (Tahoe): on first launch, macOS will ask for Location Services permission — grant it to display Wi-Fi network names. The permission appears under System Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services.

Most modules work on macOS without modification. RDP falls back to open rdp:// (Microsoft Remote Desktop), VNC falls back to open vnc:// (Screen Sharing built-in). Connection Manager has reduced functionality on macOS (nmcli not available).

Option 6 — Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint (install script)

Note for Linux Mint / Ubuntu users: pip install is blocked system-wide on Python 3.12+ (PEP 668 — externally-managed-environment). Use the provided install script — it creates a virtual environment automatically and installs a .desktop entry.

git clone https://github.com/thongor77/nmlinux.git
cd nmlinux
bash install.sh

The script will:

• Install system dependencies via apt (libgl1, python3-venv, freerdp, tigervnc…)
• Create a virtual environment in ~/.local/share/nmlinux/venv
• Install NMLinux and its Python dependencies inside the venv
• Create a launcher at ~/.local/bin/nmlinux
• Add a .desktop entry so NMLinux appears in your application menu

After install, run nmlinux from a terminal or launch it from the application menu.

Option 7 — Wheel (all distros / macOS)

Download the .whl from the latest release and install it:

# Arch / Fedora / macOS — no pip restrictions
pip install nmlinux-1.5.3-py3-none-any.whl

# Debian / Ubuntu / Mint — install system libs first, then use pipx
# Ubuntu ≤24.04:
sudo apt install libgl1 libglib2.0-0 libdbus-1-3 freerdp2-x11 tigervnc-viewer
# Ubuntu 26.04+:
sudo apt install libgl1 libglib2.0-0 libdbus-1-3 freerdp3-x11 tigervnc-viewer

pipx install nmlinux-1.5.3-py3-none-any.whl

Note for Ubuntu 26.04+: pipx requires system libraries (libGL, etc.) to be installed first — the commands above cover them. If pipx install fails due to a PySide6 build error, use Option 4 (install script) instead, which handles everything automatically.

Option 8 — From source (Arch / Fedora / macOS)

git clone https://github.com/thongor77/nmlinux.git
cd nmlinux
pip install PySide6 ptyprocess pyte tftpy
python3 -m nmlinux.main

Option 9 — Desktop entry (KDE / GNOME / etc.)

Copy the .desktop file to make NMLinux appear in your application launcher:

cp data/nmlinux.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

Then edit the Exec= path in the file if needed.

Running

./nmlinux.sh
# or, after pip install:
nmlinux
# or directly:
python3 -m nmlinux.main

Project structure

nmlinux/
  core/
    i18n.py         — Translation system (8 languages: fr/en/es/de/it/pt/ja/zh), tr(key) function
    icons.py        — themed_icon(): 21 bundled Lucide SVG icons via QSvgRenderer
    theme.py        — is_dark(), color_ok(), color_err(): runtime light/dark helpers
    settings.py     — AppSettings dataclass, JSON persistence
    ssh.py          — SshConnection dataclass, SshStore
    rdp.py          — RdpConnection dataclass, RdpStore, find_xfreerdp()
    vnc.py          — VncConnection dataclass, VncStore, find_vncviewer()
    terminal.py     — SshWorker (QThread) + PTY via ptyprocess, emits raw bytes
    tls_watchlist.py — TlsWatchlist: background cert expiry checker, JSON persistence
    http_server.py  — ThreadedHTTPServer: directory listing, GET/PUT/POST, port binding
    tftp_helper.py  — TftpServerThread: tftpy wrapper, configurable port and root
    help_content.py — Module contextual help strings (all 8 languages)
    cli_bar.py      — CliBar singleton: pedagogical CLI equivalent bar
    export_dialog.py — open_export_dialog(): QFileDialog with live extension update
  command_palette.py — CommandPalette (Ctrl+P): fuzzy search across 29 modules
  export_manager.py  — collect_snapshot(), to_json/text/markdown/pdf, save_export()
  pages/
    about.py        — About page (credits, tools & services)
    bandwidth.py    — Bandwidth Monitor: per-interface 60s graph, live stats
    connection_manager.py — Connection Manager: nmcli profiles, connect/disconnect/edit
    dashboard.py    — Dashboard
    dns.py          — DNS Lookup
    file_transfer.py — File Transfer: TFTP + HTTP server, live log, pkexec for port 69
    firewall.py     — Firewall Viewer: nftables + iptables parser, live via pkexec
    help_page.py    — Contextual help overlay
    hosts.py        — Hosts File: view/edit /etc/hosts, toggle entries, save via pkexec
    interfaces.py   — Network Interfaces
    ip_scanner.py   — IP Scanner
    mtr.py          — MTR: mtr --report parser, live hop stats table, export
    nmap_scan.py    — Nmap
    ping.py         — Ping Monitor
    port_scanner.py — Port Scanner
    rdp.py          — Remote Desktop: RDP profiles, launches xfreerdp
    settings.py     — Settings page
    smb_nfs.py      — SMB/NFS Browser: smbclient + showmount
    snmp.py         — SNMP
    sntp.py         — SNTP / NTP
    speedtest.py    — Speed Test: curl + Cloudflare, history graph
    ssh.py          — SSH page (connection manager + terminal)
    ssh_keys.py     — SSH Key Manager: list/generate/deploy/delete key pairs
    subnet.py       — Subnet Calculator
    terminal_view.py — TerminalView: pyte VT100 emulator + QPainter renderer
    tls.py          — TLS Inspector + TLS Watchlist: cert details, background expiry monitor
    topology.py     — Topology Map: nmap -sn, interactive graph, zoom/pan
    traceroute.py   — Visual Traceroute: world map, geolocation, zoom/pan
    vnc.py          — VNC: connection profiles, launches vncviewer
    whois.py        — Whois
    wifi.py         — Wi-Fi
    wol.py          — Wake on LAN: magic packet, persistent host book
  assets/
    icons/          — 21 bundled Lucide SVG icons (#60a5fa)
    world.geojson   — Natural Earth 110m countries (map background)
  window.py         — MainWindow (sidebar + QStackedWidget)
  main.py           — Entry point

Desktop environment compatibility

Since v1.2.7, NMLinux uses 21 bundled Lucide SVG icons rendered at runtime via QSvgRenderer. The app no longer depends on any system icon theme (Breeze, Adwaita, Papirus…) and displays correctly on KDE, GNOME, XFCE, and others. The Qt style adapts to the running desktop automatically.

Limitations

Linux

Full support — all 29 modules available.

macOS

Most modules work out of the box since they rely on tools available on both platforms (ssh, dig, ping, curl, nmap, openssl…).

9 modules required explicit macOS adaptation (dual code paths detecting the platform at startup): Dashboard, Interfaces, Wi-Fi, Topology, Bandwidth, Firewall, Connection Manager, Hosts File, MTR — these use native macOS commands (ifconfig, networksetup, scutil, pfctl, system_profiler…) instead of their Linux equivalents.

Modules with limited or no macOS support:

General

• No root/polkit integration — tools requiring elevated privileges (some Nmap modes, raw sockets) must be run with sudo; on macOS, privilege escalation uses osascript + administrator privileges
• SSH agent forwarding requires an active SSH agent (SSH_AUTH_SOCK); on macOS this is handled automatically by the system, no manual setup needed

Credits and acknowledgements

• Anthropic — Claude Code, the AI assistant used to build this project
• The author, for the vision, testing, and direction

Support the project

If NMLinux is useful to you, consider supporting its development:

• PayPal — Donate via PayPal
• Bitcoin — bc1qspe0tky7552qas72wgn8w9dswr0dxlv24w39t6ztjqk3nz6kc5tqv753a4

License

GPL-2.0 — see LICENSE.

This project is an independent reimplementation. No code from NETworkManager was used or translated.