Ubuntu Wiki

OfflineModeSpec

Launchpad Feature Request

There is a lot of situations, when notebooks are offline. many applications have an offline mode, but need to be told about offline mode manually. this should be coordinated with tools like network-admin and network-manager.

Mainly on Notebooks, which are carried around a lot, it's a common situation to be offline. Even nowadays, when mobile broadband is becoming feasible and cheaper all the time.

UseCase: I usually take along my notebook to work in the morning, and take it back home in the evenings. On the train to work I like to read newsfeeds and mailinglists and some websites.. I have been using wwwoffle for some time now, which is a great tool - altough it's integration in the Desktop and browsers could be improved. Whenever I leave office I have to put many applications in offline mode, or shut them down: Generic List: RSS Newsreader, WebBrowser or WWWOFFLE, e-mail, Instant Messenger, SoftPhone, Download-Manager, BitTorrent client, ... List by Applications: Liferea, Firefox, Evolution, Thunderbird, Gaim, Ekiga, etc..

WWWOFFLE could be turned on, by ifup/down but it only comes with scripts for ppp, (e.g. /etc/ppp/ip-up.d/1wwwoffle) this should be included in /etc/network/if....d

There should be one instance of the on/offline status which can be queried by applications or even better, which would send a signal to all the affected applications. This could probably be integrated into networking profiles like whereami or network-admin.

There is need for an interface, where users can tell the system: "I'm gonna unplug the network cable now, please let all the apps know." Then the IMAP email apps start downloading mail, and liferea can update feeds, that need to. There should be an option to automatically start/end Instant Messengers etc.. on change of the on/offline status if thats preferred.