"libnm-core" implements common functionality for "NetworkManager" and
"libnm".
Note that clients like "nmcli" cannot access the internal API provided
by "libnm-core". So, if nmcli wants to do something that is also done by
"libnm-core", , "libnm", or "NetworkManager", the code would have to be
duplicated.
Instead, such code can be in "libnm-libnm-core-{intern|aux}.la".
Note that:
0) "libnm-libnm-core-intern.la" is used by libnm-core itsself.
On the other hand, "libnm-libnm-core-aux.la" is not used by
libnm-core, but provides utilities on top of it.
1) they both extend "libnm-core" with utlities that are not public
API of libnm itself. Maybe part of the code should one day become
public API of libnm. On the other hand, this is code for which
we may not want to commit to a stable interface or which we
don't want to provide as part of the API.
2) "libnm-libnm-core-intern.la" is statically linked by "libnm-core"
and thus directly available to "libnm" and "NetworkManager".
On the other hand, "libnm-libnm-core-aux.la" may be used by "libnm"
and "NetworkManager".
Both libraries may be statically linked by libnm clients (like
nmcli).
3) it must only use glib, libnm-glib-aux.la, and the public API
of libnm-core.
This is important: it must not use "libnm-core/nm-core-internal.h"
nor "libnm-core/nm-utils-private.h" so the static library is usable
by nmcli which couldn't access these.
Note that "shared/nm-meta-setting.c" is an entirely different case,
because it behaves differently depending on whether linking against
"libnm-core" or the client programs. As such, this file must be compiled
twice.
(cherry picked from commit af07ed01c0)
Note that in NetworkManager API (D-Bus, libnm, and nmcli),
the features are called "feature-xyz". The "feature-" prefix
is used, because NMSettingEthtool possibly will gain support
for options that are not only -K|--offload|--features, for
example -C|--coalesce.
The "xzy" suffix is either how ethtool utility calls the feature
("tso", "rx"). Or, if ethtool utility specifies no alias for that
feature, it's the name from kernel's ETH_SS_FEATURES ("tx-tcp6-segmentation").
If possible, we prefer ethtool utility's naming.
Also note, how the features "feature-sg", "feature-tso", and
"feature-tx" actually refer to multiple underlying kernel features
at once. This too follows what ethtool utility does.
The functionality is not yet implemented server-side.
