Network Loopback Device connected externally

[anthony93]

Updated networkmanager to version 1.42.0-1 yesterday. After rebooting, I noticed that loopback device (device name lo) is enabled by default, which wasn’t the case before the update:

Is this normal? What does “connected externally” mean?

I ran nmcli connection show lo (full output can be found here: https://0x0.st/Hrfy.txt) and found that connection.autoconnect is set to no, so I don’t understand why the device is connected by default. Is something else enabling the device?

[smokey]

I noticed this last night after updating as well on kde

[Stagger_Lee]

See this thread.

It’s a new feature of networkmanager:

Cabled ethernet connection autocreated

It’s not a bug, it’s a new feature: Managing the loopback interface Because of the loopback interface’s somewhat unique characteristics, NetworkManager traditionally treated it specially. That basically meant it ensured it’s up and that’s about it. In the new version of NetworkManager, loopback interfaces are less special. While it’s still a little special – it will be configured even if there’s no connection profile for it – it’s now possible to actually activate a connection profile on a l…

[smokey]

Thought it might have been a “feature” over a bug though wasn’t quite sure, thanks for the reply and answering this