Network applet: clicking "Mobile Broadband" throws "array element (type filename) may not be null" for modems with no device path (MBIM/eSIM)
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Assessment
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Newbie friendliness
- 78/100
- Issue type
- Bug
- Clarity
- Clearly specified
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Tech stack
- javascript
- Domain
- desktop, networking
Research direction
Read _createAutomaticConnection() in files/usr/share/cinnamon/applets/network@cinnamon.org/applet.js and trace how the mobile broadband item opens cinnamon-settings. Reproduce the null-path case if available, then ensure it falls back to opening the network panel without passing a null argument to Util.spawn().
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Description
Cinnamon version: 6.6.7
Distro: Linux Mint 22.3 (Zena)
Description
Clicking the auto-connect item for a mobile broadband (WWAN) device in the network applet raises an error notification:
Execution of 'cinnamon-settings' failed: array element (type filename) may not be null
Cause
NMDeviceModem._createAutomaticConnection() in files/usr/share/cinnamon/applets/network@cinnamon.org/applet.js does:
Util.spawn(['cinnamon-settings', 'network',
'connect-3g', this.device.get_path()]);
For some modems NM.Device.get_path() returns null. This happens with MBIM / eSIM modems that do not expose a udev hardware path — e.g. a Dell Snapdragon X62 5G on the mhi-pci-generic driver. nmcli reports a valid D-Bus path (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/7), but libnm's get_path() returns null, whereas ethernet/wifi return their udev path (pci-0000:00:14.3).
Passing that null into Util.spawn() makes GLib.spawn_async() throw array element (type filename) may not be null, which _handleSpawnError() surfaces as the notification above.
Steps to reproduce
- Have a WWAN/modem device whose
NM.Device.get_path()returns null (MBIM/eSIM). - Open the network applet menu and click the mobile broadband auto-connect item.
- Observe the error notification instead of the network panel opening.
Fix
Guard against a null path before spawning; fall back to opening the network panel when no path is available. PR incoming.
- Dominant language
- JavaScript
- Stars
- 5.6k
- Forks
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- Avg merge
- 5d 22h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 3
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