Not working on Ubuntu 18.04 as normal user

$ lsb_release -d
Description:	Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
$ python3 example.py  # this is the code from README.md
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "example.py", line 7, in <module>
    iface = wifi.interfaces()[0]
  File "/home/cor/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pywifi/wifi.py", line 42, in interfaces
    for interface in wifi_ctrl.interfaces():
  File "/home/cor/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pywifi/_wifiutil_linux.py", line 281, in interfaces
    for f in sorted(os.listdir(CTRL_IFACE_DIR)):
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
$ sudo chmod 755 /var/run/wpa_supplicant
$ python3 example.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "example.py", line 7, in <module>
    iface = wifi.interfaces()[0]
  File "/home/cor/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pywifi/wifi.py", line 42, in interfaces
    for interface in wifi_ctrl.interfaces():
  File "/home/cor/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pywifi/_wifiutil_linux.py", line 288, in interfaces
    self._connect_to_wpa_s(f)
  File "/home/cor/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pywifi/_wifiutil_linux.py", line 304, in _connect_to_wpa_s
    sock.connect(ctrl_iface)
PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied
$ 

[bitinerant]

@Oxmel - This is a slow-moving party. 😃

You are correct that, on most Linux distributions, root is required, at least temporarily, to manipulate WPA supplicant. In my opinion, this is not an acceptable solution because not all end users have access to root.

Fortunately, there is an alternative, at least for distributions that use Network Manager such as Ubuntu. The nmcli tool can do (I think) everything that pywifi needs, and it can do it all without root permissions. We just need someone to program the interface between pywifi and nmli. I actually began this work some months ago, but didn’t have time to finish or test. It is still something I am interested in though.

[Oxmel]

@bitinerant You’re completely right, the workaround i given above is rather hackish compared to interfacing with nmcli, which would be a much better solution.