At the moment net-misc/networkmanager unconditionally depends on net-misc/modemmanager, however this is only needed of Modem and mobile broadband connections, for computers connection the net via a local lan, there is no need for this package I think a use flag should be added so that this fetcher can be disabled when not needed.
This dependency is currently unconditional. Without modemmanager, networkmanager will not compile/work. Big rework is planned for 0.9 to make it much more modular.
I currently have net-misc/networkmanager-0.8.2-r4 without net-misc/modemmanager (I made a copy of the ebuild with the dep removed). net-misc/networkmanager is working fine and is connecting me to my network with no problem.
ok i am wondering about the very same thing. i have unmerged modemmanager with no ill effects. if networkmanager refuses to build without it, that's another story. bootup spam that modemmanager produces is totally unacceptable. there seems to be no way to disable modemmanager at runtime?