On 7/11/06, Axel Dörfler <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Waldemar Kornewald" <wkornew@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> > - you can also refer to /dev/net/ipro1000/0 via /dev/net/ipro1000/
> > 0:0
Would you also find it okay if this wouldn't work outside ifconfig?
Because the rest could completely be solved in ifconfig.
Yes, of course. At the UI level there is no need for it, anyway. It's
just an access method for the command-line.
That reminds me: how does PPPoE come into play here? Is it just another
interface on the ethernet device? So should ifconfig hide it under the
ethernet device then in your opinion?
Like Bruno said, it's an independent net_device. All PPP interfaces
are named "ppp0", "ppp1", and so on, no matter if you're using a modem
or a PPPoE device. When loaded, the PPPoE module simply registers a
handler with the ethernet module. BTW, the way I'm currently doing it
is not thread-safe (the PPPoE<->ethernet device registration, I mean).
Now that you mention it, the current ethernet module only shows an
ethernet device as "up" when some protocol is active (IPv4, for
example). The problem is that PPPoE will only work when the interface
is "up", so you have to configure your interface to some unused
address like 192.168.0.1 even if it's only connected to a DSL modem
(and thus can't even use IPv4).
This is very annoying because unconfigured interfaces just won't work
with PPPoE and the user won't be informed of the exact error.
What I want to suggest is a flag "physically connected" (I think BSD
already has this). The legacy module could always set it to "true",
but our new net_device module system should actually set it
appropriately. That way, packets could always get through when there
is a physical connection (instead of an active protocol). With this,
PPPoE and other services would work without any IP configuration.
