From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Sun May 4 21:17:42 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3ADA637B401 for ; Sun, 4 May 2003 21:17:42 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp-relay.omnis.com (smtp-relay.omnis.com [216.239.128.27]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C029643FB1 for ; Sun, 4 May 2003 21:17:41 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Received: from softweyr.homeunix.net (66-91-236-204.san.rr.com [66.91.236.204]) by smtp-relay.omnis.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E34AF1B7C4; Sun, 4 May 2003 21:17:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Wes Peters Organization: Softweyr To: Jeremy Chadwick , freebsd-net@freebsd.org Date: Sun, 4 May 2003 21:17:39 -0700 User-Agent: KMail/1.5 References: <_MzYgD.A.O9P._h8s-@coal.sentex.ca> <200305041937.27631.vjardin@wanadoo.fr> <20030504181820.GA84906@parodius.com> In-Reply-To: <20030504181820.GA84906@parodius.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200305042117.39042.wes@softweyr.com> Subject: Re: Howto rename an interface X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 05 May 2003 04:17:42 -0000 On Sunday 04 May 2003 11:18, Jeremy Chadwick wrote: > > Sorry if this Email comes off as harsh -- I just grow very > tired of seeing ambiguity weaselling it's way into Good Software(tm). It doesn't come off as harsh, just as uninformed. You didn't bother to collect the full information before going off on a rant, even when there were prominent clues thrust into your face. For instance, Vincent's original message said: On 3 May 2003 15:47:34 +0200, Vincent Jardin wrote: > I would like to rename the network interfaces. More particularly, I > would like to control the numbers in the name and to remove the > constraints. > > For example, what are the issues about renaming my 'vr0' interface to > eth1-3 or DSL-WAN that does not have a ifunit within its name ? The "DSL-WAN" bit might have set off some bells if you'd been paying attention, or a bit more experienced. Consider my dilemma at work, where we're introducing a new hardware platform and planning for another. We're adding a third ethernet port in the new one, and the one we're still spec'ing will be offered in both 10/100 and 10/100/1000 models, so the network interfaces are: model: 1000 1100 1200 3000 Internal port fxp0 fxp1 fxp2 fxp2 or em1 External port fxp1 fxp0 fxp0 fxp0 or em0 Managment port n/a n/a fxp1 fxp1 or fxp0 All of the system startups need to refer to these ports by function, not by some silly number assigned as a side effect of the PCI bus probing order. This almost begs for some simple alias that can be programmatically (or via a command line utility) added to the interface so the association with the device type isn't lost. That bears some thought. An interface label, as it were... -- Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket? Wes Peters wes@softweyr.com