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Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 17:53:11 +0200
From: Luigi Rizzo <rizzo@iet.unipi.it>
To: Anderson Eduardo <listas@secover.com.br>
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Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Using ipfw table names instead of numbers.
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On Sat, Sep 04, 2010 at 10:58:44AM -0300, Anderson Eduardo wrote:
> Hello developers,
> 
> I use the ipfw firewall with many tables and, I would like of able to 
> use it with name/alias instead of just numbers.
> 
> E.g:
> 
> lab# ipfw table 1 name lanetwork
> Setting table 1 to lanetwork
> lab# ipfw table lanetwork add 192.168.0.0/24
> lab# ipfw table lanetwork list
> 192.168.0.0/24 0
> lab#
> 
> I think a good idea a patch to do that.

if you have a patch feel free to post it.
the main issue is that internally, for efficiency reason,
the name must be translated to a number anyways, so before implementing
it one must decide where the name-number translation table is stored
and how it is managed
The same applies to any name vs. number issue in ipfw/dummynet
Service, protocol and host names solve these issues because there
is a well defined place for the translation table.  But, for instance,
hostname mappings are static (translated at rule insertion time)
whereas one might want a more dynamic behaviour (e.g. refresh
whenever the DNS response expires).

cheers
luigi