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Date:      Sun, 19 Nov 2023 10:30:25 -0600
From:      Mike Karels <mike@karels.net>
To:        =?utf-8?q?Mina_Gali=C4=87?= <freebsd@igalic.co>
Cc:        Kyle Evans <kevans@FreeBSD.org>, freebsd-net@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: How to tell if a network interface was renamed (and from what)
Message-ID:  <99D24919-A5DF-4A8B-882F-9D724AAD494F@karels.net>
In-Reply-To: <ptnVEMJ_x48tdYePN4iYRiEW2vWqwulbEOUJ4dQ1cKGkxNXZPPfdEVHdJKNHFfs2onxNipVZKPwDZZKlDv1peS1Xttim1VitMFsdUiTkAKE=@igalic.co>
References:  <pdHC0ObBkAbx2HfFIhWYaB5-dmQDEUzNTWvVVJAuJV7FWdWWeSwybVFD-uyBUxPlqDRpAW7D1aAZsbrTxEj9kqsq7ESgO41srPmS-PcXGqw=@igalic.co> <E5F5F61E-3827-404A-A46F-BBCF45A29A82@FreeBSD.org> <9eef5488-e8da-4edd-bc00-baeb5aaf4a23@FreeBSD.org> <ptnVEMJ_x48tdYePN4iYRiEW2vWqwulbEOUJ4dQ1cKGkxNXZPPfdEVHdJKNHFfs2onxNipVZKPwDZZKlDv1peS1Xttim1VitMFsdUiTkAKE=@igalic.co>

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On 19 Nov 2023, at 8:34, Mina Gali=C4=87 wrote:

>>> FreeBSD currently does not preserve the old ( original ) name of
>>> interfaces if it is renamed ( either physical or cloned ones ).
>>> While there's an attempt https://reviews.freebsd.org/D28247
>>> to get the device name (physical
>>> ones) but it is not perfect and not completed.
>>>
>>> So may I ask why you need to know if a network interface was renamed =
?
>>
>>
>> Just last week I found this quite a pain as well; once an interface ha=
s
>> been renamed, if it's not a pseudo-interface with an obvious group
>> there's no clear way, AFAICT, to determine which driver created it
>
> I think the main reason that we need to know if and from what an interf=
ace has been renamed is if we need to know what driver we're working with=
=2E
>
> But given that a rename doesn't change =E2=80=94 or even just *alias*
> the sysctl dev hierarchy, where a %driver is recorded, we can't
> track it back.
>
> (but again, that's just for physical devices, then again virtual device=
s record what type of device they are in their group which
> is essentially the same thing)
>
> As soon as we have more than one interface with different drivers
> it's impossible to parse out what we're dealing with without
> parsing rc.conf, logs, or worse things I can't think of right now.

The kernel has a driver name for each interface, which looks like it
doesn't change currently in most cases.  There is a kernel accessor
function, but I don't think it is exported to user space now.  It could
be, though.  Would this be sufficient for your purposes?  There is also
a unit number, which could also be exported.

		Mike



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