From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Mon May 26 15:17:46 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A5B85106564A; Mon, 26 May 2008 15:17:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 702438FC2E; Mon, 26 May 2008 15:17:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from compute2.internal (compute2.internal [10.202.2.42]) by out1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B90710FC5E; Mon, 26 May 2008 11:17:46 -0400 (EDT) Received: from heartbeat1.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.160]) by compute2.internal (MEProxy); Mon, 26 May 2008 11:17:46 -0400 X-Sasl-enc: BmCH8Ddrm/NXZI37g3u6FoKKwTjVsBDt4nCQLlLDEHBz 1211815065 Received: from empiric.lon.incunabulum.net (82-35-112-254.cable.ubr07.dals.blueyonder.co.uk [82.35.112.254]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 14E19110AB; Mon, 26 May 2008 11:17:44 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <483AD498.6070207@FreeBSD.org> Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 16:17:44 +0100 From: "Bruce M. Simpson" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080514) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Ade Lovett References: <20080524111715.T64552@fledge.watson.org> <1211640498.1510.8.camel@localhost> <20080524165519.K9809@fledge.watson.org> <20080525105726.O39741@fledge.watson.org> <5D4AF8D7-88A7-4197-A0FE-7CA992EE5F96@FreeBSD.org> In-Reply-To: <5D4AF8D7-88A7-4197-A0FE-7CA992EE5F96@FreeBSD.org> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: arch@freebsd.org, Robert Watson , current@freebsd.org, net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: HEAD UP: non-MPSAFE network drivers to be disabled (was: 8.0 network stack MPsafety goals (fwd)) X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 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, 26 May 2008 15:17:46 -0000 Ade Lovett wrote: > > On May 25, 2008, at 02:58 , Robert Watson wrote: >> While I'd be quite supportive of something along these lines, I think >> it probably is more work to port SLIP to userspace than to hack the >> current code a little bit to be MPSAFE, assuming it remains supported >> with the revised tty code. SLIP is a fairly straight-forward piece >> of code, as long as you don't try to understand the line discipline >> stuff. :-) > > Given that this is (a) 2008 and (b) 8.x we're talking about, are there > really that many consumers of SLIP to warrant it being carried forward > at all? It's kind of a basic. [C]SLIP has been historically handy to have around for situations which warrant it. Mind you, given that we have had tun(4) in the tree for years now, a userland implementation of SLIP is possible. As with all of these things it's down to someone sitting down and doing it. I'm not volunteering to support any of this as I don't use it myself (got enough on my plate), merely pointing out that support for SLIP in a system is something many people have taken for granted over the years, and for prototyping something or providing IP over a simple serial link without the configuration overhead of PPP, SLIP is something someone might be using. P.S. ahc(4) is commodity hardware, I think it can stay right where it is thank-you.