From owner-freebsd-hackers Thu Jun 24 15:47: 8 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mail-out2.apple.com (mail-out2.apple.com [17.254.0.51]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C56FB15076 for ; Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:47:06 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from justin@rhapture.apple.com) Received: from mailgate1.apple.com (A17-128-100-225.apple.com [17.128.100.225]) by mail-out2.apple.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id PAA41064 for ; Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:47:07 -0700 Received: from scv1.apple.com (scv1.apple.com) by mailgate1.apple.com (mailgate1.apple.com- SMTPRS 2.0.15) with ESMTP id ; Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:46:53 -0700 Received: from rhapture.apple.com (rhapture.apple.com [17.202.40.59]) by scv1.apple.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA34242; Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:46:52 -0700 Received: by rhapture.apple.com (8.9.1/8.9.1) id PAA00847; Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:46:52 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199906242246.PAA00847@rhapture.apple.com> To: mjacob@feral.com Subject: Re: System unique identifier..... Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 15:46:40 -0700 From: "Justin C. Walker" Reply-To: justin@apple.com X-Mailer: by Apple MailViewer (2.105.dev) Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > From: Matthew Jacob > Date: 1999-06-24 15:03:56 -0700 > To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: System unique identifier..... > Delivered-to: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org > X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > > I was talking about this on linux-kernel, but it also applies to *BSD... > > What're folks' motions of a settable system unique identifier, available > prior to mountroot? This identifier has to be 64 bits or better and must > be persistent across reboots. This could start a long discussion :-}. Some systems just take the IEEE MAC address from the motherboard, or that of the first interface it finds. Others use some algorithmic variation on that value, but it generally boils down to the same thing. For newer Intel boxes, you could just use the CPU chip... well, never mind. The main issue, I think, is that of persistence. How persistent do you want it? I'd bet that no matter what source you use, there's always the problem of "it broke; I had to replace it; now what?". Kind of like your grandfather's axe, which has had six handles and two blades over its lifetime, but it's still your grandfather's axe. Regards, Justin -- Justin C. Walker, Curmudgeon-At-Large * Institute for General Semantics | Manager, CoreOS Networking | When crypto is outlawed, Apple Computer, Inc. | Only outlaws will have crypto. 2 Infinite Loop | Cupertino, CA 95014 | *-------------------------------------*-------------------------------* To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message