ifconfig link documentation ?

[Manuel Bouyer]

Hi,
how is 'ifconfig foo link' supposed to work ? I've not found references
to it in ifconfig(8).

I've a sample ethernet adapter which doesn't have an eeprom for
mac address (or I've not found how to talk to it), and I'm wondering
if ifconfig foo link could help in such a situation to give a useable
mac address to the device before ifconfig up.

[Masao Uebayashi]

Post by Manuel Bouyer
how is 'ifconfig foo link' supposed to work ? I've not found references
to it in ifconfig(8).
I've a sample ethernet adapter which doesn't have an eeprom for
mac address (or I've not found how to talk to it), and I'm wondering
if ifconfig foo link could help in such a situation to give a useable
mac address to the device before ifconfig up.

As far as I understand, the "link" parameter (IFF_LINK[0-2]) is used
by link layer and its usage^Wuse is implementation-defined.

It seems if_ether* doesn't touch it and just pass it through to
ethernet drivers. Some ethernet drivers use "link" as driver's
specific configuration.

Masao

--
Posted automagically by a mail2news gateway at muc.de e.V.
Please direct questions, flames, donations, etc. to news-***@muc.de

[der Mouse]

Post by Manuel Bouyer
how is 'ifconfig foo link' supposed to work ?
I've a sample ethernet adapter which doesn't have an eeprom for mac
address [...]

As far as I understand, the "link" parameter (IFF_LINK[0-2]) [...]

I thought the question was not about the IFF_LINK[012] flags, but
rather about controlling the interface's link-layer address (MAC
address for an Ethernet).

/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML ***@rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B

--
Posted automagically by a mail2news gateway at muc.de e.V.
Please direct questions, flames, donations, etc. to news-***@muc.de

[Manuel Bouyer]

Post by Masao Uebayashi

Post by Manuel Bouyer
how is 'ifconfig foo link' supposed to work ? I've not found references
to it in ifconfig(8).
I've a sample ethernet adapter which doesn't have an eeprom for
mac address (or I've not found how to talk to it), and I'm wondering
if ifconfig foo link could help in such a situation to give a useable
mac address to the device before ifconfig up.

As far as I understand, the "link" parameter (IFF_LINK[0-2]) is used
by link layer and its usage^Wuse is implementation-defined.

We can also do something like:
#ifconfig jme0 link 00:11:22:33:44:55
which then gives:
#ifconfig jme0
jme0: flags=8822<BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
address: 00:00:00:00:00:00
media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX full-duplex)
status: active
link 00:11:22:33:44:55


It's think "link" that I'm interested with (especially what would be the
difference between "link" and "address" in the ifconfig output).
I found no documentation about it so far ...

[David Young]

Post by Manuel Bouyer

Post by Masao Uebayashi

Post by Manuel Bouyer
how is 'ifconfig foo link' supposed to work ? I've not found references
to it in ifconfig(8).
I've a sample ethernet adapter which doesn't have an eeprom for
mac address (or I've not found how to talk to it), and I'm wondering
if ifconfig foo link could help in such a situation to give a useable
mac address to the device before ifconfig up.

As far as I understand, the "link" parameter (IFF_LINK[0-2]) is used
by link layer and its usage^Wuse is implementation-defined.

#ifconfig jme0 link 00:11:22:33:44:55
#ifconfig jme0
jme0: flags=8822<BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
address: 00:00:00:00:00:00
media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX full-duplex)
status: active
link 00:11:22:33:44:55
It's think "link" that I'm interested with (especially what would be the
difference between "link" and "address" in the ifconfig output).
I found no documentation about it so far ...

The 'address:' line tells the "active" link-layer address, that is,
the one that is the default link-layer source address for transmissions.
The 'link' lines tell all of the inactive link-layer addresses.

I have updated the ifconfig(8) manual page both with this information
and with examples. Let me know how I can improve it.

Dave

[Manuel Bouyer]

Post by David Young

Post by Manuel Bouyer
It's think "link" that I'm interested with (especially what would be the
difference between "link" and "address" in the ifconfig output).
I found no documentation about it so far ...

The 'address:' line tells the "active" link-layer address, that is,
the one that is the default link-layer source address for transmissions.
The 'link' lines tell all of the inactive link-layer addresses.
I have updated the ifconfig(8) manual page both with this information
and with examples. Let me know how I can improve it.

Looks good, at last I've now the informations I was looking for.
Thanks !