The IPv6 stuff like rtsol currently use MAC addresses to make "host
identifiers" for IPv6 addresses.

Would it be good to have a centralised kernel 64-bnit variable, "host ID",
which is (by default) computed from the MAC address of what appears to be
"the primary interface" according to the IEEE rules, but can be
overridden?

I ask because I'm setting up an IPv6 network and I don't want to have to
update DNS and so on if machine MAC addresses change. I'd give my machines
locally unique IDs based upon their hostnames (which should be an option
for the "host ID" sysctl - set it up from a MAC address, from the
last N chars of the hostname, etc).

It'd be handled by the kernel like hostname an domainname are, I think.

I'm not sure how many bits the IEEE standard for 64 bit host IDs gives the
admin to choose when using locally assigned IDs - I imagine that a
hostname compacted down to 7-bit ASCII (eg, 1 and one seventh chars per
byte) should be able to fit at least 8 chars into the ID?

There are other applications for those IEEE unique IDs, too, I think,
beyond IPv6 stuff...

ABS

-- 
                               Alaric B. Snell
 http://www.alaric-snell.com/  http://RFC.net/  http://www.warhead.org.uk/
   Any sufficiently advanced technology can be emulated in software