>Number:         784
>Category:       kern
>Synopsis:       ARP support is hardwired to protocol=IP and data link type=Ethernet
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    kern-bug-people (Kernel Bug People)
>State:          open
>Class:          change-request
>Submitter-Id:   net
>Arrival-Date:   Sun Feb  5 08:05:04 1995
>Originator:     Ignatios Souvatzis
>Organization:
" Private Internet site. "
>Release:        
>Environment:
	
System: NetBSD beverly 1.0 NetBSD 1.0 (BEVERLY) #206: Fri Feb 3 11:14:36 MET 1995 root@beverly:/usr/src/sys/arch/amiga/compile/BEVERLY amiga


>Description:
	The kernels ARP support is concentrated in sys/netinet/if_ether.[hc].
	While the ARP protocol is designed independent of network and
	data link protocol, IP resp. Ethernet are hardwired in.

	This makes it impossible to wire in, e.g., ARCnet drivers with ARP support.

	This is not critical, as RFC1051 ARCnet systems are allowed to use a fixed
	mapping (data_link_addres = ntohl(ip_addrs)%256) and RFC1051 ARCnet systems 
	using ARP must be able to switch to that mapping (which can be achieved by
	using proxy ARP). However, as of RFC1201, this practice is no longer recommended.

>How-To-Repeat:
	Look into the code.

>Fix:
	I have no fix ready, as it would be a major change in that part, and I 
	first want to get the hardware working before I dig into that. However, if 
	nobody else wants to do it, I'd give it a try later.
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: