Re: Specifying names for tap interfaces

[Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

> NetBSD needs to seriously look at the command set for network
> interface administration and enhance the model beyond being centered
> around ifconfig.

> Trying to keep shoe horning everything into ifconfig is just going to
> make ifconfig more and more unwieldly as time goes by.

Agreed.

When I created srt interfaces, I created srtconfig to configure the
srt-specific parts, rather than shoehorning srt-specific configuration
into ifconfig.  When I created my vlan interfaces (not related to the
ones that later went into NetBSD, except that they both address the
same desire), I created vlanconfig to configure the vlan-specific
parts, rather than shoehorning vlan-specific configuration into
ifconfig.  If I'd added other network interfaces with idiosyncratic
configuration information, I'd've done likewise for them.

The only excuse for putting it in ifconfig I can see is to make it easy
to put into /etc/ifconfig.* or ifconfig_*.  While this is true as far
as it goes, IMO this means that ifconfig_* and /etc/ifconfig.* need to
be generalized, not that all configuration related to anything networky
should go into ifconfig(8).  Personally, I dealt with this by adding
ifsetup_pre_xxN and ifsetup_post_xxN variables, giving commands to run
before and after configuring xxN.  (I think /etc/ifconfig.xxN is a
mistake and never use it, or I probably would have done something
analogous there.)

> [I]f a more meaningful name for a network device is desired, it is
> simpler in every way for there to be one name that is used everywhere
> and to provide the means to not only assign the name to a device but
> to also see what names have been assigned to what devices.

Identifying "what devices" in any useful way implies that other names
for them exist.

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