>> Can you point me to a discussion exlaining why cloning devices are great and
>
>I don't remember one

i don't think where was one.  i think it was mainly me staying up late
and playing around and deciding to make tun into a cloning interface.
it seemed cool and useful and stuff, so there you go.

>> the way we had it is bad? Apart from what looks like having the freedom of
>> not hardwiring the number if interfaces in the kernel config file. Not to
>> mention a refreshingly less cluttered ifconfig -a output :)
>
>Well, that's the most important points I think :) For things like vlan or gif,
>the hardwired number is really annoying.

the reasons you cite are the key ones.  if you really want them
autocreated for you, you can do it in rc.local, or make a few files
called /etc/ifconfig.tun0, /etc/ifconfig.tun1, etc, that all say
"create" and you'll be all set.

being a heavy tun user, you *must* appreciate how nice it must be not
to have to recompile if you need another one.  :)

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