On Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 04:41:26PM +0000, Jason McIntyre wrote: > On Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 10:16:54AM -0600, Theo de Raadt wrote: > > Jason McIntyre <j...@kerhand.co.uk> wrote: > > > > > whereas /etc/netstart is actually doing: > > > > > > - configure non-physical: (1) > > > aggr trunk svlan vlan carp pppoe > > > - routing (2) > > > - rest of non-physical: (3) > > > tun tap gif etherip gre egre mobileip pflow wg > > > > > > we could try to keep this list up to date, but it may be easier to just > > > generally describe what netstart is doing. > > > > I think we goes wrong by trying to maintain these as lists, and part of > > where this goes wrong is weak definition of the reasons for the > > ordering. (Meaning, the developers who tweak netstart to handle the > > concerns I'm about to describe, don't tend to think about the manual > > page). > > > > The (1) list of non-physical can probably be called "link-layer control > > interfaces". Or let's find a name for this. These devices mutate the > > presentation of other devices. That's why their configuration needs to > > be done before the physical device. > > > > (2) The physical device is then brought up, including IP addressing. The > > things in (1) need to be done beforehands, or the physical device is > > participating in the wrong layer of network. > > > > the (3) list of non-physical devices are layer-2 or layer-3 and operate > > on devices which are already configured with some some sort of > > "addressing" configured. > > > > It would be nice to have our networking people come up with nice names > > for group (1) and (2); words which succinctly describe the > > classification like I've done above. We need to increase understanding > > of this order, rather than just abstractly listing names of devices with > > complicated behaviours. > > > > Once that is done, I still think it is problematic for us to list all > > devices in each catagory: > > > > a) new subsystems will be forgotten > > b) the order of instantiation will sometimes be listed wrong -- for some > > of these the order is highly significant. > > > > We can try to list as many as possible, but people who want the precise > > list (and order) should look in the netstart code. The lists will get > > long and wrong. If we find we cannot maintain the lists correctly > > because it is duplicated information, man page wording like "such as" > > could be used, also something which leads people to consider the script > > source as authoritative, ie. have them go read the script > > > > ok, here is a start. > > i have left the description as "non-physical", because i think that is > clear. we could easily amend it. ifconfig.8 create talks about "network > pseudo-devices" - that could be a possibility. > > jmc >
an updated diff for this just got committed. jmc
