On Sat, 2006-01-04 at 08:24 -0500, Paul Fox wrote: > hi -- > > i'm not subscribed to netdev, so this probably won't make it to > the list. that's probably okay. >
It made it. > > Hopefully, the original poster > > can explain what kind of problems they saw that prompted the patch. > > i can't give an in-the-field example of a case where it has been > observed to break, but i believe i have an example of where it > might: picture a set of handheld devices all configured for the > same ad-hoc wireless network. there's no AP in view, and no DHCP > server. the devices do peer discovery by means of mDNS. as > devices enter and leave the community's "range", networks may be > merged and separated. But if you leave a network and enter a new one, is your address still valid? I would take it the device that is in the network you just joined has more rights to the address in case of a conflict than someone new joining the network, no? IOW, if you migrate to a new network and always grat-arp, is that not sufficient to resolve conflicts? > this example is not entirely artificial -- > the products i work on are sold into the automobile industry, for > use in dealerships. while most dealerships with multiple > wireless devices (these are handheld, and smaller, devices that > aid in servicing the vehicles) will probably invest in an AP and > router, that infrastructure is not required for the product to > function correctly. if you only have a few devices, you might > not need what most people would consider a "real" network. (of > course, the fewer the devices, the less likely the bug being > discussed is to occur, but...) If you position it as "work around to possibly buggy devices using link local" then it would make more sense. Is that what it is? Again, I am indifferent given the patch size - I havent seen a convincing reason so far. cheers, jamal - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe netdev" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
