On 03/ 2/10 03:18 PM, Sebastien Roy wrote:
>
>
> 1.7 non-contiguous netmask support removed
> ------------------------------------------
>
> Non-contiguous netmasks are a relic of yesteryear architectures for
> which we still retain support in the kernel today, and which create
> more complications than they solve. Very few customers use these
> today, and when used, they only create confusion.
>
> This is a hindrance for this project, which strives for an API where
> addresses are input and displayed in the "address/prefixlen" CIDR
> format. Thus, even if ipadm itself will not allow non-contiguous
> netmasks, if ifconfig is used to add non-contiguous netmask, ipadm
> would be forced to either lie about the mask or otherwise mangle its
> output format to display it.
>
> Therefore, this project will be adding checks in the kernel to prevent
> such netmasks from being created.
>
What is a non-contiguous netmask? Is this a mask where there are 0 bits
between 1 bits, e.g. 255.0.255.0? (That would be an incredibly
dangerous, and probably not useful, kind of setting.)
- Garrett
