* jamal [off-list ref] 2006-06-30 15:34

I thought we went past that point already - and i made it clear that
the reference is _not_ taken in netif_receive_skb().

So assuming it is taken in mirred (i havent thought of where it is
decremented), why would using the ifindex be better?

The issue exists regardless of mirred/ifb. As soon as the packet is
queued for the first time we leave netif_receive_skb() and the dev
reference is dropped. Therefore in order to allow functionality
like tcf_match_indev() at egress we have to either take a reference
or ensure that we can catch the unlikely case of the device having
disappeared. I think everyone would agree to use device pointers
if only mirred would acquire it.