Re: Resend: [IPROUTE2 PATCH] Interface group as new ip link option

On Tue, 2007-16-10 at 13:47 +0200, Laszlo Attila Toth wrote:

Hm, the main problem (for me) is that it requires more then one value 
per net device and it should be limited. But if I say it is 5 for 
instance, anyone can say it is not enough for him.

Yes, those pesky humans, you give them an inch and they want a mile ;->
I think 32 for example is better than 1. So if you use a u32 variable
doesnt pollute the netdevice that much - and used as a bitmap, then
setting any of the 32 bits implies the device is in that group. This of
course limits the group ids to be (1..32). Your mileage may vary.

ip link set ppp0 group 10
also if "ip link set..." works for multiple interfaces it is already 
done. If it is not, it will affect positively all other settings :)

nice.
The part that is not very useful today with ifconfig or ip link ls is i
have only two choices: Either i ask for all devices or for one; i cant
ask for something in the middle. If i can group them together then i can
solve that problem sith some user space plumbing (which avoids 10K
netlink messages). 
"get ppp*" may actually be a totally separate call which also traverses
the list in the kernel and just returns the matching devices. 

cheers,
jamal