On Thu, 2012-02-09 at 09:52 -0800, John Fastabend wrote:

quoted

quoted

By netlink_notifier do you mean adding a notifier_block and using atomic_notifier_call_chain()
probably in rtnl_notify()? Then drivers could register with the notifier chain with
atomic_notifier_chain_register() and receive the events correctly. Or did I miss
some notifier chain that already exists?

Yes. that is what I mean. The callbacks you need may or may not already be present.

I'll go one step further.
This stuff shouldnt be in the kernel at all. 
The disadvantage is you need a user space app to update the hardware.
i.e, the same mechanism should be usable for either a switch embedded
in a NIC or a standalone hardware switch (with/out the s/ware bridge 
presence)

cheers,
jamal