Re: dhcpcd, carrier and RTM_INFO

[Roy Marples <roy%marples.name@localhost>]

On Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:56:14 -0500, Greg Troxel wrote:
> My impression is that historically (as in 2.8BSD, 4.1BSD) IFF_RUNNING
> meant "resources are allocated" and it has never had anything to do 
> with
> link state.  Paying attention to IFM_ACTIVE (and ignoring 
> IFF_RUNNING)
> seems like the right thing.

That's good to know.
I've adjusted dhcpcd in my git tree accordingly.

> Interface up and down and valid link are separate issues; I don't see
> how they should be commingled.

Well, a valid link but with the interface marked as down I treat it as 
carrier down in dhcpcd because things like the hardware address can then 
be changed which affects the lease.
When it's marked as up it re-negotiates it.

> However, on Linux and I think Solaris, IFF_RUNNING has been 
> repurposed
> to mean "link is up or there is no way to know link status".

Yes.
As part of the IPv6 RA work I added checks for IFF_RUNNING on the Linux 
netlink code dhcpcd uses so it's actually checked anyway which makes the 
proposed change above fine.

Thanks

Roy