Re: Patch to implement SIOCGIFINDEX

[Matt Thomas <matt%3am-software.com@localhost>]

On Apr 2, 2013, at 2:29 PM, Ty Sarna <ty%sarna.org@localhost> wrote:

> 
> On Apr 2, 2013, at 5:14 PM, Ty Sarna <ty%sarna.org@localhost> wrote:
> 
>> It's really the most useful thing for this use (sockaddr_can), because it's
>> stable across the attachment life of an interface.
> 
> As are interface indexes, for that matter. But interface names are more
> likely to be the same across multiple attachment lifetimes. If someone
> yanks and reattaches interfaces between the time you specify an ifname
> and the time the bind happens, at least you'll get a failure or be bound
> to the same *kind* of interface, instead of something else.

Note that ifindex'es on NetBSD are not reused.

Which is one reason I choose them for this.