Re: Proposal: enable stateless persistant network interface names
Karsten Merker wrote:
> while this probably works resonably well for (semi-)fixed devices
> like onboard-NICs and PCI/PCIe cards, it results in a completely
> unsuitable behaviour with pluggable devices such as USB network
> adapters. When using ifnames, the interface name depends on the
> USB port into which the device is currently plugged and the
> interface name changes when one uses a USB hub or plugs the
> device into another host port. This would mean that a user would
> always have to plug his USB network device into the same port
> that was used during initial setup to keep it working, and
> one-off use of a USB hub would require changing the network
> configuration. Despite the problems of the MAC-based system
> that we use currently, the ifnames method appears way worse
> to me than what we have now.
That would only be a problem if you're using ifupdown and its hardcoded
network interface names. Other network software handles dynamic names.
Without this, you can't reliably use a system with *two* USB network
devices, because they won't consistently come up with the same names.
Or, for that matter, a system with a built-in network interface and a
USB network interface.
- Josh Triplett
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