Re: Desired behaviour of "ifconfig -alias"

On Monday 12 February 2007 12:26, Oliver Fromme wrote:
JoaoBR <joao@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
....
> "ifconfig nic -alias" is obviously a wired and confusing behaviour

It might be confusing to you. Personally I think that the
current behaviour isn't that far off.


the question is not you or me, I guess that you are like me perfectly capable
of working around messed things. But that does not make it being right or
acceptable.


First you need to be aware that there is no distinction
between a primary IP and alias IPs (such a distinction
existed historically, but it's gone). All of the IPs on
an interface are equal, just like hardlinks on a file.

I said this in shorter words in my post but it is not the point at all.

The "-alias" parameter simply removes an address from an

man page tells us that it removes THE specified address ... not AN address

interface. The term "alias" should really be avoided
because it is misleading. You can use "delete" or "remove"
which do the same thing. I think "-alias" should really
be regarded to exist for backwards compatibility only.
Personally I always use "delete".



it is not misleading and it is a perfect term. With alias you add secondary
addresses to an interface. Like secondary is probably the better word, as
cisco does, but what we have is alias and that is ok. It could be any other
word so long as it works as it should. (We do have "add" also I remember.)


also don't forget the following, alias is a perfect and usual term, then when
I can add an IP address with the alias cmd then -alias should remove it.

I know that I can add the first IP also with alias but that is not the usual
way.

Also do not forget that the usual way since ever is ifconfig_nic_alias0 to
add one. So this thing is confusing.


If no IP address is specified, then it's not completely
nonsensical to remove the first address. In fact I've
used that short-cut to quickly remove the only address
from an interface. I've used "ifconfig xyz0 delete"
quite a lot.

the man page tells us that -alias removes *the* specified address and not the
first, also the man page does not say that there is any further action when
*no* IP address specified

delete is according to the man page another word for -alias, that means, using
grammatical logic that -alias is the main command, then according to the man
page there is no other command as "-alias *IP*" to remove an IP address
and -alias only should not remove anything



> then already beeing here there is more, ifconfig nic alias does not
> return anything at all

That's the same as "ifconfig nic add". If you don't tell
it anything to add, then it won't add anything, of course.
Remember that UNIX always tries to do exactly what you
tell it to dao. ;-)


you see, now you apply logic because you want to and when not not ... ;)

to let it more clear what I mean, you say: "you don't tell it anything to add"
so why the heck "ifconfig nic -alias" should remove one if I do not tell so?


> and ifconfig nic -alias on a nic w/o ip returns "can't assign
> requested address" ...

That error corresponds to EADDRNOTAVAIL, which is the
correct errno to return, because there's no address left
on the interface. However, I agree that the message is
a bit confusing to the unfamiliar.

at least one agreement here :)

--

João







A mensagem foi scaneada pelo sistema de e-mail e pode ser considerada segura.
Service fornecido pelo Datacenter Matik https://datacenter.matik.com.br
_______________________________________________
freebsd-stable@xxxxxxxxxxx mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx"

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Desired behaviour of "ifconfig -alias"
    ... > it is not misleading and it is a perfect term. ... With alias you add ... IP addresses assigned to an interface which happens to have ... But when removing something without specifying which one, ...
    (freebsd-stable)
  • Re: im so sick of technology...
    ... Maybe you are confusing B's with 8's and 0s with Os. ... Alias ... Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: apache aliasing
    ... > to add a new alias that is confusing me: ... > Options ExecCGI Includes FollowSymlinks ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Word 2002 doesnt list suggestion for correct spelling
    ... I feel so stupid. ... I unchecked it, confusing ... it with check typing as you type. ... >Please do not send e-mail directly to this alias. ...
    (microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar)
  • Re: Too neat to waste...
    ... confusing. ... It's a simple matter to set up an alias so you can't be ... recognised on a newsgroup, so why would people feel the need to post ... A good percentage of people don't wish to hide behind an alias, ...
    (uk.rec.audio)