netdev - Re: [PATCH] iproute2: hide devices starting with period by default

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Date:   Thu, 23 Feb 2017 18:07:07 -0700
From:   David Ahern <dsa@...ulusnetworks.com>
To:     Stephen Hemminger <stephen@...workplumber.org>
Cc:     netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] iproute2: hide devices starting with period by default

On 2/23/17 5:30 PM, Stephen Hemminger wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:39:52 -0700
> David Ahern <dsa@...ulusnetworks.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 2/23/17 12:50 PM, Stephen Hemminger wrote:
>>> Some use cases create Linux networking devices which are not intended for use
>>> by normal networking. This is an enhancement to ip command to hide network
>>> devices starting with period (like files in normal directory).  Interfaces whose
>>> name start with "." are not shown by default, and the -a (or -all) flag must
>>> be used to show these devices.  
>>
>> Agree that some devices need to be hidden by default -- not just from
>> users but also other processes.
>>
>> This solution is very narrow, only affecting iproute2 users. Any other
>> programs that use netlink or /proc files will continue to see those devices.
> 
> I want solution that works broadly. And this works for sysfs already.

for 'ls' maybe, but not general walking of /sys. It does not hide
devices from snmpd, from ifconfig, etc., etc.


>> I started a patch a year ago that allows devices to marked as invisible
>> (attribute can be toggled at any time). Invisible devices do not show up
>> in netlink dumps, proc files or notifications. Netlink dumps can request
>> invisible devices to be included in a link dump. While it is more
>> intrusive, it is also more complete covering all of the paths in which
>> the device is shows up.
>>
>> Also, changing the default behavior for iproute2 could break existing
>> users that have such device names.
> 
> I am less worried about this. The only people using . in name already
> are probably Brocade, and they have similar thing in CLI to hide these
> devices.


seems like a big assumption.