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

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Date:   Thu, 23 Feb 2017 16:30:35 -0800
From:   Stephen Hemminger <stephen@...workplumber.org>
To:     David Ahern <dsa@...ulusnetworks.com>
Cc:     netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] iproute2: hide devices starting with period by default

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.


> 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.