Re: [PATCH net-next] sysfs: add entry to indicate network interfaces with random MAC address

From: Casey Leedom
Date: Wed Jul 21 2010 - 12:37:49 EST


| From: Andy Gospodarek <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 08:07 am
|
| Agreed. The subtle difference between a locally assigned address that
| is persistent and one that is random would be helpful.

And just to point out that this case _does_ exist: the igb/igbvf drivers use
random_ether_addr() to generate a random, locally assigned MAC address for the
PCI-E SR-IOV Virtual Function MAC Addresses while the cxgb4/cxgb4vf drivers use
a persistent, non-random locally assigned MAC Addresses.

Note that I am neither arguing for nor against the proposal. I'm just
pointing out an existence case for the distinction. And yes, bit 1 being set in
the first octet of a MAC address for locally assigned MAC Addresses is part of
the IEEE 802 specification just as bit 0 being set in the same octet indicates
that it's a multi-station address.

Casey
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