> Dummy interfaces are often used as place holders for interfaces
> which may not always be present - such as PC Card interfaces on
> lap tops. In such cases the dummy interface *must* behave like
> the real interface or things break.
The argument is accepted.
> > > - it breaks xdm
> >
> > Mmm... it does not break chooser.
>
> Sure it does.
Essentially, you try to prove that chooser works only in linux 2.0.
Well, it is not true 8)8)
> But there *are* programs which need to have broadcasts on at least
> one non-external interface. If the *only* interface was lo it would
> not be completely unreasonable to want to set IF_BROADCAST even
> on that.
If you wrote application, which uses BSD API, but does not work
in BSD, you wrote buggy application. If in some situations
chooser works only in linux, its authors supposed that it must
not work in this situation, and cheating it would be bug.
It would be better to ask chooser maintainers, what they meaned.
If you want that an app. always worked, fixing it is very simple:
scan interface list and search for all interfaces
with IFF_BROADCAST or IFF_POINTOPOINT and send requests to broadcast
address for broadcast ones and to PtP address for PtP.
If nothing is found, send to the first encountered local address
or to loopback, depending on your taste.
Alexey
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