Re: [RFC v2 1/4] bridge: enable interfaces to opt out from becoming the root bridge

[Ben Hutchings]

On Fri, 2014-02-14 at 18:59 -0800, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
> From: "Luis R. Rodriguez" <mcgrof@xxxxxxxx>
> 
> It doesn't make sense for some interfaces to become a root bridge

I think you mean 'root port'.

> at any point in time. One example is virtual backend interfaces
> which rely on other entities on the bridge for actual physical
> connectivity. They only provide virtual access.
> 
> Device drivers that know they should never become part of the
> root bridge have been using a trick of setting their MAC address
> to a high broadcast MAC address such as FE:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. Instead
> of using these hacks lets the interfaces annotate its intent and
> generalizes a solution for multiple drivers, while letting the
> drivers use a random MAC address or one prefixed with a proper OUI.
> This sort of hack is used by both qemu and xen for their backend
> interfaces.
> 
> Cc: Stephen Hemminger <stephen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: bridge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@xxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  include/uapi/linux/if.h | 1 +
>  net/bridge/br_if.c      | 2 ++
>  net/bridge/br_private.h | 1 +
>  net/bridge/br_stp_if.c  | 2 ++
>  4 files changed, 6 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/if.h b/include/uapi/linux/if.h
> index d758163..8d10382 100644
> --- a/include/uapi/linux/if.h
> +++ b/include/uapi/linux/if.h
> @@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
>  #define IFF_LIVE_ADDR_CHANGE 0x100000	/* device supports hardware address
>  					 * change when it's running */
>  #define IFF_MACVLAN 0x200000		/* Macvlan device */
> +#define IFF_BRIDGE_NON_ROOT 0x400000    /* Don't consider for root bridge */
[...]

Does it really make sense to add a flag that says exactly which special
behaviour you want, or would it be better to define the flag as a
passive property, which other drivers/protocols then use as a condition
for special behaviour?

The fact that you also define the IFF_BRIDGE_SKIP_IP flag, and set it on
exactly the same devices, makes me think that they should actually be a
single flag.  I don't know how that flag should be named or described,
though.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature.

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