Interface start-up ordering sequence, multiple passes?

[Paul Jakma]

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003, Pekka Savola wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> When designing an IPv6 extension to initscripts, we came across
> this one particularly knotty problem.
> 
> There seem to be no way to select the order in which the interfaces
> would be brought up by e.g. "network start", except by naming
> hacks.  (There are also this, nowadays smaller, problem of
> on-demand dial-up interfaces..)

it also applies to things like CIPE, the cipcb interface has to be 
brought up /after/ the relevant real interface (which might be ethX, 
pppX, etc..).

> Have I missed something, or is this impossible at the moment
> (without gluing more stuff in init.d/network)?  Would such
> mechanisms be useful in other contexts as well?

yes, definitely.

either a file to specify interface order, or else something like a 
generic DEPENDSON parameter to specify dependencies. File to define 
interface order is probably by far easiest to implement,

> (This could be achieved, it seems, at least by using an '/sbin/ifup
> xxx 2ndpass' argument, and only specified commands would be run
> when doing the second pass.)
> 
> Thoughts, ideas, comments?

i'd go with a file a la:

cipcb9
cipcb?
eth2
eth1
eth?

and have the network scripts look for init scripts in the specified 
order in that file.

regards,
-- 
Paul Jakma	paul at clubi.ie	paul at jakma.org	Key ID: 64A2FF6A
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