system-config-network & Zeroconf

[Lennart Poettering]

On Thu, 06.03.08 08:47, Dan Williams (dcbw at redhat.com) wrote:

> > > > cross cable, usb-to-usb, ... Those ad-hoc networks are usually created
> > > 
> > > The problem with some of these, especially cable-to-cable, is that you
> > > can't distinguish it from a situation where you do want DHCP.  Ie, you
> > > cannot really distinguish between a crossover cable and a standard plug
> > > into a switch.  Same with WLAN ad-hoc.
> > 
> > Yepp. I see the problem. For the cases where we don't know we should
> > default to dhcp+ipv4ll. For those cases where we do know (bt pan, wlan
> > ad-hoc) we should default to ipv4ll. And then, people should be able
> > to switch to the other option manually, if they feel like it.
> > 
> > BTW, maybe those usb-to-usb cables should be flagged as such via HAL?
> 
> If we can, that might be good.  How do we tell?  Any idea what they look
> like in HAL?

No idea. I think most usb-to-usb bridges use the "plusb.ko"
driver. But I never had one of those devices in my hands. So this is
probably more a phantom discussion.

> > One last thing: please don't use the word "zeroconf" in an UI
> > element. It's too blurry. Most people if they say "zeroconf" mean
> > Apple style zeroconf, but there also is MS style zeroconf. And then,
> > some people say "zeroconf" when they mean only "ipv4ll" and
> > others use it to refer to "mdns+dnssd". It's confusing. Use 
> > "IPv4LL Link-Local Addressing" or similar for your stuff.
> 
> Yeah; I'm thinking just "Link Local" for the moment.  Shouldn't make a
> difference to the user (unless they really want to know) whether it's an
> IPv6 or IPv4 LL address.

IPv6 link-local and IPv4 link-local addresses behave very
differently. IPv4 link-local adresses you can treat like every other
IP address. Create routes to them, ping them just like that. However
IPv6 ll addresses always require you to specify the ifindex of the
interface they belong to. I.e. you cannot just pass them to ping6,
instead you always have to specify -I too. You cannot create routes to
them. That makes them a lot less useful than IPv4 LL.

Lennart

-- 
Lennart Poettering                        Red Hat, Inc.
lennart [at] poettering [dot] net         ICQ# 11060553
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