Bridges

[Andre Oppermann]

Max Laier wrote:
> 
> All,
> 
> for some time now, we have three bridge implementations in the tree:
>  - net/bridge.c         - the "old" bridge
>  - net/if_bridge.c      - the "new" bridge from Net/OpenBSD
>  - netgraph/ng_bridge.c - the netgraph version [1]
> 
> The new code has several advantages over the old version:
>  - Spanning Tree Protocol (802.1D)
>  - better firewall support (IPv6, stateful filtering, ...)
>  - easy ifconfig(8) configuration
> 
> while keeping all the functionality that was present in the old code:
>  - dummynet support
>  - IPFW L2 support [2]
> 
> There have been some benchmarks that suggest that there isn't a performance
> issue either, but more numbers are always appreciated.  If it turns out that
> there is any remaining problem with if_bridge we need to fix it.  If you are
> running an old bridge on 6.0-BETA try moving to the new code and let us know.
> 
> This means the old code is obsolete.  In order to keep code duplication down
> and not hinder further development (Andre is working on an overhaul of [2]
> and would have to do it twice, for example) I would like to retire the old
> bridge code soon.  This should happen in HEAD only and thus the old bridge
> will stay for all of FreeBSD 6 unless more aggressive depreciation is
> requested.
> 
> Please test the new alternative if you are using the old one still.  Let us
> know if there are any issues remaining.
> 
> Objections against soon retirement of bridge.c in HEAD?

No objection.  if_bridge has surpassed net/bridge.c in features.  There
is no compelling reason to carry two bridge implementations forward.  It
only creates a unnecessary maintenance burden.

-- 
Andre