Howto rename an interface

[Wes Peters]

On Sunday 04 May 2003 11:18, Jeremy Chadwick wrote:
>
>         Sorry if this Email comes off as harsh -- I just grow very
> tired of seeing ambiguity weaselling it's way into Good Software(tm).

It doesn't come off as harsh, just as uninformed.  You didn't bother to 
collect the full information before going off on a rant, even when there 
were prominent clues thrust into your face.  For instance, Vincent's 
original message said:

On 3 May 2003 15:47:34 +0200, Vincent Jardin <vjardin at wanadoo.fr> wrote:

> I would like to rename the network interfaces. More particularly, I 
> would like to control the numbers in the name and to remove the 
> constraints.
>
> For example, what are the issues about renaming my 'vr0' interface to 
> eth1-3 or DSL-WAN that does not have a ifunit within its name ?

The "DSL-WAN" bit might have set off some bells if you'd been paying 
attention, or a bit more experienced.  Consider my dilemma at work, where 
we're introducing a new hardware platform and planning for another.  
We're adding a third ethernet port in the new one, and the one we're 
still spec'ing will be offered in both 10/100 and 10/100/1000 models, so 
the network interfaces are:

	model:			1000	1100	1200	3000

	Internal port		fxp0	fxp1	fxp2	fxp2 or em1
	External port		fxp1	fxp0	fxp0	fxp0 or em0
	Managment port		n/a	n/a	fxp1	fxp1 or fxp0

All of the system startups need to refer to these ports by function, not 
by some silly number assigned as a side effect of the PCI bus probing 
order.

This almost begs for some simple alias that can be programmatically (or 
via a command line utility) added to the interface so the association 
with the device type isn't lost.  That bears some thought.  An interface 
label, as it were...

-- 

        Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?

Wes Peters                                               wes at softweyr.com