Howto rename an interface

[Vincent Jardin]

> Many issues are resolved by moving from if_name and if_unit to if_xname
> in ifnet.  I've got a patch for that, but due to lack of time to deal
> with the issues involved in the ABI change I don't think I'll get it
> in to 5.x.  It doesn't deal with sockaddr_dl or routing sockets, but
> it does clean up most uses if interface names.

I had been googling about if_xname, and I found OpenBSD. According to their 
cvs history they do not use if_unit/if_name since 1996.

revision 1.9
date: 1996/05/10 12:31:07;  author: deraadt;  state: Exp;  lines: +48 -112
if_name/if_unit -> if_xname/if_softc

> I did take a shot at interface renaming, but didn't quite get it right
> the first try.  I was looking at what I did wrong a little while ago and
> I don't think renaming is all that difficult once you kill off if_name
> and if_unit.  It's on my todo list, but I think it's a 6.x feature at
> this point.

I agree that the main issue is to remove all the if_name and if_unit. It would 
have been a nice 5.x feature ;-)

Thanks for your comments about if_xname,
  Vincent