[LARTC] About "b" meaning "byte" and bit

[LARTC] About "b" meaning "byte" and bit

[DervishD]

    Hi all :)

    I think that this issue has already been discussed on this list, but
google didn't find anything interesting, so I'm bringing the subject
again.

    The output of "tc" uses "b" meaning "byte" and "bit" for "bit". The
"official" suffixes for those units are "B" and "b", respectively, and
on top of this, I'm not sure if "kbit" means "kilobit" or "kibibit" in
"tc" output.

    I haven't had time to look at iproute2 sources, so I don't know if
this should be dealt with in iproute2 or in the kernel itself. Most of
the kernel has switched to SI units already, and IMHO most of the utils
should do the same, to avoid the endless problem of SI vs. binary units.

    This said, maybe this weird syntas is used in tc so third party apps
can parse the output. These apps certainly will break if a change in the
syntax is made, but otherwise I see no reason to keep using "b" instead
of "B" and "bit" instead of "b". Currently the only way of having a sane
syntax (and not only regarding units...) is "tcng"·

    If such a modification is seen as appropriate, I volunteer to make
the patch.

    Raúl Núñez de Arenas Coronado

-- 
Linux Registered User 88736 | http://www.dervishd.net
It's my PC and I'll cry if I want to... RAmen!
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Re: [LARTC] About "b" meaning "byte" and bit

[Indunil Jayasooriya]

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On 8/31/07, DervishD <lartc@dervishd.net> wrote:
>     Hi all :)
>
>     I think that this issue has already been discussed on this list, but
> google didn't find anything interesting, so I'm bringing the subject
> again.
>
>     The output of "tc" uses "b" meaning "byte" and "bit" for "bit". The
> "official" suffixes for those units are "B" and "b", respectively, and
> on top of this, I'm not sure if "kbit" means "kilobit" or "kibibit" in
> "tc" output.
>

SEE below that was taken form  this URL

http://luxik.cdi.cz/~devik/qos/htb/manual/userg.htm


Please read: tc tool (not only HTB) uses shortcuts to denote units of rate.
kbps means kilobytes and kbit means kilobits ! This is the most FAQ about tc
in linux.




-- 
Thank you
Indunil Jayasooriya

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Re: [LARTC] About "b" meaning "byte" and bit

[DervishD]

    Hi Indunil :)

 * Indunil Jayasooriya <indunil75@gmail.com> dixit:
> On 8/31/07, DervishD <lartc@dervishd.net> wrote:
> >     Hi all :)
> >
> >     I think that this issue has already been discussed on this list, but
> > google didn't find anything interesting, so I'm bringing the subject
> > again.
> >
> >     The output of "tc" uses "b" meaning "byte" and "bit" for "bit". The
> > "official" suffixes for those units are "B" and "b", respectively, and
> > on top of this, I'm not sure if "kbit" means "kilobit" or "kibibit" in
> > "tc" output.
> >
> 
> SEE below that was taken form  this URL
> 
> http://luxik.cdi.cz/~devik/qos/htb/manual/userg.htm
> 
> 
> Please read: tc tool (not only HTB) uses shortcuts to denote units of rate.
> kbps means kilobytes and kbit means kilobits ! This is the most FAQ about tc
> in linux.

    Yes, I already knew that, what I was asking is why SI units are not
used and "shortcuts" are used instead: see my original message, I was
not sure if kilobit was being used correctly (meaning 1000 bits) or if
it was being used mistakenly for kibibit (1024 bits), and on top of
that, why "b" was being used as byte when the SI prefix for byte is "B".

    I mean, tc doesn't seem to follow any standard except maybe in
kilobit (which should be then used as kb, not kbit).

    Raúl Núñez de Arenas Coronado

-- 
Linux Registered User 88736 | http://www.dervishd.net
It's my PC and I'll cry if I want to... RAmen!
We are waiting for 13 Feb 2009 23:31:30 +0000 ...
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Re: [LARTC] About "b" meaning "byte" and bit

[Andy Furniss]

DervishD wrote:
>     Hi Indunil :)
> 
>  * Indunil Jayasooriya <indunil75@gmail.com> dixit:
>> On 8/31/07, DervishD <lartc@dervishd.net> wrote:
>>>     Hi all :)
>>>
>>>     I think that this issue has already been discussed on this list, but
>>> google didn't find anything interesting, so I'm bringing the subject
>>> again.
>>>
>>>     The output of "tc" uses "b" meaning "byte" and "bit" for "bit". The
>>> "official" suffixes for those units are "B" and "b", respectively, and
>>> on top of this, I'm not sure if "kbit" means "kilobit" or "kibibit" in
>>> "tc" output.
>>>
>> SEE below that was taken form  this URL
>>
>> http://luxik.cdi.cz/~devik/qos/htb/manual/userg.htm
>>
>>
>> Please read: tc tool (not only HTB) uses shortcuts to denote units of rate.
>> kbps means kilobytes and kbit means kilobits ! This is the most FAQ about tc
>> in linux.
> 
>     Yes, I already knew that, what I was asking is why SI units are not
> used and "shortcuts" are used instead: see my original message, I was
> not sure if kilobit was being used correctly (meaning 1000 bits) or if
> it was being used mistakenly for kibibit (1024 bits), and on top of
> that, why "b" was being used as byte when the SI prefix for byte is "B".

It got changed so kbit means 1000 when S.Hemminger took over maintenance 
IIRC.

> 
>     I mean, tc doesn't seem to follow any standard except maybe in
> kilobit (which should be then used as kb, not kbit).

I think changing kb and kbit would break too many existing scripts.

> 
>     Raúl Núñez de Arenas Coronado
> 

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Re: [LARTC] About "b" meaning "byte" and bit

[DervishD]

    Hi Andy :)

 * Andy Furniss <lists@andyfurniss.entadsl.com> dixit:
> DervishD wrote:
> >    Yes, I already knew that, what I was asking is why SI units are not
> >used and "shortcuts" are used instead: see my original message, I was
> >not sure if kilobit was being used correctly (meaning 1000 bits) or if
> >it was being used mistakenly for kibibit (1024 bits), and on top of
> >that, why "b" was being used as byte when the SI prefix for byte is "B".
> 
> It got changed so kbit means 1000 when S.Hemminger took over maintenance 
> IIRC.

    Ok, thanks :))
 
> >    I mean, tc doesn't seem to follow any standard except maybe in
> >kilobit (which should be then used as kb, not kbit).
> 
> I think changing kb and kbit would break too many existing scripts.

    That's the problem with scripts that insist blindly on parsing
command output, specially with commands whose output may (and should)
change regularly when improvements are made. I supposed this was the
reason. Does "tc" have another interface, preferably in "sys" or "proc"
or the only way of getting the information is asking the kernel directly
(through "tc", for example).

    Thanks a lot for your answer :)

    Raúl Núñez de Arenas Coronado

-- 
Linux Registered User 88736 | http://www.dervishd.net
It's my PC and I'll cry if I want to... RAmen!
We are waiting for 13 Feb 2009 23:31:30 +0000 ...
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