Re: [patch net-next rfc 3/7] net: rtnetlink: add commands to add and delete alternative ifnames

[Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli.us>]

Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 04:47:41PM CEST, dsahern@gmail.com wrote:
>On 8/30/19 8:35 AM, Roopa Prabhu wrote:
>> On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 10:26 PM Michal Kubecek <mkubecek@suse.cz> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 09:36:41PM -0700, Roopa Prabhu wrote:
>>>>
>>>> yes,  correct. I mentioned that because I was wondering if we can
>>>> think along the same lines for this API.
>>>> eg
>>>> (a) RTM_NEWLINK always replaces the list attribute
>>>> (b) RTM_SETLINK with NLM_F_APPEND always appends to the list attribute
>>>> (c) RTM_DELLINK with NLM_F_APPEND updates the list attribute
>>>>
>>>> (It could be NLM_F_UPDATE if NLM_F_APPEND sounds weird in the del
>>>> case. I have not looked at the full dellink path if it will work
>>>> neatly..its been a busy day )
>>>
>>> AFAICS rtnl_dellink() calls nlmsg_parse_deprecated() so that even
>>> current code would ignore any future attribute in RTM_DELLINK message
>>> (any kernel before the strict validation was introduced definitely will)
>>> and it does not seem to check NLM_F_APPEND or NLM_F_UPDATE either. So
>>> unless I missed something, such message would result in deleting the
>>> network device (if possible) with any kernel not implementing the
>>> feature.
>> 
>> ok, ack. yes today it does. I was hinting if that can be changed to
>> support list update with a flag like the RTM_DELLINK AF_BRIDGE does
>> for vlan list del.
>> 
>> so to summarize, i think we have discussed the following options to
>> update a netlink list attribute so far:
>> (a) encode an optional attribute/flag in the list attribute in
>> RTM_SETLINK to indicate if it is a add or del
>
>The ALT_IFNAME attribute could also be a struct that has both the string
>and a flag.

Not a struct, please :/

>
>> (b) Use a flag in RTM_SETLINK and RTM_DELINK to indicate add/del
>> (close to bridge vlan add/del)
>> (c) introduce a separate generic msg type to add/del to a list
>> attribute (IIUC this does need a separate msg type per subsystem or
>> netlink API)
>> 
>