How to configure an ethernet dev as PtP ?

[Stephan von Krawczynski <skraw@ithnet.com>]

Hello all,

I tried to configure an ethernet device as a pointopoint link recently, just to
find out that this does not work as one would expect via:

ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.1 pointopoint 192.168.5.1 up

I tried on kernel 2.4.21-pre6 and 2.2.19 (just to name two), both the same. It
comes up as:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:04:76:F7:E9:17  
          inet addr:192.168.1.1  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

I do not understand why this does not work out just like another ptp-interface
like isdn:

isdn0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr FC:FC:00:00:00:00  
          inet addr:192.168.1.1  P-t-P:192.168.5.1  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP  MTU:1500  Metric:1

Is there anything I mis-understood or a good reason for not being able to make
eth pointopoint?

I have the feeling this question is pretty brain-dead, but anyway, maybe some
kind soul can drop a few words ...
-- 
Regards,
Stephan