Using any network interface whatsoever (solution?)

[Darren Pilgrim]

Mike Meyer wrote:
> In <4438A0A3.3050600 at bitfreak.org>, Darren Pilgrim <darren.pilgrim at bitfreak.org> typed:
>> You could test two different drivers on the same hardware and you wouldn't 
>> have to duplicate or modify your ifconfig lines in /etc/rc.conf, just run:
> 
> Yup, and this is an advantage. On the other hand, if you tie the
> device name to the slot number (the real goal), you can swap different
> hardware into that slot without having to modify any configuration
> information at all.

It wouldn't be too difficult to extend the configuration to allow entries 
like this:

Interface0_addr="MAC 01:23:45:67:89:ab"
Interface1_addr="PCI 0:1:2"		# pci0, device 1, function 2
Interface2_addr="USB 0:1:2"		# usb0, addr 1, port 2

Add some bits to grok dmesg or pciconf/usbdevs or maybe even trigger from 
devd and there you go.

I should mention that the second and third options could be broken by the 
addition or removal of a card with a PCI bridge or USB root hub on it.

> Of course, this doesn't help the OP's problem of wanting to be able to
> address the sole interface in a system without knowing it's name in
> advance. Maybe a feature to provide a default name for an interface if
> one isn't found in the config file would do that.

# ifconfig `ifconfig -l link` name GenericName