I'm working on a patch to make interface assignments more resilient, but I'd 
like some input as to which datas should have the highest priority.

The problem I have is that when an iterface is added, removed, or moved, 
interface names may change. For instance, if one has an xl0 and xl1 interface, 
and another xl interface is added, it may become xl0 or xl1, thereby mangling 
the names. To solve this, I considered remapping the names by MAC address at 
bootup. That way, the same card is mapped to the same interface, no matter 
where it is. Then it occured to me that it may be better to save the 
assignments by PCI address, so someone need only worry about which PCI slot a 
card is in, making it easy to replace a failed or obselete interface.

The question I'm considering, though, is whether a MAC address should be 
valued over a PCI address, or under it. If a person moves a network card 
(maybe because of an IRQ conflict), and puts another in its place, but leaves 
that card in the machine, they may be expecing that card to still act as the 
same interface. I'd like this to act in the least surprising way, so I'd like 
some input as to what people think that would be.

-- 
Kris Maglione

Talent in staff work or sales will continually be
interpreted as managerial ability.