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List:       freebsd-hackers
Subject:    Re: Ethernet-like loopback & IPX
From:       dennis () etinc ! com (Dennis)
Date:       1996-07-23 15:21:56
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>> > 
>> > > > ...
>> > > > 
>> > > > By the way, I have fixed the bug (in my opinion) in IPX. It allowed
>> > > > only one link-level (i.e. Ethernet) address for all interfaces.
>> > > > Was it a real bug or feature ?
>> > > > 
>> > > 
>> > > It is a leftover from its XNS days. If you send me the patches for
>> > > IPX, I will look it over and commit it.
>> > 
>> > It's not a bug, but a feature.  Having a single address for your
>> > end-station make quite a few other weirdnesses in the protocol stack
>> > and application just go away.
>> 
>> But if you have a single address you need to set it for all
>> Ethernet cards or they will not accept the packets with this
>> address. The current implementation does not do this and I
>> think that it's not a very good idea.
>
>Sure, it's true that the current drivers do not allow the MAC address
>to be set on the various LAN interfaces, but this would argue for
>fixing the device drivers, and not the protocol design.
>
>While you may believe that the single address per IPX host is an
>error, it is fundamental to the protocol's design.  I wouldn't
>characterize changing this as "fixing" it, unless it's the same way a
>veteranarian "fixes" something.

This shouldnt be as big of an issue as everyone seems to make 
it out to be. IPX addresses are NET:NODE combinations, so as long
as routing is implemented is shouldnt matter if the IPX level stuff
from one host all uses the same node address. Obviously you
have to do the MAC stuff correctly at the ethernet level...if this 
doesnt work then the implementation is simply defective.

Dennis
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