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Old 09-01-2009, 03:10 AM   #1
Kesem
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Registered: Jul 2009
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ioctl() and changing network interface flags


Hello,
I've recently made an empty-ish system that contains just grub, a kernel, my binary which bridges between my two network interfaces and my own init (which is responsible for raising the two network interfaces and (re)spawning my binary).

Until now I've done it by running execv on ifconfig but since I removed that from my system I've had to implement it more intrinsically, using the bit from ifconfig that raises the interface. Looking at "ifconfig XXX up", it does this:

Code:
void setifflags(const char *vname, int value)
{
	struct ifreq ifreq;

	(void) strncpy(ifreq.ifr_name, name, sizeof(ifreq.ifr_name));
 	if (ioctl(s, SIOCGIFFLAGS, &ifreq) == -1)
		err(EXIT_FAILURE, "SIOCGIFFLAGS");
 	flags = ifreq.ifr_flags;

	if (value < 0) {
		value = -value;
		flags &= ~value;
	} else
		flags |= value;
	ifreq.ifr_flags = flags;
	if (ioctl(s, SIOCSIFFLAGS, &ifreq) == -1)
		err(EXIT_FAILURE, "SIOCSIFFLAGS");
}
Where 'value' is the flag, "IFF_UP". Pretend they used "vname" instead of "name" to simplify things (they use globals a lot). In the calls to ioctl, they give three parameters, and while the last two are obvious - the first's purpose (s, which is an int holding a socket handle from what I could tell) is unclear to me.

Why do I need to give the ioctl command some socket in order to change an interface's flags? I couldn't find a specific ioctl implementation anywhere, so I'm not sure what it does. If I give it NULL instead of s, it fails to set the interface's flags.

The socket I use with this ioctl call is initialized by socket(AF_PACKET, SOCK_RAW, 0) which refers to an address family, socket type, and protocol, and certainly nothing tying it to a specific network interface. I can successfully raise both interfaces - eth0, eth1 - with this same socket.

So, what is that socket used for in the ioctl call? Alternatively, where can I find an implementation of ioctl or an explanation about the mechanism, or how can I set the interface's IFF_UP flag in a more direct way (that does not require voodoo-like objects to be passed as parameters)?

Thanks.
 
Old 09-01-2009, 11:16 PM   #2
estabroo
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Registered: Jun 2008
Distribution: debian, ubuntu, sidux
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ioctl is a call into the kernel, the first parameter is a file descriptor, this provides the information on who is going to handle the ioctl, in this case the network stack, the second parameter is what you want access to for that ioctl, and the third parameter is a long or pointer that gives additional information to the function that is handling the ioctl, the third parameter isn't always used.

So what is happening here is the first ioctl is fetching the flags for the interface with the given name and the second ioctl is setting the flags for that interface (G vs S). There probably isn't a more direct way to set your IFF_UP, dunno for sure.
 
  


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