Re: notion of a local address [was: Re: ioctl SIOCGIFNETMASK: ip alias

[Wietse Venema]

Alan Cox:
> > If the kernel knows about subnets, then an application should be
> > able to find out about them. Whether or not you agree with the
> > application's reasons does not matter.
> 
> There I agree - entirely. I'd also say that an application using legacy
> 4.3BSD API's ought to get correct answers for configurations which are
> validly expressed in that specific worldview

Putting on a different hat, that of forensics and auditing, I would
claim that such functionality is useful for every API. If something
can be set, then there must be a corresponding way to find out.

For settings created with *netlink, it is entirely reasonable to
use the *netlink API to query its state. It's just a pain in the
butt for people like me to find out and advise users.

	Wietse