Hi folks,
the existing API for AX.25 sockets is a bit too liberal concerning
the size of the sockaddr structure. It makes the code hard to read
(thus difficult to maintain) and almost impossible to implement
alternative ideas. In fact, we have three different structures to
choose from:
- struct sockaddr_ax25 (obsolete, does not allow digipeaters)
- old struct full_sockaddr_ax25 with place for 6 digipeaters
- new struct full_sockaddr_ax25 with place for 8 digipeaters
To make things worse, this is also true for NET/ROM and Rose, but
let's concentrate on AX.25 for now. To make things outright evil,
the existing code allows any size of struct sockaddr from
sizeof(struct sockaddr_ax25) to sizeof(struct full_sockaddr_ax25).
I believe this was well-meant, though kludgy and should go away. The
following patch does:
- remove support for struct sockaddr_ax25
- issues a warning for struct full_sockaddr_ax25 with 6 digipeaters
- only accepts either struct full_sockaddr_ax25 variants
The background is that we want to prepare the API for further
extensions (binding to interfaces instead of call signs, for example)
and warn users of old binaries that depreciated structures will go
away soon. Regardless the new things we might implement in the future,
IMO the current struct full_sockaddr_ax25 has to stay for quite a while.
Please, everybody try this patch (it is against kernel 2.3.48) and
tell me your observations. I'll try to get this into 2.3/2.4 if it
doesn't cause problems.
73,
J�rg
ax25-sockaddr-patch.gz
Joerg Reuter http://poboxes.com/jreuter/
And I make my way to where the warm scent of soil fills the evening air.
Everything is waiting quietly out there.... (Anne Clark)
