On 2/23/17 12:50 PM, Stephen Hemminger wrote: > Some use cases create Linux networking devices which are not intended for use > by normal networking. This is an enhancement to ip command to hide network > devices starting with period (like files in normal directory). Interfaces > whose > name start with "." are not shown by default, and the -a (or -all) flag must > be used to show these devices.
Agree that some devices need to be hidden by default -- not just from users but also other processes. This solution is very narrow, only affecting iproute2 users. Any other programs that use netlink or /proc files will continue to see those devices. I started a patch a year ago that allows devices to marked as invisible (attribute can be toggled at any time). Invisible devices do not show up in netlink dumps, proc files or notifications. Netlink dumps can request invisible devices to be included in a link dump. While it is more intrusive, it is also more complete covering all of the paths in which the device is shows up. Also, changing the default behavior for iproute2 could break existing users that have such device names.
