Subject: Re: mac-address vs. local-mac-address

From: Timur Tabi <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 16:16:44 -0600

Benjamin Herrenschmidt wrote:
>> Without a firmware device tree, there's no way to update the device tree and 
>> have that new tree retained over a reboot.
> 
> I don't think it was ever question to update it over reboot...

Well, it is a good idea to use the same MAC address at every boot.  The question 
becomes: when you change the MAC address in Linux, is it possible to retain that 
value over reboot?  If the driver were able to update the *real* OF tree, then 
we could provide that functionality (on OF-enabled systems).

My main point was to define when mac-address should be used, and when 
local-mac-address should be used.

> mac-address is a runtime property that is lost at reboot, at least
> that's my understanding of the OF behaviour. That's where your confusion
> is.

Linux already stores the current MAC address somewhere outside of the OF tree. 
When I reboot the system, does Linux store the current MAC address somewhere?

-- 
Timur Tabi
Linux Kernel Developer @ Freescale