Allow a network interface to be renamed when the interface is up. As described in the netconsole documentation [1], when netconsole is used as a built-in, it will bring up the specified interface as soon as possible. As a result, user space will not be able to rename the interface since the kernel disallows renaming of interfaces that are administratively up unless the 'IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK' private flag was set by the kernel. The original solution [2] to this problem was to add a new parameter to the netconsole configuration parameters that allows renaming of the interface used by netconsole while it is administratively up. However, during the discussion that followed, it became apparent that we have no reason to keep the current restriction and instead we should allow user space to rename interfaces regardless of their administrative state: 1. The restriction was put in place over 20 years ago when renaming was only possible via IOCTL and before rtnetlink started notifying user space about such changes like it does today. 2. The 'IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK' flag was added over 3 years ago in version 5.2 and no regressions were reported. 3. In-kernel listeners to 'NETDEV_CHANGENAME' do not seem to care about the administrative state of interface. Therefore, allow user space to rename running interfaces by removing the restriction and the associated 'IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK' flag. Help in possible triage by emitting a message to the kernel log that an interface was renamed while UP. [1] https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/networking/netconsole.rst [2] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20221102002420.2613004-1-andy.ren@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/ Signed-off-by: Andy Ren <andy.ren@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- Notes: Changes from v1->v2 - Added placeholder comment in place of removed IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK flag - Added extra logging hints to indicate whether a network interface was renamed while UP Changes from v2->v3 - Patch description changes include/linux/netdevice.h | 4 +--- net/core/dev.c | 19 ++----------------- net/core/failover.c | 6 +++--- 3 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-) diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h index d45713a06568..4be87b89e481 100644 --- a/include/linux/netdevice.h +++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h @@ -1650,7 +1650,6 @@ struct net_device_ops { * @IFF_FAILOVER: device is a failover master device * @IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE: device is lower dev of a failover master device * @IFF_L3MDEV_RX_HANDLER: only invoke the rx handler of L3 master device - * @IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK: rename is allowed while device is up and running * @IFF_TX_SKB_NO_LINEAR: device/driver is capable of xmitting frames with * skb_headlen(skb) == 0 (data starts from frag0) * @IFF_CHANGE_PROTO_DOWN: device supports setting carrier via IFLA_PROTO_DOWN @@ -1686,7 +1685,7 @@ enum netdev_priv_flags { IFF_FAILOVER = 1<<27, IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE = 1<<28, IFF_L3MDEV_RX_HANDLER = 1<<29, - IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK = 1<<30, + /* was IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK */ IFF_TX_SKB_NO_LINEAR = BIT_ULL(31), IFF_CHANGE_PROTO_DOWN = BIT_ULL(32), }; @@ -1721,7 +1720,6 @@ enum netdev_priv_flags { #define IFF_FAILOVER IFF_FAILOVER #define IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE #define IFF_L3MDEV_RX_HANDLER IFF_L3MDEV_RX_HANDLER -#define IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK #define IFF_TX_SKB_NO_LINEAR IFF_TX_SKB_NO_LINEAR /* Specifies the type of the struct net_device::ml_priv pointer */ diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c index 3bacee3bee78..707de6b841d0 100644 --- a/net/core/dev.c +++ b/net/core/dev.c @@ -1163,22 +1163,6 @@ int dev_change_name(struct net_device *dev, const char *newname) net = dev_net(dev); - /* Some auto-enslaved devices e.g. failover slaves are - * special, as userspace might rename the device after - * the interface had been brought up and running since - * the point kernel initiated auto-enslavement. Allow - * live name change even when these slave devices are - * up and running. - * - * Typically, users of these auto-enslaving devices - * don't actually care about slave name change, as - * they are supposed to operate on master interface - * directly. - */ - if (dev->flags & IFF_UP && - likely(!(dev->priv_flags & IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK))) - return -EBUSY; - down_write(&devnet_rename_sem); if (strncmp(newname, dev->name, IFNAMSIZ) == 0) { @@ -1195,7 +1179,8 @@ int dev_change_name(struct net_device *dev, const char *newname) } if (oldname[0] && !strchr(oldname, '%')) - netdev_info(dev, "renamed from %s\n", oldname); + netdev_info(dev, "renamed from %s%s\n", oldname, + dev->flags & IFF_UP ? " (while UP)" : ""); old_assign_type = dev->name_assign_type; dev->name_assign_type = NET_NAME_RENAMED; diff --git a/net/core/failover.c b/net/core/failover.c index 864d2d83eff4..655411c4ca51 100644 --- a/net/core/failover.c +++ b/net/core/failover.c @@ -80,14 +80,14 @@ static int failover_slave_register(struct net_device *slave_dev) goto err_upper_link; } - slave_dev->priv_flags |= (IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE | IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK); + slave_dev->priv_flags |= IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE; if (fops && fops->slave_register && !fops->slave_register(slave_dev, failover_dev)) return NOTIFY_OK; netdev_upper_dev_unlink(slave_dev, failover_dev); - slave_dev->priv_flags &= ~(IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE | IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK); + slave_dev->priv_flags &= ~IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE; err_upper_link: netdev_rx_handler_unregister(slave_dev); done: @@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ int failover_slave_unregister(struct net_device *slave_dev) netdev_rx_handler_unregister(slave_dev); netdev_upper_dev_unlink(slave_dev, failover_dev); - slave_dev->priv_flags &= ~(IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE | IFF_LIVE_RENAME_OK); + slave_dev->priv_flags &= ~IFF_FAILOVER_SLAVE; if (fops && fops->slave_unregister && !fops->slave_unregister(slave_dev, failover_dev)) -- 2.38.1
