[driver-discuss] Re: [brussels-dev] dladm show-linkprop enhancements

[Peter Memishian]

 > I'm not sure I understand the fear around creating a new subcommand, 
 > that shows only ethernet specific information?    (Btw, this could be 
 > done for tun, aggr, or other link types as well.  In fact we have it 
 > already for aggr and wifi, with dladm show-aggr and dladm show-wifi.)

With Clearview UV, we're introducing the notion of a link "class" (so far:
aggregation, tunnel, vlan, vnic, and physical device), which is disjoint
from the underlying media.  There will be a "show" subcommand for each of
these classes, along with "create-*" and "delete-*" subcommands when
appropriate.  In other words, it's pretty regular and thus we hope it will
be fairly intuitive.

WiFi is a bit of an "odd man out", in that we needed some way to
conveniently show important WiFi information.  I still have some regrets
regarding "show-wifi", but on the other hand it is easier to grok than a
sea of properties.

In general, I think we need to very conservative when creating new
subcommands, since we risk creating an overwhelming administrative
experience akin to the 50 ifconfig subcommands.  One goal of *-linkprop
was to reduce the proliferation of subcommands (and e.g., we've folded the
originally-proposed *-autopush Clearview subcommands into a simple
`autopush' link property).  Of course, almost anything *could* be modeled
as a property, so its applicability is ultimately a judgment call.

-- 
meem