Good morning!
Recently, I have found an issue with `rtnetlink` library that seems to be not intended and/or documented. I have asked about it several times, including here and it was also reported here. Neither in related RFC document nor in rtnetlink manuals the issue is described or mentioned.
In a few words, the issue is: for some reason, rtnetlink GETADDR request works only with NLM_F_ROOT or NLM_F_DUMP flags. Consequently, for instance, filtering by ifa_index field, that would *theoretically* according to docs, allow us to receive address info for 1 specific interface only (by ID) , is not possible. For comparison, similar functionality to GETLINK request (getting information about exactly 1 link by index) is indeed very possible. Instead of the expected output (information about 1 interface only), what is returned is an error message with errno -95, which, as I suppose, can be read as "operation not permitted".
To this email, I attach a small C file illustrating my issue. Feel free to change IFACE_ID define for ID of any network interface present in your system. It illustrates the error.
Please, let me know what you think about this issue. Am I missing something or does it really needs fixing or at least documenting? Best regards, Aleksandr Sergeev.
P.S. I have been told that this issue probably won't be addressed, because it "can easily be fixed in user space", however I believe in Linux kernel maintainers team dedication for clear, well-documented and bug-free code; so if this issue is not hard to fix, I would suggest addressing it at least in docs. If it can be useful, I would be more than grateful to provide my help with it.
On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 02:19:15AM -0700, Alexander Sergeev wrote:
Good morning!
Recently, I have found an issue with `rtnetlink` library that seems to be not intended and/or documented. I have asked about it several times, including here and it was also reported here. Neither in related RFC document nor in rtnetlink manuals the issue is described or mentioned.
Great, then why not notify the developers involved in netlink? That's not the stable and regressions list, sorry, as this is not a regression.
best of luck!
greg k-h
linux-stable-mirror@lists.linaro.org