lladdr-tied Config Support May Soon Land in ifconfig(8) and netstart(8)

It started with a thread on misc@ with the subject"Locking network card configuration"where the problem description is, when two or more network interfaces are attached to the same USB bus, their numbering may not be entirely predictable.The question is, what workarounds are possible?

The thread, where several developers offered their insights, and which soon migrated to tech@ with the subject switched to "lladdr support for netstart/hostname.if (was: Re: Locking network card configuration)" and later "lladdr support for netstart/hostname.if" turned up several suggestions, with several patches, and potential support for link level address (MAC address) tied configuration via a new hostname.MAC(5) file to supplement the more familiarhostname.if(5) config file, complete with correspondingifconfig(8) options.

Please read the messages and patches, and if you have useful input for the developers on this, please chime in via tech@ or in comments here if you prefer.

Once again, an interesting feature that may materialize for testing in snapshots in the near future.