[clue-tech] ifconfig display bug? (too many interfaces)

[Jim Ockers]

Hi CLUEbies,

Has anyone ever seen anything like this?  I'm getting
multiple instances of certain interfaces listed by ifconfig.
I expected ifconfig to list only one instance of each
interface.

[root]# ifconfig | grep ppp
ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp1      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp2      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp3      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp4      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp5      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp6      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp7      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp8      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp9      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp10     Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp1      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp2      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp3      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp4      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp5      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp6      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp7      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp8      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp9      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
ppp10     Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol

Note that there are two instances shown for each ppp interface
greater than ppp0.  The duplicate instances appear only after
ppp10 comes up.  If ppp0 through ppp9 are the only interfaces
then no duplicates are listed.  More interfaces (i.e. ppp11)
are also listed in duplicate.

/proc/net/dev has only one line for each interface:

[root]# cat /proc/net/dev | grep ppp | awk -F: '{print $1}'
  ppp1
  ppp2
  ppp3
  ppp4
  ppp5
  ppp6
  ppp7
  ppp8
  ppp9
 ppp10
  ppp0

By the way the second instance is not displayed identically to
the first - the counters are not shown for the duplicate.

[root]# ifconfig | less
...
ppp2      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
          inet addr:10.0.0.2  P-t-P:10.42.0.1  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:33543 errors:1 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:30639 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          RX bytes:2496402 (2.3 Mb)  TX bytes:19919111 (18.9 Mb)
...
ppp2      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
          inet addr:10.0.0.2  P-t-P:10.42.0.1  Mask:255.255.255.255
          UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
...

If you ask for 'ifconfig ppp2' only it displays the one with the
counters only.

I'm inclined to think this is a display bug in ifconfig, where
it's using the wrong kind of counter like an ASCII less-than
comparison or something.

Any ideas?  Is there anyone out there with 11 or more ethernet
cards in the system, or 11 or more dial-up ports?  Does ifconfig work
properly for you?

This is Red Hat 7.2 with net-tools 1.60:

 Name        : net-tools                    Relocations: (not relocateable)
 Version     : 1.60                              Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
 Release     : 3                             Build Date: Tue 31 Jul 2001 03:56:55 PM UTC
 Install date: Mon 26 Aug 2002 03:50:30 PM UTC      Build Host: stripples.devel.redhat.com
 Group       : System Environment/Base       Source RPM: net-tools-1.60-3.src.rpm
 Size        : 607343                           License: GPL
 Packager    : Red Hat, Inc. <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla>
 Summary     : Basic networking tools.
 Description :
 The net-tools package contains basic networking tools, including
 ifconfig, netstat, route, and others.

Thanks,
Jim

-- 
Jim Ockers, P.Eng. (ockers at ockers.net)
Contact info: please see http://www.ockers.net/
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