Andrew John Hughes wrote:
On 27/08/2008, Mark Wielaard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi,
On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 12:43:59PM +0000, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> URL: http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk7/jsn/jdk/rev/f4289d75cd29
>
> 6717876: Make java.net.NetworkInterface.getIndex() public
> Summary: Make getIndex() and getByIndex() public. Required a name change in
native code
> Reviewed-by: alanb, chegar, michaelm
This seems to introduce a new public API in the java.net package.
I was wondering how that works for someone that wants to introduce
such things in openjdk. I do see the bug report that mentions making
this public should be done for JDK7. But there seems to missing a real
justification for adding these new interfaces. Is there any policy for
introducing such new public interfaces?
I might be reading this wrongly but it seems the only thing this API
does is expose some random internal "index" numbers for an
NetworkInterface. Seeing that there are no guarantees on whether there
are index numbers in the first place for any or all interfaces it seems
not that useful imho. An example of how an application would use this
new interface would be nice to get a better idea in what situations
this would be used.
Thanks,
Mark
I also thought the change was odd, given it adds two methods based on
otherwise undefined 'system specific' values. From the methods given,
there is no information as to how many of these index numbers are in
use. The only way I can see to enumerate them is to get all instances
of NetworkInterface and call getIndex() on each. I assume that the
application of these methods is to resolve ambiguity between two
interfaces with the same name but a different index, but it would be
more helpful if the Javadoc included example usage and some
information on what these numbers might be.
More generally, it's not clear where the decision was made to make
this part of the (as yet non-existent) JDK7 platform JSR. Will there
be more insight into this process from outside Sun in the near future
A network interface index is hardly a "random internal number".
This is a value attributed by the operating system and is as significant
as an interface name.
The reason it was made public is because it's an information that is
needed by other APIs (like NIO) and applications.
An example is that such an index can be used inside an IPv6 address to
force routing through a specific interface.
There are multiple, legitimate, uses of an interface index.
Initially these 2 methods were kept private because of some security
concerns. After consideration and maturation of the NetworkInterface
class, these concerns were deemed not justified any longer.
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