Since the so-called "predictable names" for network interfaces were introduced, the concept and mainly its implementation has been a target of a lot of critique and sometimes even hate. On the other hand, similar idea works reasonably well for block devices.
In my opinion, the main reason why "predictable names" reception was not nearly as good as for block devices is the difference in how the implementation works. For block devices, the device name provided by kernel is preserved and other names based on multiple naming schemes (by path, by UUID, by various device identifiers) are created as symlinks so that all of them (including the original kernel one) can be used simultaneously. On the other hand, network interface has only one name and as it is not represented by a file, symlinks cannot be used for aliases. Therefore even if there are multiple naming schemes (e.g. based on BIOS enumeration, bus address etc.), only one of them can be used for each network device and it's rather unpredictable which one is it going to be. Moreover, some of the generated names are rather long, ugly and inconveninent and unlike with block devices, one cannot just ignore them and use a different name (e.g. one provided by kernel).
Since version 5.5, linux kernel supports so-called alternative names which can be set for a network interface in addition to its name. Any of the alternative names can be used to identify the network interface and as their use has been incorporated into the basic net device lookup functions, even the old ioctl based userspace utilities can use the alternative names (some of them may not allow names longer than IFNAMSIZ - 1, though).
The goal of this project would be to add support for alternative names to udev, in particular:
- implement
SYMLINK+="..."for network interfaces to add an alternative name - let udev rules for "predictable names" preserve the kernel name and add altnames for (all) applicable naming schemes
- this should be only done if kernel supports altnames
No Hackers yet
Looking for hackers with the skills:
This project is part of:
Hack Week 19
Activity
Comments
-
-
almost 6 years ago by bmwiedemann | Reply
My experience from the 'predictable' network names was that I added a graphics card to a machine and that caused the network to stop working, because the name changed (one number got increased by 1) and then the /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg- file did not apply anymore. Would have been no problem with old-style eth0, because there is only 1 network device in the system. So I hope, this work could help there in the future.
Similar Projects
Improve the picotm Transaction Manager by tdz
Picotm is a system-level transaction manager. It provides transactional semantics to low-level C operations, such as
- memory access,
- modifying data structures,
- (some) file I/O, and
- common interfaces from the C Standard Library and POSIX.
Picotm also handles error detection and recovery for all it's functionality. It's fully modular, so new functionality can be added.
For the Hackweek, I want to dedicate some time to picotm. I want to finish some of the refactoring work that I have been working on. If there's time left, I'd like to investigate two-phase commits and how to support them in picotm.
Picotm is available at http://picotm.org/.
pudc - A PID 1 process that barks to the internet by mssola
Description
As a fun exercise in order to dig deeper into the Linux kernel, its interfaces, the RISC-V architecture, and all the dragons in between; I'm building a blog site cooked like this:
- The backend is written in a mixture of C and RISC-V assembly.
- The backend is actually PID1 (for real, not within a container).
- We poll and parse incoming HTTP requests ourselves.
- The frontend is a mere HTML page with htmx.
The project is meant to be Linux-specific, so I'm going to use io_uring, pidfs, namespaces, and Linux-specific features in order to drive all of this.
I'm open for suggestions and so on, but this is meant to be a solo project, as this is more of a learning exercise for me than anything else.
Goals
- Have a better understanding of different Linux features from user space down to the kernel internals.
- Most importantly: have fun.
Resources
Smart lighting with Pico 2 by jmodak
Description
I am trying to create a smart-lighting project with a Raspberry Pi Pico that reacts to a movie's visuals and audio that involves combining two distinct functions: ambient screen lighting(visual response) and sound-reactive lighting(audio response)
Goals
- Visuals: Capturing the screen's colour requires an external device to analyse screen content and send colour data to the MCU via serial communication.
- Audio: A sound sensor module connected directly to the Pico that can detect sound volume.
- Pico 2W: The MCU receives data fro, both inputs and controls an LED strip.
Resources
- Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W
- RGB LED strip
- Sound detecting sensor
- Power supply
- breadboard and wires
x64id: An x86/x64 instruction disassembler by m.crivellari
Description
This is an old side project. An x86/x64 machine code decoder. It is useful to get instructions' length and identify each of its fields.
Example:
C7 85 68 FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
This is the instruction:
MOV DWORD PTR SS:[LOCAL.38],0
What follows are some of the information collected by the disassembler, based on the specific instruction:
RAW bytes (hex): C7 85 68 FF FF FF 00 00 00 00
Instr. length: 10
Print instruction fields:
Located Prefixes 0:
OP: 0xC7
mod_reg_rm: 0x85
disp (4): 0xFFFFFF68
Iimm: 0x0
Lacks the mnemonic representation: from the previous machine code is not able to produce the "MOV..." instruction, for example.
Goals
The goal is almost easy: partially implement the mnemonic representation. I have already started during the weekend, likely tomorrow I will push the branch!
Resources
- The project: https://github.com/DispatchCode/x64-Instruction-Decoder/
- This is useful to avoid gdb and objdump in local: https://defuse.ca/online-x86-assembler.htm
- Another interesting resource is https://godbolt.org/
Progress
- An initial implementation can be found at: https://github.com/DispatchCode/x64-Instruction-Decoder/tree/mnemonic-support It is described under the "Mnemonic translation" in the README file!
Let's consider this example:
[...other bytes...] 43 89 44 B5 00 01 00 [...other bytes...]
Port OTPClient to GTK >= 4.18 by pstivanin
Project Description
OTPClient is currently using GTK3 and cannot easily be ported to GTK4. Since GTK4 came out, there have been quite some big changes. Also, there are now some new deprecation that will take effect with GTK5 (and are active starting from 4.10 as warnings), so I need to think ahead and port OTPClient without using any of those deprecated features.
Goal for this Hackweek
- fix the last 3 opened issues (https://github.com/paolostivanin/OTPClient/issues/402, https://github.com/paolostivanin/OTPClient/issues/404, https://github.com/paolostivanin/OTPClient/issues/406) and release a new version
- continue the rewrite from where we left last year
- if possible, finally close this 6 years old issue: https://github.com/paolostivanin/OTPClient/issues/123
openSUSE on ZoL from OpenZFS project by jkohoutek
Idea is to have SUSE system with OpenZFS as root FS.
Why ZFS
Ways in which ZFS is better than BTRFS
Main goal
Have OpenZFS as install option in the installer and utilize zedenv Boot Environment Manager for SUSE updates install
Goals
- synergy of ZFS with dracut, so snapshots are correctly added to the grub
- synergy of zedenv with zypper
- before every update snapshot is created
- when new kernel or other package which requires reboot is about to be installed, the update will be processed to the new boot environment snapshot and grub configuration changed to boot to this new one
- integrate Root on ZFS as install option to the YaST
- configure Kiwi for the ZFS install images
Completed goals
- prepare ZFS pool compatible with openSUSE installation ✓
- install openSUSE with root on ZFS ✓
- boot to the prepared and installed system ✓
Resources:
OpenRC in openSUSE by jimedrand
Description
I have been using openSUSE for 3 years and I am just seen the systemd as init system. Actually, I want to make openSUSE with supports to another init such as OpenRC init that I'm always using it in another distros, and I was think, "what about if I'm including OpenRC init in openSUSE and give anyone as second way for them who don't want to use systemd?", and I'm curious about that. That's why I'm opening these.
Goals
Giving OpenRC support for Tumbleweed first, then going in Leap in future if possible.
Work on some systemd upstream RFEs by afeijoo
Description
There are more than 1000 issues labelled as RFE in systemd, so this is not a common one-week project with a defined task.
Example from Hack Week 23: Allow to group entries with the same sort-key in systemd-boot
Goals
Gain a deeper understanding of some areas of systemd while working on some useful tasks. I'd be great to be able to upstream all the work, but that's not the main goal.
Resources
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues (RFE)
Help Create A Chat Control Resistant Turnkey Chatmail/Deltachat Relay Stack - Rootless Podman Compose, OpenSUSE BCI, Hardened, & SELinux by 3nd5h1771fy
Description
The Mission: Decentralized & Sovereign Messaging
FYI: If you have never heard of "Chatmail", you can visit their site here, but simply put it can be thought of as the underlying protocol/platform decentralized messengers like DeltaChat use for their communications. Do not confuse it with the honeypot looking non-opensource paid for prodect with better seo that directs you to chatmailsecure(dot)com
In an era of increasing centralized surveillance by unaccountable bad actors (aka BigTech), "Chat Control," and the erosion of digital privacy, the need for sovereign communication infrastructure is critical. Chatmail is a pioneering initiative that bridges the gap between classic email and modern instant messaging, offering metadata-minimized, end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) communication that is interoperable and open.
However, unless you are a seasoned sysadmin, the current recommended deployment method of a Chatmail relay is rigid, fragile, difficult to properly secure, and effectively takes over the entire host the "relay" is deployed on.
Why This Matters
A simple, host agnostic, reproducible deployment lowers the entry cost for anyone wanting to run a privacy‑preserving, decentralized messaging relay. In an era of perpetually resurrected chat‑control legislation threats, EU digital‑sovereignty drives, and many dangers of using big‑tech messaging platforms (Apple iMessage, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Instagram, SMS, Google Messages, etc...) for any type of communication, providing an easy‑to‑use alternative empowers:
- Censorship resistance - No single entity controls the relay; operators can spin up new nodes quickly.
- Surveillance mitigation - End‑to‑end OpenPGP encryption ensures relay operators never see plaintext.
- Digital sovereignty - Communities can host their own infrastructure under local jurisdiction, aligning with national data‑policy goals.
By turning the Chatmail relay into a plug‑and‑play container stack, we enable broader adoption, foster a resilient messaging fabric, and give developers, activists, and hobbyists a concrete tool to defend privacy online.
Goals
As I indicated earlier, this project aims to drastically simplify the deployment of Chatmail relay. By converting this architecture into a portable, containerized stack using Podman and OpenSUSE base container images, we can allow anyone to deploy their own censorship-resistant, privacy-preserving communications node in minutes.
Our goal for Hack Week: package every component into containers built on openSUSE/MicroOS base images, initially orchestrated with a single container-compose.yml (podman-compose compatible). The stack will:
- Run on any host that supports Podman (including optimizations and enhancements for SELinux‑enabled systems).
- Allow network decoupling by refactoring configurations to move from file-system constrained Unix sockets to internal TCP networking, allowing containers achieve stricter isolation.
- Utilize Enhanced Security with SELinux by using purpose built utilities such as udica we can quickly generate custom SELinux policies for the container stack, ensuring strict confinement superior to standard/typical Docker deployments.
- Allow the use of bind or remote mounted volumes for shared data (
/var/vmail, DKIM keys, TLS certs, etc.). - Replace the local DNS server requirement with a remote DNS‑provider API for DKIM/TXT record publishing.
By delivering a turnkey, host agnostic, reproducible deployment, we lower the barrier for individuals and small communities to launch their own chatmail relays, fostering a decentralized, censorship‑resistant messaging ecosystem that can serve DeltaChat users and/or future services adopting this protocol
Resources
- The links included above
- https://chatmail.at/doc/relay/
- https://delta.chat/en/help
- Project repo -> https://codeberg.org/EndShittification/containerized-chatmail-relay