sysfs: add attribute to indicate hw address assignment type

Add addr_assign_type to struct net_device and expose it via sysfs.
This new attribute has the purpose of giving user-space the ability to
distinguish between different assignment types of MAC addresses.

For example user-space can treat NICs with randomly generated MAC
addresses differently than NICs that have permanent (locally assigned)
MAC addresses.
For the former udev could write a persistent net rule by matching the
device path instead of the MAC address.
There's also the case of devices that 'steal' MAC addresses from slave
devices. In which it is also be beneficial for user-space to be aware
of the fact.

This patch also introduces a helper function to assist adoption of
drivers that generate MAC addresses randomly.

Signed-off-by: Stefan Assmann <sassmann@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>

1 files changed, 14 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/include/linux/etherdevice.h b/include/linux/etherdevice.h
index 3d7a668..848480b 100644
--- a/include/linux/etherdevice.h
+++ b/include/linux/etherdevice.h
@@ -127,6 +127,20 @@ static inline void random_ether_addr(u8 *addr)
 }
 
 /**
+ * dev_hw_addr_random - Create random MAC and set device flag
+ * @dev: pointer to net_device structure
+ * @addr: Pointer to a six-byte array containing the Ethernet address
+ *
+ * Generate random MAC to be used by a device and set addr_assign_type
+ * so the state can be read by sysfs and be used by udev.
+ */
+static inline void dev_hw_addr_random(struct net_device *dev, u8 *hwaddr)
+{
+	dev->addr_assign_type |= NET_ADDR_RANDOM;
+	random_ether_addr(hwaddr);
+}
+
+/**
  * compare_ether_addr - Compare two Ethernet addresses
  * @addr1: Pointer to a six-byte array containing the Ethernet address
  * @addr2: Pointer other six-byte array containing the Ethernet address