Howto get a list of network interfaces in Linux, part 3

Here we are, this is the ultimate post from these series. Thanks both previous posts, we are now able to get a list of interfaces using any language from shell script to whatever language which can speak ''sockets''.

However, as we could realize earlier, the ioctl-based method does not work exactly the way we want, because it does only report IP enabled devices. So if you want to deal with network interfaces before they start running, you are stuck with the /proc method. There must be another way. Remember that man netdevice we did last week. They mentioned netlink... What are those ?

Netlink sockets are sockets from the AF_NETLINK family. Being sockets, they are used to communicate between two addresses. The fun part is, netlink communications are local. And they usually (in the most simple scenario) link a user process with the kernel, especially the networking stack of the kernel.

Howto get a list of network interfaces in Linux, part 2

Welcome back, networkers !

Now, we are able to loop over all network interfaces within a shell script. How about we do it in C ? Let's make a first attempt using syscalls, shall we ? The alert reader already guessed that like all major things, there will be three parts (talking about major things, Google suggests me that there are three little pigs, stooges, musketeers. But Rs beat them all with 3 billion hits, what an ignorant fool I was, to not even know about RRR).

So, whenever it comes to system and kernel stuff, system calls are your friends, and thus we naturally turn to ioctl and friends, in order to find out more about the network interfaces. A quick "man ioctl"  reveals that there is a manual page that knows them all ioctls. So, let's summon it right away by doing "man ioctl_list".  Now that you have it in front of your eyes in it's full glory, you will just trust me and use SIOCGIFCONF to know about network interfaces. Because that manual page was rather obscure, wasn't it ?

Howto get a list of network interfaces in Linux, part 1

Hi folks,

Today we are going to become a little bit more technical. Some of you might wonder how to get a list of the network interfaces. For our first part, we are going to consider the shell script case.

Little disclaimer first, I am not an expert at shell-scripts at all, my abilities are limited to understanding the random scripts I encounter during my daily use of Linux on my computers, and writing the occasional script that saves some time when having to automate some boring tasks (converting a few gigs of  videos is boring).

Standards : How do you like them Apple ? (continued)

So, we are back to our iphone standards woes. If, like my wife, you shoot between 100 and 500 pictures a months, it will still take 20 to 100 months to fill up the camera roll. But that's still a lot to scroll through, so I am making a few Album folders within iTunes, and grouping the pictures by month. Which means that I remove the old pictures from the camera roll. Which also means that when the "10000 glitch" appeared, the camera roll was looking empty for some time until the update. Had to plug the phone to the comp to be sure everything was still there.

So here's the big question : how could we reach 10'000 pictures in the camera roll so quickly ? The answer is, broken software. As I am suspecting more and more after seeing this "10000 glitch", the software quality is much below the anticipated quality from a company as notorious as Apple. I have never owned a Mac, out of hatred. But I have always heard good feedback and was looking forward to that phone from a software point of view.

Standards : How do you like them Apple ?

Okay I have been trying hard to find some funny way to introduce this post, don't worry if you don't think it is (funny).

Actually, there are two reasons why I wanted that funny start, the first one being because it has been a long time since I posted anything -or since I posted at all- and the second one because, I am still not sure if I should post it. I have been wrestling with myself over this, but I believe that accumulated frustration finally triggered the whole thing, so let's go. I will try to explain here how I am getting more and more disappointed by an overrated phone...