DSA Terminology

[Rich Brown]

Hi jow, thanks for weighing in. I'm glad that I'm not unnecessarily confused - the naming *is* inconsistent. It sounds as if different "contexts" have varying definitions for the terms "interface", "network", "device", etc... (LuCi, /etc/config/network, the kernel.org article about DSA configuration, others?)

When this has happened to me in other lives, it was useful to pause and agree on what we would *like* the end state to be. We can then figure out the technical means to get there. In parallel, we can work on definitions and descriptions that support the end state.

Regrettably, I don't understand enough about this to make a stab at it. Anyone want to leap in? Thanks.

Rich

PS I changed the subject line to "DSA Terminology" since that's really what we're talking about

> On Sep 7, 2022, at 5:12 PM, Jo-Philipp Wich <jo at mein.io> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
>>> I wrote this mostly because the LuCI interface itself makes a distinction
>>> between the "Devices" tab and the "Interfaces" tab. But maybe this isn't the
>>> best way to describe what goes there.
>> 
>> I agree that there are inconsistencies in LuCI. The only place I see the
>> terminology correctly stated is on the wireless section:
>> 
>> Network: Lists all entries on the Interfaces section.
>> 
>>> Choose the network(s) you want to attach to this wireless interface or >
>> fill out the custom field to define a new network.
>> 
>> Which correctly states that:
>> 
>> Interfaces section should be called Networks.
>> Devices section should be called Interfaces.
> 
> I agree that there's inconsistencies, I eventually want to clean that up.
> Part of the terminology stems from uci itself, where `config interface`
> declares logical *networks* while *interfaces* (as in Linux netdevs) are
> referred to as `config device` (and `config wifi-*iface*` for wireless, which
> probably should be named differently too).
> 
> Personally I am fine with rebranding the logical network entities (lan, wan,
> loopback etc.) to "networks" but I am unsure about renaming what is currently
> "devices" to "interfaces" as it would then intersect with the current meaning
> of interfaces...
> 
> Anyhow, so while I agree that:
> 
>> Interfaces section should be called Networks.
>> Devices section should be called Interfaces.
> 
> ... it will directly contradict /etc/config/network, where networks are called
> `config interface` and interfaces are called `config device` likely leading to
> even more confusion.
> 
> 
> ~ Jo
> 
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