08:34 <makefu> andi-: especially for network devices i rename the interface via udev to et0 based on its mac-address. that works reasonably well

10:39 <andi-> makefu: Yeah, that works as long as your hardware is stable and doesn't break. In my case I have no way of logging into my systems if they are unreachable via the network. If I had to replace a NIC I would have to update the configuration before rebooting. That is why I would want proper identifier for a network interface.

11:39 <flokli> andi-: you can also match on other facts, not just mac address

11:40 <flokli> like driver, vendor id and whatnot / see networkd.link

11:42 <andi-> sure I can do that but what if I have many of those?

11:42 <andi-> 5 cards, each with 4 ports

11:42 <andi-> now you remove 1 and the PCIe addresses do not match anymore

11:43 <andi-> Mac addresses have issues with replacing devices

11:43 <andi-> Maybe we need a notion for the "2nd device on th PCI bus" instead of "2nd slot"

11:43 <andi-> that would at least preserve order

13:45 <flokli> I think bifurcation also makes things hard

13:46 <flokli> huh, systemd.net-naming-scheme(7)

14:32 <andi-> I think what happened in my case was that one card moved from an x8 to an x16 slot and the addressing is done in pairs of x8's? Not sure if that is how it work.. Still baffled that it makes a difference what speed the slot is working in.