network interface names ethX and renaming interfaces

[Hein Roehrig]

Hello *,

in Linux 2.2.20 I have a problem renaming the network interface dummy0
to eth0 and then starting a regular ethernet driver --- I would like
it to come up as eth1 but it comes up as eth0, messing up the dummy0
interface.

Reading the source, it appears that in init_ethernev(), ethernet
drivers claim device names according to the array ethdev_index and
shoot down any device name eth0 claimed by a non-ethernet driver.

Therefore it appears to me that SIOCSIFNAME should either disallow
renaming to ethX or it should adjust ethdev_index.

Thanks in advance for any comment/advice,
Hein