Re: [PATCH net-next v5] bridge: multicast to unicast

[David Miller]

From: Linus Lüssing <linus.luessing@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2017 21:01:32 +0100

> From: Felix Fietkau <nbd@xxxxxxxx>
> 
> Implements an optional, per bridge port flag and feature to deliver
> multicast packets to any host on the according port via unicast
> individually. This is done by copying the packet per host and
> changing the multicast destination MAC to a unicast one accordingly.
> 
> multicast-to-unicast works on top of the multicast snooping feature of
> the bridge. Which means unicast copies are only delivered to hosts which
> are interested in it and signalized this via IGMP/MLD reports
> previously.
> 
> This feature is intended for interface types which have a more reliable
> and/or efficient way to deliver unicast packets than broadcast ones
> (e.g. wifi).
> 
> However, it should only be enabled on interfaces where no IGMPv2/MLDv1
> report suppression takes place. This feature is disabled by default.
> 
> The initial patch and idea is from Felix Fietkau.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Felix Fietkau <nbd@xxxxxxxx>
> [linus.luessing@xxxxxxxxx: various bug + style fixes, commit message]
> Signed-off-by: Linus Lüssing <linus.luessing@xxxxxxxxx>

I'm not completely happy that things have progressed this way, however
I don't have a better solution to suggest.