Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1763148AbXIZW5i (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:57:38 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1760898AbXIZW5b (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:57:31 -0400 Received: from 74-93-104-97-Washington.hfc.comcastbusiness.net ([74.93.104.97]:41216 "EHLO sunset.davemloft.net" rhost-flags-OK-FAIL-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1756634AbXIZW5a (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:57:30 -0400 Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:57:26 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <20070926.155726.43027883.davem@davemloft.net> To: shemminger@linux-foundation.org Cc: jengelh@computergmbh.de, olecom@flower.upol.cz, jbeulich@novell.com, bridge@lists.linux-foundation.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: why network devices don't do reference counting? From: David Miller In-Reply-To: <20070926153330.77aade4d@freepuppy.rosehill> References: <20070926140608.6e6d3d0c@freepuppy.rosehill> <20070926153330.77aade4d@freepuppy.rosehill> X-Mailer: Mew version 5.1.52 on Emacs 21.4 / Mule 5.0 (SAKAKI) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 624 Lines: 15 From: Stephen Hemminger Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:33:30 -0700 > ipv6 is not a network driver, it is a protocol. You might be able to > remove it if you zap all the routes and applications, ... It is purposefully set to have a permanent elevated reference count because it is not designed to be unloaded safely. It has been unloadable forever. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/