FWIP(4)

📦 version 12.2, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ FWIP(4) ✨ — the IP over FireWire driver, bestie edition 🎀

okay so this is a page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual and it's about fwip, the IP over FireWire driver. it's giving "networking but make it ✨firewire✨" and honestly? iconic. let's get into it 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

fwip — the IP over FireWire driver, no cap 🦋

🌈 SYNOPSIS 🌈

so like. if you wanna bake this driver straight into your kernel (main character move), you drop these lines into your kernel configuration file:

device firewire
device fwip

OR — and this is the lowkey chiller option — you can load it as a module at boot time by putting these lines in loader.conf(5):

firewire_load="YES"
if_fwip_load="YES"

pick your fighter, both slay 💖

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

the fwip driver gives you standard IP over FireWire (that's IEEE 1394, bestie) built on the protocols described in RFC 2734 and RFC 3146. yes, real RFCs, fr fr 📜✨

heads up: the firewire(4) and fwohci(4) drivers must be configured in the kernel as well. like, they're the ride-or-dies that have to show up too, no solo missions here 🫶

alsoooo, this driver supports polling(4) as well if it's compiled with the DEVICE_POLLING option. so if you flipped that switch, you're eating good 🔥

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

the whole friend group, in alphabetical order because we're organized like that:

go read them, iykyk 💜

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

the fwip device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.3. a legend from day one, honestly 🌟

🎀 AUTHORS 🎀

the fwip driver and this manual page were written by Doug Rabson, based on earlier work by Hidetoshi Shimokawa. two icons, one driver, we love to see it 👑👑

💀 BUGS 💀

okay so not everything is perfect and we gotta be honest:

this driver currently does not support the MCAP protocol for multicast IP over FireWire 😭 multicast packets get treated as broadcast packets, which is sufficient for most trivial uses of multicast. so like… it works, but it's not doing the fancy thing. periodt.

and that's the whole vibe, bestie 💖 this was the Debian build of the page, dated July 16, 2005 — shoutout to the past for giving us this absolute classic. go forth and firewall responsibly ✨🦋🌸

📦 where this page comes from