eth_hw_addr_gen(9)

🌸 NAME 🌸

eth_hw_addr_gen — Generate and assign Ethernet address to a port 💖

okay so this page is eth_hw_addr_gen(9) from the Kernel API Manual, and it's literally here to help you generate and assign an Ethernet address to a port. iconic.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

void eth_hw_addr_gen (struct net_device *dev , const u8 *base_addr ,
       unsigned int id );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• dev — pointer to port's net_device structure 🫶
• base_addr — base Ethernet address ✨
• id — offset to add to the base address 🎀

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So basically: generate a MAC address using a base address and an offset, then assign it to a net_device. That's the whole vibe check ✅.

Switch drivers are the ones that commonly use this, because they need to compute addresses for all their ports — it's giving “one base address, many ports” main character energy 👑.

important note bestie: addr_assign_type is not changed. Not even a little. No cap. 💀

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

fr fr, check the kernel file ./include/linux/etherdevice.h, plus all these besties:

• is_link_local_ether_addr(9)
• is_zero_ether_addr(9)
• is_multicast_ether_addr(9)
• is_local_ether_addr(9)
• is_broadcast_ether_addr(9)
• is_unicast_ether_addr(9)
• is_valid_ether_addr(9)
• eth_proto_is_802_3(9)
• eth_random_addr(9)
• eth_broadcast_addr(9)
• eth_zero_addr(9)
• eth_hw_addr_random(9)
• eth_hw_addr_crc(9)
• ether_addr_copy(9)
• eth_hw_addr_set(9)
• eth_hw_addr_inherit(9)
• ether_addr_equal(9)
• ether_addr_equal_64bits(9)
• ether_addr_equal_unaligned(9)
• ether_addr_equal_masked(9)
• ether_addr_to_u64(9)
• u64_to_ether_addr(9)
• eth_addr_dec(9)
• eth_addr_inc(9)
• eth_addr_add(9)
• is_etherdev_addr(9)
• compare_ether_header(9)
• eth_skb_pkt_type(9)
• eth_skb_pad(9)

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made with 💖 from ./include/linux, October 2026, for eth_hw_addr_gen(9) — bye bestie, go generate those addresses slay ✨🫶