nameif (8) Linux Manual Page

nameif – name network interfaces based on MAC addresses

Synopsis

nameif [-c configfile] [-s]
nameif [-c configfile] [-s] {interface macaddress}

Description

nameif renames network interfaces based on mac addresses. When no arguments are given /etc/mactab is read. Each line of it contains an interface name and a Ethernet MAC address. Comments are allowed starting with #. Otherwise the interfaces specified on the command line are processed. nameif looks for the interface with the given MAC address and renames it to the name given. When the -s argument is given all error messages go to the syslog. When the -c argument is given with a file name that file is read instead of /etc/mactab.

Notes

nameif should be run before the interface is up, otherwise it’ll fail.

Files

/etc/mactab

Bugs

Only works for Ethernet currently.