flesh out veb(4)/vport description a bit, spell out in more words what

is meant by "independently of the host network stack"

feedback jmc dlg

diff --git a/share/man/man4/veb.4 b/share/man/man4/veb.4
index df75a94..f202e31 100644 (file)
--- a/share/man/man4/veb.4
+++ b/share/man/man4/veb.4
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\" $OpenBSD: veb.4,v 1.2 2021/02/23 11:43:41 dlg Exp $
+.\" $OpenBSD: veb.4,v 1.3 2021/10/28 15:06:36 sthen Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2021 David Gwynne <dlg@openbsd.org>
 .\"
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
 .\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: February 23 2021 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: October 28 2021 $
 .Dt VEB 4
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -28,20 +28,30 @@ The
 .Nm veb
 pseudo-device supports the creation of a single layer 2 Ethernet
 network between multiple ports.
-Ethernet interfaces are added to the bridge to be used as ports.
+Ethernet interfaces are added to the
 .Nm veb
-takes over the operation of the interfaces that are added as ports
-and uses them independently of the host network stack.
-The network stack can be connected to the Ethernet network managed
-by
+bridge to be used as ports.
+Unlike
+.Xr bridge 4 ,
 .Nm veb
-by creating a
+takes over the operation of the interfaces that are added as ports.
+They are then independent of the host network stack: the individual
+Ethernet ports no longer function as independent devices and cannot
+be configured with
+.Xr inet 4
+or
+.Xr inet6 4
+addresses or other layer-3 features themselves.
+.Pp
+The Ethernet network managed by
+.Nm veb
+can be connected to the network stack as a whole by creating a
 .Nm vport
 interface and attaching it as a port to the bridge.
 From the perspective of the host network stack, a
 .Nm vport
 interface acts as a normal interface connected to an Ethernet
-network.
+network and can be configured with addresses.
 .Pp
 .Nm veb
 is a learning bridge that maintains a table of Ethernet addresses