The bridge-stp usermode helper is currently restricted to the initial
network namespace, preventing userspace STP daemons (e.g. mstpd) from
operating on bridges in other network namespaces. Since commit
ff62198553 ("bridge: Only call /sbin/bridge-stp for the initial
network namespace"), bridges in non-init namespaces silently fall
back to kernel STP with no way to use userspace STP.
Add a new bridge attribute IFLA_BR_STP_MODE that allows explicit
per-bridge control over STP mode selection:
BR_STP_MODE_AUTO (default) - Existing behavior: invoke the
/sbin/bridge-stp helper in init_net only; fall back to kernel STP
if it fails or in non-init namespaces.
BR_STP_MODE_USER - Directly enable userspace STP (BR_USER_STP)
without invoking the helper. Works in any network namespace.
Userspace is responsible for ensuring an STP daemon manages the
bridge.
BR_STP_MODE_KERNEL - Directly enable kernel STP (BR_KERNEL_STP)
without invoking the helper.
The mode can only be changed while STP is disabled, or set to the
same value (-EBUSY otherwise). IFLA_BR_STP_MODE is processed before
IFLA_BR_STP_STATE in br_changelink(), so both can be set atomically
in a single netlink message. The mode can also be changed in the
same message that disables STP.
The stp_mode struct field is u8 since all possible values fit, while
NLA_U32 is used for the netlink attribute since it occupies the same
space in the netlink message as NLA_U8.
A new stp_helper_active boolean tracks whether the /sbin/bridge-stp
helper was invoked during br_stp_start(), so that br_stp_stop() only
calls the helper for stop when it was called for start. This avoids
calling the helper asymmetrically when stp_mode changes between
start and stop.
Suggested-by: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-6
Reviewed-by: Ido Schimmel <idosch@nvidia.com>
Acked-by: Nikolay Aleksandrov <nikolay@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Andy Roulin <aroulin@nvidia.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260405205224.3163000-2-aroulin@nvidia.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
54fc83a172