os.networkInterfaces() treats interface names as Latin-1

[agnat]

We're looking at a bug over at agnat/node_mdns#100 regarding accents in network interface names. I think this line accidentally treats strings as Latin-1 while libuv takes great care to provide UTF8.

The change was made in f674b09. Could you guys take a look?

[agnat]

This is a windows issue where interface names are actually unicode.

[agnat]

@bnoordhuis, sorry to bother you but could you take a minute and take a look at this?

[bnoordhuis]

Addressed in https://github.com/node-forward/node/pull/44

I wonder though if libuv should really be using AdapterName instead of FriendlyName. @piscisaureus?

[ronkorving]

Thanks Ben. I believe that repo is currently private, and we can't actually access that PR?

[bnoordhuis]

It's private because of, well, long story, but it's going public again soon. If you want access, ping me; you can find me in #node-forward on freenode.net.

[piscisaureus]

I wonder though if libuv should really be using AdapterName instead of FriendlyName. @piscisaureus?

I don't really care. Does anyone?
To see the difference: http://screencast.com/t/mkeJVkXUDeDc

• The 'name' column is what we report currently
• The 'device name' column corresponds to the AdapterName field, which @bnoordhuis suggests we use.

[agnat]

Uhm, I care.

I have code that actually deals with these names. I use these names because it is the node way to refer to interfaces. Others might use these names to refer to interfaces. Think config files.

So, I kindly ask you not to change these names without providing a feasible migration path.

[agnat]

Sorry for being so tetchy about this. But it kind of hurts to see how easy you guys talk about breaking down stream code.

[agnat]

If you really want to change the names here are two options that would mitigate the consequences on my end:

• Use a name that is valid input to the windows version of if_nametoindex. Not sure if that is the AdapterName, though. It would be more symmetric that way.
• Or, add the interface index as a property to the objects returned by os.networkInterfaces().

[agnat]

Actually, it would be quite funny if the result of me taking the time to track down this bug would be you breaking my code ... again.

[bnoordhuis]

@agnat Just the "don't change it because $REASON" comment would have done. We'll leave it as it is.