Policy files

A policy has a name, an interface selector under match, and configuration fields. Explicit policies use kind: policy and a nonempty name. Without kind, or with kind: state, the filename supplies the policy name.

Select an interface

The match mapping accepts these string values:

Field	Matches
name	Interface name, such as eth0
type	Device type, such as ethernet
driver	Kernel driver name
pci_path	PCI address, such as 0000:00:02.0
mac	MAC address

Every field you supply must match. Values are literal; eth* is not a wildcard. MAC addresses are case insensitive. Other values are case sensitive. An explicit policy requires at least one selector.

match.name selects an interface. A top-level name in an explicit policy names the policy itself; it does not rename the interface.

Multiple policies

Use a YAML list to put several policies in one file:

- kind: policy
  name: uplink
  match:
    name: eth0
  mtu: 1500
- kind: policy
  name: storage
  match:
    name: eth1
  mtu: 9000

Named policies keep their names. Unnamed entries use the filename followed by their position, starting at 1. An unnamed entry in the first position in interfaces.yaml becomes interfaces-1.

Use one YAML document per file. Separate documents divided by --- are not accepted.

Names and directories

Policy names must be unique within a loaded file or directory. Two files named uplink.yaml in different subdirectories still produce the same default policy name. Give them explicit names or use different filenames.

Directory loading includes .yaml and .yml files in subdirectories, in lexical path order. It skips hidden files, hidden directories, and symbolic links.

Different policies may select the same interface. The loader keeps their contributions separate and does not resolve conflicts between them.

Values

Use booleans such as true, integers such as 1500, and strings. Null values and floating-point numbers are not accepted. Quoting a value makes it a string, so mtu: "1500" does not satisfy the integer field.

The field reference lists configuration fields and their allowed values. Read-only properties such as carrier and driver describe observations and cannot be set as policy fields.