[Bridge] STP bug, loop not detetcted

[Francesco Dolcini]

Joakim Tjernlund wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-05-08 at 11:04 +0200, Francesco Dolcini wrote:
>> cisco and others solved this kind of problem using proprietary 
>> unidirectional link detection protocols (see cisco informational rfc 
>> 5171 for example). No standard exists as far as I know (BFD rfc does not 
>> consider the layer 2 case).
> 
> Are these proprietary unidirectional link detection protocols the only
> way to solve the problem?
spanning tree protocol, in the various IEEE incarnation (802.1D, 802.1Q) 
and cisco (PVSTP) does not handle this problem, so an external mechanism 
is needed.

> Would STP break if the interface was set to "non forwarding" in this
> case until the bridge stops seeing its own STP messages?
At least this will not solve the more general problem of a 
unidirectional link (rx working and tx broken).