How to get MAC Address programmatically? Does anyone know of a system call for Linux to get the MAC address programmatically? For windows, GetAdapersInfo seems to be the best way - see http://www.codeguru.com/network/GetMAC.html. Anyone see a reason why not to base licensing of software using the MAC address to uniquely define a particular computer? What else is there?

Anyone see a reason why not to base licensing of software using the MAC address to uniquely define a particular computer? # ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:00:00:00:00:00 will set your MAC address to 00:00:00:00:00:00 or whatever you like (depending on NIC).

oh....and what if the PC doesn't have a NIC?

or 2 or 3 nics? which one would you use to set the software to use?

..and what if you change your NIC? ...and what if you buy another computer, get rid of the old one and want to move your software to the new box? ...what if you want to do all this at 2 a.m. on a Sunday night, when there's no support line to call which would keep you punching numbers for half an hour anyway if it were open. When I pay for software, I expect to be able to use it when I want, just like anything else. I absolutely refuse to use products with the kind of resrtictions you're mentioning. I just switched my office from Norton to McAfee because of Product Activation. I'm progressing from MS Office to OpenOffice for the same reason. Windows XP will never be installed here. See what I'm getting at? I'm not trying to be ugly here, so please don't be offended. I'm trying to make the point that while these activation and restriction schemes may (but usually don't) thwart pirates, they always turn away legitimate customers like me, who resent being treated like thieves. I maintain that after a product is sold, it no longer belongs to the store, it belongs to the person who paid good money for it. CompUSA and Fry's (these are computer stores) station people by the door to "check your receipt" as you leave. I just refuse to let them. If I say anything at all to them after they protest my walking by them it's " this is mine, not yours". If they truly think I'm stealing, then they're welcome to call the cops. The same with software. If you think I stole it, get a warrant and search my place. That's the legal way to do it. I can't tolerate companies functioning as if they are the law. Damn. I really let go with that one, didn't I.

Hi I have a linux network with redhat 9 kernel 2 server & few nodes. I have a software which is based on Novell server & which is designed to take node address (Mac ID) from nodes and authenticate. How do I achieve this in linux envoronment ? All I want to know is how to get Mac ID of a node (Using SSH (?)) ? can anybody help ?? Thanks in advance Cheers Ashok

To get remote hardware address with ssh: $ ssh -l root machinename /sbin/ifconfig Otherwise you something like etherape to display your whole network graphically including mac address. There are also perl modules to sniff out networks.