The IRIX networking design is based on the socket interface: mbuf objects are used to exchange messages within the kernel, and device drivers support the TCP/IP internet protocol suite by supporting the ifnet interface.
Since the BSD-based networking framework and the implementation of the TCP/IP protocol suite have changed little from previous releases of IRIX, porting your ifnet device driver to this release of IRIX should be straightforward.
Note: Although the general kernel facilities documented inChapter 9, "Device Driver/Kernel Interface," are standardized and stable, this is not the case with network interfaces. The ifnet and other interfaces summarized in this topic are subject to change without notice.