This leads (in the kernel) to calling vif_add() function call which
search the (physical) device using assigned IP address:
dev = ip_dev_find(net, vifc->vifc_lcl_addr.s_addr);
The current API (struct vifctl) does not allow to specify an
interface other way than using it's IP, and if there are more than a
single interface with specified IP only the first one will be found.
The attached patch (against 2.6.30.4) allows to specify an interface
by its index, instead of IP address: