netdev - Re: [patch net-next v2 00/10] Add support for resource abstraction

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Date:   Wed, 27 Dec 2017 10:38:50 -0600
From:   David Ahern <dsa@...ulusnetworks.com>
To:     Jiri Pirko <jiri@...nulli.us>, Andrew Lunn <andrew@...n.ch>
Cc:     netdev@...r.kernel.org, davem@...emloft.net, arkadis@...lanox.com,
        mlxsw@...lanox.com, vivien.didelot@...oirfairelinux.com,
        f.fainelli@...il.com, michael.chan@...adcom.com,
        ganeshgr@...lsio.com, saeedm@...lanox.com, matanb@...lanox.com,
        leonro@...lanox.com, idosch@...lanox.com,
        jakub.kicinski@...ronome.com, ast@...nel.org, daniel@...earbox.net,
        simon.horman@...ronome.com, pieter.jansenvanvuuren@...ronome.com,
        john.hurley@...ronome.com, alexander.h.duyck@...el.com,
        linville@...driver.com, gospo@...adcom.com,
        steven.lin1@...adcom.com, yuvalm@...lanox.com,
        ogerlitz@...lanox.com, roopa@...ulusnetworks.com
Subject: Re: [patch net-next v2 00/10] Add support for resource abstraction

On 12/27/17 7:15 AM, Jiri Pirko wrote:
> Wed, Dec 27, 2017 at 02:08:03PM CET, andrew@...n.ch wrote:
>>> This is misunderstanding I believe. This is not about ABI. That is well
>>> defined by the netlink attributes. This is about meaning of particular
>>> ASIC-specific internal resources.
>>
>> I would agree that the netlink attributed are clearly defined. But the
>> meta information, what this ASIC specific internal resource means when
>> you combine these attributes, is unclear. This meta information is
>> also part of the ABI, and documenting giving users a hit what it
>> means, and why they should change it, would be good practice.
>>
>> Look at sysfs. open/read/write are clearly defined, which is the
>> equivalent of the netlink attributes. The meta information we document
>> in Documentation/ABI/, what a file name means, what a value means,
>> what other values it can take, etc.
> 
> Hmm. That documents mainly sysfs. No mention of Netlink at all. But
> maybe I missed it. Also, that defines the interface as is. However we
> are talking about the data exchanged over the interface, not the
> interface itself. I don't see how ASIC/HW specific thing, like for
> example KVD in our case could be part of kernel ABI. That makes 0 sense
> to me, sorry.
> 

IMO, kernel documentation is not much better than vendor docs. A general
networking admin may not have access to a kernel tree or have vendor
docs at their finger tips. As I mentioned in the previous response,
devlink attributes have self-documenting capabilities making that
information available inline. That to me is the right place for a short,
but reasonably sized description. For in-depth details users can
cross-reference vendor docs.