netdev - Re: [RFC PATCH net-next 1/3] ethtool: Add link down reason callback

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Message-ID: <20170626133439.GB2623@lunn.ch>
Date:   Mon, 26 Jun 2017 15:34:39 +0200
From:   Andrew Lunn <andrew@...n.ch>
To:     Gal Pressman <galp@...lanox.com>
Cc:     netdev@...r.kernel.org, "David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>,
        "John W. Linville" <linville@...driver.com>,
        Saeed Mahameed <saeedm@...lanox.com>,
        Vidya Sagar Ravipati <vidya@...ulusnetworks.com>,
        Jiri Pirko <jiri@...lanox.com>,
        David Decotigny <decot@...glers.com>, kernel-team@...com
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH net-next 1/3] ethtool: Add link down reason callback

> The driver has a good intimate information of his device
> implementation, and hence an analysis done by the device vendor is
> favorable.

For a firmware based NIC, maybe. For a discrete NIC, making use of all
the Linux subsystems, this is going to be hard from within the kernel.

> The driver provider can perform the analysis inside the device (firmware) or in the driver according to his preferences.
> We believe that since devices are becoming smarter, more analysis will be done by the device itself, which has more
> information and faster access.
> Smart NICs/SoCs are very popular this days and this API takes into account the different architectures.
> 
> Since this callback is optional, a user space analysis tool can be added in the future providing more generic analysis approach for
> unsupported devices.

I still fear this is going to be an ethtool call with only one user.

  Andrew