netdev - Re: PHY firmware update method

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Message-ID: <YzrTKwR/bEPJOs1P@shell.armlinux.org.uk>
Date:   Mon, 3 Oct 2022 13:18:51 +0100
From:   "Russell King (Oracle)" <linux@...linux.org.uk>
To:     Jakub Kicinski <kuba@...nel.org>
Cc:     Andrew Lunn <andrew@...n.ch>,
        Jacob Keller <jacob.e.keller@...el.com>,
        Jiri Pirko <jiri@...nulli.us>,
        Michael Walle <michael@...le.cc>,
        Heiner Kallweit <hkallweit1@...il.com>, netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: PHY firmware update method

On Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 07:45:46AM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> Actually maybe there's something in DMTF, does PLDM have standard image
> format? Adding Jake. Not sure if PHYs would use it tho :S 

DMTF? PLDM?

> What's the interface that the PHY FW exposes? Ben H was of the opinion
> that we should just expose the raw mtd devices.. just saying..

Not all PHYs provide raw access to the firmware memory to the host; in
some cases, firmware memory access needs the PHY to be shutdown, and
programs loaded into the PHY to provide a "bridge" to program the
external firmware memory. I'm thinking about 88x3310 here - effectively
there it's write-only access via an intermediate program on the PHY,
and there's things like checksums etc.

So, exposing everything as a MTD sounds like a solution, but not all
PHYs provide such access. IMHO, if we say "everything must provide a
MTD" then we're boxing ourselves into a corner.

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