netdev - Re: [PATCH net-next] docs: networking: clarify expectation of persistent stats

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Message-ID: <20250826174457.56705b46@kernel.org>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2025 17:44:57 -0700
From: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@...nel.org>
To: Naveen Mamindlapalli <naveenm@...vell.com>
Cc: <davem@...emloft.net>, <edumazet@...gle.com>, <pabeni@...hat.com>,
 <horms@...nel.org>, <corbet@....net>, <andrew@...n.ch>,
 <netdev@...r.kernel.org>, <linux-doc@...r.kernel.org>,
 <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next] docs: networking: clarify expectation of
 persistent stats

On Mon, 25 Aug 2025 19:17:55 +0530 Naveen Mamindlapalli wrote:
> -Statistics must persist across routine operations like bringing the interface
> -down and up.
> +Statistics are expected to persist across routine operations like bringing the

Please don't weaken the requirement. The requirements is what it is.

> +interface down and up. This includes both standard interface statistics and
> +driver-defined statistics reported via `ethtool -S`.

Rest of the paragraph looks good, but I think the preferred form of
quotations is double back ticks? Most of this doc doesn't comply but
let's stick to double when adding new stuff.

> +However, this behavior is not always strictly followed, and some drivers do
> +reset these counters to zero when the device is closed and reopened. This can
> +lead to misinterpretation of network behavior by monitoring tools, such as
> +SNMP, that expect monotonically increasing counters.
> +
> +Driver authors are expected to preserve statistics across interface down/up
> +cycles to ensure consistent reporting and better integration with monitoring
> +tools that consume these statistics.

This feels like too many words. How about:

Note that the following legacy drivers do not comply with this requirement
and cannot be fixed without breaking existing users:
 - driver1
 - driver2
 ...
-- 
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