netdev - Re: [PATCH] r8169: fix RTL8117 Wake-on-Lan in DASH mode

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Message-ID: <91791699-e362-4e45-af48-f59fc6d31f53@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2025 18:04:18 +0100
From: Heiner Kallweit <hkallweit1@...il.com>
To: René Rebe <rene@...ctco.de>, andrew@...n.ch
Cc: netdev@...r.kernel.org, nic_swsd@...ltek.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH] r8169: fix RTL8117 Wake-on-Lan in DASH mode

On 12/2/2025 4:56 PM, René Rebe wrote:
> On Tue, 2 Dec 2025 16:52:42 +0100, Andrew Lunn <andrew@...n.ch> wrote:
> 
>>> Well, the argument is for wakeup to “just work”. There also
>>> should be some consistency in Linux. Either all drivers should
>>> enable it or disable it by default. That is why I have thrown in
>>> the idea of a new kconfig options for downstream distros to
>>> make a conscious global choice. E.g. we would ship it it
>>> enabled.
>>
>> You might need to separate out, what is Linux doing, and what is the
>> bootloader doing before Linux takes over the machine.
> 
> By Grub2 boot loader is not enabling WoL.
> 
>> Linux drivers sometimes don't reset WoL back to nothing enabled. They
>> just take over how the hardware was configured. So if the bootloader
>> has enabled Magic packet, Linux might inherit that.
>>
>> I _think_ Linux enabling Magic packet by default does not
>> happen. Which is why it would be good if you give links to 5 to 10
>> drivers, from the over 200 in the kernel, which do enable WoL by
>> default.
> 
> I'm sure supporting WoL requires active code in each driver. The next
> time I have free time I'll go compile a list with grep for you.
> 
> Best,
> 

How I see it:
At least on consumer mainboards you have to enable WoL also in the BIOS,
doing it just in Linux typically isn't sufficient. So it takes a user
activity anyway. Common network managers allow to specify WoL as part
of the interface configuration which is needed anyway, releasing users
from the burden to use e.g. ethtool to configure WoL.
And as stated before, WoL results in higher power consumption if system
is suspended / shut down. What apparently is less of a concern for
"professional-grade" NIC's, whilst basically every consumer system comes
with Realtek NIC's (apart from few systems with Intel i225/i226).