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Re: [RFC] Configuring synchronous interfaces in Linux

To: Chris Wedgwood <cw@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [RFC] Configuring synchronous interfaces in Linux
From: Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 13:07:29 -0600 (CST)
Cc: Donald Becker <becker@xxxxxxxxx>, Francois Romieu <romieu@xxxxxxxxxx>, Russell King <rmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Ivan Passos <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, netdev@xxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <20001203075958.A1121@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: owner-netdev@xxxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 3 Dec 2000, Chris Wedgwood wrote:
>     > Russell King <rmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> écrit :
>     > [...]
>     > > We already have a standard interface for this, but many drivers do not
>     > > support it.  Its called "ifconfig eth0 media xxx":

> Actually, I starteed work on adding this to the 3c59x code last
> night; I am now a little dispondent though as it wasn't as simple as
> I first thought it might be.

Does 'ifconfig eth0 media xxx' wind up calling dev->set_config?

If yes, my guess is correct, I think the proper solution is to:
* create a generic set_config, which does nothing but convert the calls'
semantics into ethtool semantics, and
* add ethtool support to the specific driver

And you might even go so far as to create a generic MII implementation
of ethtool support, so that existing drivers can simply plug in their
mdio_{read,write} functions to automatically get full ethtool support.
(disclaimer:  this is a spur-of-the-moment thought, creating a generic
MII module for ethtool support may not be feasible)

drivers/net/sis900.c implements set_config, if you want an example..

Finally, if you want to just use ethtool directly, grab the SRPM and
install it on your system.

        Jeff




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