Subject: Re: [PATCH 10/17] bootwrapper: Add dt_set_mac_addresses().

From: Segher Boessenkool <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 20:34:13 +0100

>>> Eh, I don't think I agree with that.  mac-address is supposed to be 
>>> used if it exists, because it represents the "most recent MAC 
>>> address".
>> That's policy and belongs in user land, not in the kernel,
>> and certainly not in a device driver.
>
> The device driver needs to know what MAC address to program into the 
> hardware when it initializes it.

And it should use "local-mac-address" for that when it exists.

>  Everything else the driver needs is also in the device tree.  So 
> you're saying the driver should ignore the MAC address fields, and 
> then when it needs a MAC address, it should ......... ?

No, I'm saying that you shouldn't use "mac-address" for
something it isn't meant for.

You aren't supposed to have a "mac-address" property for
devices that weren't used during firmware execution / booting
_at all_.

Segher