Subject: Re: [PATCH] net: export device speed and duplex via sysfs

From: Ben Hutchings <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:19:14 +0100

On Fri, 2009-10-02 at 14:07 -0400, Andy Gospodarek wrote:
> This exports the link-speed (in Mbps) and duplex of an interface via
> sysfs.  This eliminates the need to use ethtool just to check the
> link-speed.  Not requiring 'ethtool' and not relying on the SIOCETHTOOL
> ioctl should be helpful in an embedded environment where space is at a
> premium as well.

It's trivial to write an ethtool-lite that does this.  That might be
worth adding to busybox.

> NOTE: This patch also intentionally allows non-root users to check the link
> speed and duplex -- something not possible with ethtool.
[...]

Assuming this is desirable (I'm not sure), wouldn't it would make more
sense to move the permissions check for SIOCETHTOOL so that get_settings
is non-privileged?

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare Communications
Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job.
They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.