Subject: Re: [PATCH] drivers: ptp: Include new header file in ptp_pch.c

From: Richard Cochran <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 08:27:59 +0100

On Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 05:43:59PM -0500, David Miller wrote:
> 
> I think this begs an even more fundamental question, why isn't the PTP
> driver abstraction providing the necessary methods and interfaces so
> that pch_gbe doesn't have to call into the ptp_pch.c code directly?

Really it is more of a driver issue. For MAC based PTP clocks, they
are so tightly coupled to the MAC driver that it is better *not* to
have the PTP functions in a separate module. Instead, if having the
PTP stuff optional makes sense, then the PTP parts are just a compile
time option in the MAC driver. This is how the other MAC drivers with
optional PTP are structured.

> Moving ptp_pch.c elsehwere is not desirable, it's a PTP driver so
> it belongs under drivers/ptp.
> 
> Someone who understands all of these components needs to sort this
> out cleanly, this patch isn't it.

I am getting a bit tired of all the trouble over the past year caused
by this particular driver. After it got merged, the original authors
disappeared. I would really like to see this driver follow the pattern
of bfin_mac, ti/cpts, and tile. Maybe I'll have to do it myself, like
the Red Hen.

Thanks,
Richard