Subject: Re: [PATCH] net: usb: lan78xx: add weak dependency with micrel phy module

From: Greg KH <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2024 15:36:08 +0200

On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 01:49:14PM +0200, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 12:23:44PM +0200, Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez wrote:
> > The related module for the phy is loaded dynamically depending on the
> > current hardware. In order to keep this behavior and have the phy modules
> > available from initramfs, add a 'weak' dependency with the phy modules to
> > allow user tools, like dracut, get this information.
> > 
> > Include micrel phy module because it is the hardware that I have. Other
> > possible phy modules can be added later.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez <[email-masked]>
> > ---
> >  drivers/net/usb/lan78xx.c | 1 +
> >  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
> > 
> > diff --git a/drivers/net/usb/lan78xx.c b/drivers/net/usb/lan78xx.c
> > index 8adf77e3557e..c3945aebf94e 100644
> > --- a/drivers/net/usb/lan78xx.c
> > +++ b/drivers/net/usb/lan78xx.c
> > @@ -5074,3 +5074,4 @@ module_usb_driver(lan78xx_driver);
> >  MODULE_AUTHOR(DRIVER_AUTHOR);
> >  MODULE_DESCRIPTION(DRIVER_DESC);
> >  MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
> > +MODULE_WEAKDEP("micrel");
> 
> ~/linux$ grep -r MODULE_WEAKDEP *
> ~/linux$ 
> 
> Is MODULE_WEAKDEP new?
> 
> It seems like a "Wack a Mole" solution, which is not going to
> scale. Does dracut not have a set of configuration files indicating
> what modules should be included, using wildcards? If you want to have
> NFS root, you need all the network drivers, and so you need all the
> PHY drivers?

Agree, this isn't ok, if you have a real dependancy, then show it as a
real one please with the tools that we have to show that.

thanks,

greg k-h