Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next 3/4] RDMA/ionic: Add debugfs support

From: Leon Romanovsky <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 May 2026 09:00:48 +0300

On Wed, May 13, 2026 at 05:23:14PM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Wed, 13 May 2026 10:21:13 +0300 Leon Romanovsky wrote:
> > 3. The patch is too large and exposes too many details that should be
> >    gathered through the FW (fwctl).
> 
> Why? What's wrong with debugfs? Much easier for people to access.

There is nothing inherently wrong with debugfs. You can see recently
accepted debugfs patches from hns [1].

The issue here is what data is being dumped through debugfs, and in what
quantity. From a quick look, ionic_dev_info_show() appears to print
raw data coming straight from the FW.

In my view, debugfs should expose in‑kernel structures that are shaped
and controlled by the kernel itself. IMHO it is not the right place to
debug FW state. There can always be exceptions, of course, but in this
case the driver is effectively dumping everything from pds_core/FW in
the RDMA layer.

Another point: data that is generated and fully managed by pds_core
should be presented under drivers/ethernet/... where pds_core actually
lives and interfaces with the FW.

It does not belong in RDMA.

Thanks

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email-masked]/