Subject: Re: [PATCH 08/23] e1000: add multicast stats counters

From: Jeff Garzik <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 20:47:21 -0400

cramerj wrote:
>> Williams, Mitch A wrote:
>>>>> +	{ "rx_broadcast", E1000_STAT(stats.bprc) },
>>>>> +	{ "tx_broadcast", E1000_STAT(stats.bptc) },
>>>>> +	{ "rx_multicast", E1000_STAT(stats.mprc) },
>>>>> +	{ "tx_multicast", E1000_STAT(stats.mptc) },
>>>>>  	{ "rx_errors", E1000_STAT(net_stats.rx_errors) },
>>>>>  	{ "tx_errors", E1000_STAT(net_stats.tx_errors) },
>>>>>  	{ "tx_dropped", E1000_STAT(net_stats.tx_dropped) },
>>>> NAK -- you also need to remove the standard net stats, which are
>>>> exported elsewhere
>>> Jeff, can you please explain the reason for this NAK a little more?
>>> Neither Auke nor I understand why you rejected the patch.

>>> This patch just adds the display of a few more stats in Ethtool.  It
>>> doesn't affect any other counters, and is really just a convenience
>>> feature.  I added this to the driver because of a customer request.
>> Adding those stats is fine.  You guys just need to remove the existing
>> mess first.

> Since we have 1-to-1 mapping of some of our statistics registers to the
> net_stats, we could s/net_stats/stats/.  However, there are a few
> net_stats (e.g. net_stats.rx_errors) that encapsulate more than one
> e1000 statistic register of which we don't have a private stat member
> defined.
> 
> For those statistics, is it really necessary to add another stat
> structure just to rm "net_stats" from that list we pass to ethtool?  At
> best, it would look something like this...
> 
>   { "foo_count", E1000_STAT(stats.foo) },
> - { "rx_errors", E1000_STAT(net_stats.rx_errors) },
> + { "rx_errors", E1000_STAT(eth_stats.rx_errors) },
>   { "bar_count", E1000_STAT(stats.bar) },
> 
> If so, well, OK.  I'm just scratching my head as to why it's a "mess"
> as-is.

The ethtool get-stats sub ioctl has _always_ been for exporting _only_ 
NIC-private statistics.

So, no, there is no inherent connection between adding multicast stats 
and removing ones that should have never been in the list.  But if I 
don't put my foot down, this will never get corrected.

	Jeff