Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/6] bus: Add shared MDIO bus framework

From: Florian Fainelli <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 10:23:02 -0700

On 26/04/16 05:13, Andrew Lunn wrote:
>> 4. Apart from these, by using MDIO mux framework we are making our
>> non-ethernet PHYs dependent on Linux network drivers which is not
>> acceptable. What if some product line does not need network subsystem at
>> all?
> 
> This is your only valid point. However, does Broadcom have a product
> line which does not include networking? Is not Broadcom a network SoC
> vendor?

But even with that, there is no reason why we could not decouple the
PHYLIB MDIO framework from PHYLIB and make it available as a more
standalone subsystem which can be utilized when you have a mix of MDIO
devices like here.

I am not clear on how common a shared MDIO bus is on other SoCs, but the
other Broadcom SoCs I am familiar with have dedicated MDIO buses
instances per type of PHY (PCIe, BUSB, Ethernet), thus making the split
a ton easier.
-- 
Florian