* ethtool TODO list - additional info
@ 2016-07-05 15:37 Jorge Alberto Garcia
2016-07-12 17:55 ` Jiri Pirko
0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Jorge Alberto Garcia @ 2016-07-05 15:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Jiri Pirko; +Cc: John W. Linville, Ben Hutchings, netdev
Hi !
Some days ago, Jiri Pirko was talking about some next steps to
implement for ethtool.
I haven't seen any follow up since ethtool's maintainer change. Can we have
additional details about these ?
- libethtool - API
- generic netlink
- sub commands syntax
- TODO/bugzilla
On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 9:24 AM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote:
>>> I was thinking of adding a TODO file to the repository, but it's really
>>> for the new maintainer to decide what to do. So here's my list as a
>>> suggestion:
>>>
>>> * Add regression test coverage for all sub-commands with complex logic
>>>
>>> * Internationalise output and error messages
>>>
>>> * Build a libethtool that handles all the API quirks and fallbacks for
>>> old kernel versions. This might help people writing language
>>> bindings or other utilities that use the ethtool API.
>>>
>>> * Provide a 'cleaned up' ethtool (under some other name) that has:
>>> - More conventional sub-command syntax, i.e. no '-'/'--' prefix
>>> - More consistent output formatting
>>
>>That seems like a reasonable start for a TODO list. I'll bet there
>>are a few people out there with other suggestions as well...?
>
> Before that, I would like to see ethtool migrate to use generic
> netlink. Then, the new tool would be needed anyway, should exist within
> iproute2 package and have similar command line syntax.
>
> I have some ideas about the gennetlink ethtool, have to find some time
> to implement some initial part of it.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread* Re: ethtool TODO list - additional info 2016-07-05 15:37 ethtool TODO list - additional info Jorge Alberto Garcia @ 2016-07-12 17:55 ` Jiri Pirko 2016-07-12 18:04 ` Jorge Alberto Garcia 0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread From: Jiri Pirko @ 2016-07-12 17:55 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Jorge Alberto Garcia; +Cc: John W. Linville, Ben Hutchings, netdev Tue, Jul 05, 2016 at 05:37:42PM CEST, jorge.garcia.gonzalez@gmail•com wrote: >Hi ! > >Some days ago, Jiri Pirko was talking about some next steps to >implement for ethtool. > > I haven't seen any follow up since ethtool's maintainer change. Can we have >additional details about these ? > >- libethtool - API >- generic netlink Yep, exactly, no reply. Apparently nobody really want to do any initiative here, and I'm lacking time to do it :( >- sub commands syntax >- TODO/bugzilla > > >On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 9:24 AM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote: > >>>> I was thinking of adding a TODO file to the repository, but it's really >>>> for the new maintainer to decide what to do. So here's my list as a >>>> suggestion: >>>> >>>> * Add regression test coverage for all sub-commands with complex logic >>>> >>>> * Internationalise output and error messages >>>> >>>> * Build a libethtool that handles all the API quirks and fallbacks for >>>> old kernel versions. This might help people writing language >>>> bindings or other utilities that use the ethtool API. >>>> >>>> * Provide a 'cleaned up' ethtool (under some other name) that has: >>>> - More conventional sub-command syntax, i.e. no '-'/'--' prefix >>>> - More consistent output formatting >>> >>>That seems like a reasonable start for a TODO list. I'll bet there >>>are a few people out there with other suggestions as well...? >> >> Before that, I would like to see ethtool migrate to use generic >> netlink. Then, the new tool would be needed anyway, should exist within >> iproute2 package and have similar command line syntax. >> >> I have some ideas about the gennetlink ethtool, have to find some time >> to implement some initial part of it. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: ethtool TODO list - additional info 2016-07-12 17:55 ` Jiri Pirko @ 2016-07-12 18:04 ` Jorge Alberto Garcia 2016-07-12 18:12 ` John W. Linville 0 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread From: Jorge Alberto Garcia @ 2016-07-12 18:04 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Jiri Pirko; +Cc: John W. Linville, Ben Hutchings, netdev On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 12:55 PM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote: > Tue, Jul 05, 2016 at 05:37:42PM CEST, jorge.garcia.gonzalez@gmail•com wrote: >>Hi ! >> >>Some days ago, Jiri Pirko was talking about some next steps to >>implement for ethtool. >> >> I haven't seen any follow up since ethtool's maintainer change. Can we have >>additional details about these ? >> >>- libethtool - API >>- generic netlink > > Yep, exactly, no reply. Apparently nobody really want to do any initiative > here, and I'm lacking time to do it :( > That's fine, I already got a git repo, I'm trying to understand what 'use generic netlink' means. This is a piece of what grep got me on iproute git repo (I'm still trying to understand) grep -i netlink -r iproute2/ iproute2/bridge/mdb.c:#include "libnetlink.h" iproute2/bridge/vlan.c:#include "libnetlink.h" ... .. > > >>- sub commands syntax >>- TODO/bugzilla >> >> >>On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 9:24 AM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote: >> >>>>> I was thinking of adding a TODO file to the repository, but it's really >>>>> for the new maintainer to decide what to do. So here's my list as a >>>>> suggestion: >>>>> >>>>> * Add regression test coverage for all sub-commands with complex logic >>>>> >>>>> * Internationalise output and error messages >>>>> >>>>> * Build a libethtool that handles all the API quirks and fallbacks for >>>>> old kernel versions. This might help people writing language >>>>> bindings or other utilities that use the ethtool API. >>>>> >>>>> * Provide a 'cleaned up' ethtool (under some other name) that has: >>>>> - More conventional sub-command syntax, i.e. no '-'/'--' prefix >>>>> - More consistent output formatting >>>> >>>>That seems like a reasonable start for a TODO list. I'll bet there >>>>are a few people out there with other suggestions as well...? >>> >>> Before that, I would like to see ethtool migrate to use generic >>> netlink. Then, the new tool would be needed anyway, should exist within >>> iproute2 package and have similar command line syntax. >>> >>> I have some ideas about the gennetlink ethtool, have to find some time >>> to implement some initial part of it. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: ethtool TODO list - additional info 2016-07-12 18:04 ` Jorge Alberto Garcia @ 2016-07-12 18:12 ` John W. Linville 2016-07-12 18:25 ` John Fastabend 2016-07-12 18:34 ` David Miller 0 siblings, 2 replies; 7+ messages in thread From: John W. Linville @ 2016-07-12 18:12 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Jorge Alberto Garcia; +Cc: Jiri Pirko, Ben Hutchings, netdev On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 01:04:52PM -0500, Jorge Alberto Garcia wrote: > On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 12:55 PM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote: > > Tue, Jul 05, 2016 at 05:37:42PM CEST, jorge.garcia.gonzalez@gmail•com wrote: > >>Hi ! > >> > >>Some days ago, Jiri Pirko was talking about some next steps to > >>implement for ethtool. > >> > >> I haven't seen any follow up since ethtool's maintainer change. Can we have > >>additional details about these ? > >> > >>- libethtool - API > >>- generic netlink > > > > Yep, exactly, no reply. Apparently nobody really want to do any initiative > > here, and I'm lacking time to do it :( > > > > That's fine, I already got a git repo, I'm trying to understand what > 'use generic netlink' means. > > This is a piece of what grep got me on iproute git repo (I'm still > trying to understand) > grep -i netlink -r iproute2/ > iproute2/bridge/mdb.c:#include "libnetlink.h" > iproute2/bridge/vlan.c:#include "libnetlink.h" > ... > .. The general notion would be to replace the current ioctl-based ethtool API with one that is based on netlink, like many of the other networking APIs. I'm fine with the general idea of that, but so far I haven't heard a strong case for why it is necessary. It certainly doesn't seem urgent to me -- if someone disagrees, then please explain! John > > > > > >>- sub commands syntax > >>- TODO/bugzilla > >> > >> > >>On Mon, Jul 4, 2016 at 9:24 AM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote: > >> > >>>>> I was thinking of adding a TODO file to the repository, but it's really > >>>>> for the new maintainer to decide what to do. So here's my list as a > >>>>> suggestion: > >>>>> > >>>>> * Add regression test coverage for all sub-commands with complex logic > >>>>> > >>>>> * Internationalise output and error messages > >>>>> > >>>>> * Build a libethtool that handles all the API quirks and fallbacks for > >>>>> old kernel versions. This might help people writing language > >>>>> bindings or other utilities that use the ethtool API. > >>>>> > >>>>> * Provide a 'cleaned up' ethtool (under some other name) that has: > >>>>> - More conventional sub-command syntax, i.e. no '-'/'--' prefix > >>>>> - More consistent output formatting > >>>> > >>>>That seems like a reasonable start for a TODO list. I'll bet there > >>>>are a few people out there with other suggestions as well...? > >>> > >>> Before that, I would like to see ethtool migrate to use generic > >>> netlink. Then, the new tool would be needed anyway, should exist within > >>> iproute2 package and have similar command line syntax. > >>> > >>> I have some ideas about the gennetlink ethtool, have to find some time > >>> to implement some initial part of it. > -- John W. Linville Someday the world will need a hero, and you linville@tuxdriver•com might be all we have. Be ready. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: ethtool TODO list - additional info 2016-07-12 18:12 ` John W. Linville @ 2016-07-12 18:25 ` John Fastabend 2016-07-12 18:34 ` David Miller 1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread From: John Fastabend @ 2016-07-12 18:25 UTC (permalink / raw) To: John W. Linville, Jorge Alberto Garcia; +Cc: Jiri Pirko, Ben Hutchings, netdev On 16-07-12 11:12 AM, John W. Linville wrote: > On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 01:04:52PM -0500, Jorge Alberto Garcia wrote: >> On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 12:55 PM, Jiri Pirko <jiri@resnulli•us> wrote: >>> Tue, Jul 05, 2016 at 05:37:42PM CEST, jorge.garcia.gonzalez@gmail•com wrote: >>>> Hi ! >>>> >>>> Some days ago, Jiri Pirko was talking about some next steps to >>>> implement for ethtool. >>>> >>>> I haven't seen any follow up since ethtool's maintainer change. Can we have >>>> additional details about these ? >>>> >>>> - libethtool - API >>>> - generic netlink >>> >>> Yep, exactly, no reply. Apparently nobody really want to do any initiative >>> here, and I'm lacking time to do it :( >>> >> >> That's fine, I already got a git repo, I'm trying to understand what >> 'use generic netlink' means. >> >> This is a piece of what grep got me on iproute git repo (I'm still >> trying to understand) >> grep -i netlink -r iproute2/ >> iproute2/bridge/mdb.c:#include "libnetlink.h" >> iproute2/bridge/vlan.c:#include "libnetlink.h" >> ... >> .. > > The general notion would be to replace the current ioctl-based > ethtool API with one that is based on netlink, like many of the other > networking APIs. I'm fine with the general idea of that, but so far > I haven't heard a strong case for why it is necessary. It certainly > doesn't seem urgent to me -- if someone disagrees, then please explain! > And probably obvious but you can't remove the ioctl based ethtool interface because we have a lot of software using it so you will have to maintain both in parallel if there is a netlink equivalent. Also most the stuff in ethtool tends to be things you set once at init time or for debugging so the benefit of notifiers and such are minimal. Sure if I was doing it from scratch netlink would be better and there are probably parts of it that are worth converting over where notifier hooks and standardizing would be beneficial. I think Roopa for example was coming up with some more general statistics mechanism. My $.02 anyways. JohnF ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: ethtool TODO list - additional info 2016-07-12 18:12 ` John W. Linville 2016-07-12 18:25 ` John Fastabend @ 2016-07-12 18:34 ` David Miller 2016-07-12 19:18 ` John W. Linville 1 sibling, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread From: David Miller @ 2016-07-12 18:34 UTC (permalink / raw) To: linville; +Cc: jorge.garcia.gonzalez, jiri, ben, netdev From: "John W. Linville" <linville@tuxdriver•com> Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2016 14:12:52 -0400 > I haven't heard a strong case for why it is necessary. Stats on large scale setups/systems is problematic and ethtool is a part of that problem. Extensibility in general suffers because of the ioctl() interface as well. For getting ethtool settings or stats, we have no clean filtering mechanism. I could go on and on... I think before any new features are added to ethtool, we move over to the netlink based interface and lock the existing ioctl() API in stone. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* Re: ethtool TODO list - additional info 2016-07-12 18:34 ` David Miller @ 2016-07-12 19:18 ` John W. Linville 0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread From: John W. Linville @ 2016-07-12 19:18 UTC (permalink / raw) To: David Miller; +Cc: jorge.garcia.gonzalez, jiri, ben, netdev On Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 11:34:06AM -0700, David Miller wrote: > From: "John W. Linville" <linville@tuxdriver•com> > Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2016 14:12:52 -0400 > > > I haven't heard a strong case for why it is necessary. > > Stats on large scale setups/systems is problematic and ethtool > is a part of that problem. > > Extensibility in general suffers because of the ioctl() interface as > well. > > For getting ethtool settings or stats, we have no clean filtering > mechanism. > > I could go on and on... > > I think before any new features are added to ethtool, we move over to > the netlink based interface and lock the existing ioctl() API in stone. OK, then I'll start looking at this. Thanks for providing some clarity! John -- John W. Linville Someday the world will need a hero, and you linville@tuxdriver•com might be all we have. Be ready. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2016-07-12 19:30 UTC | newest] Thread overview: 7+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed -- links below jump to the message on this page -- 2016-07-05 15:37 ethtool TODO list - additional info Jorge Alberto Garcia 2016-07-12 17:55 ` Jiri Pirko 2016-07-12 18:04 ` Jorge Alberto Garcia 2016-07-12 18:12 ` John W. Linville 2016-07-12 18:25 ` John Fastabend 2016-07-12 18:34 ` David Miller 2016-07-12 19:18 ` John W. Linville
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