Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next] ethtool: linkstate: add a statistic for PHY down events

From: Andrew Lunn <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2022 23:32:06 +0200

On Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 09:10:15AM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Oct 2022 14:19:08 +0200 Andrew Lunn wrote:
> > You might want to consider a generic implementation in phylib.
> 
> Would bumping a counter in phy_link_down() be suitable?

Yes, that seems reasonable.

> I'm slightly unsure about the cable test behavior but 
> I think increments during cable tests are quite fair.

Me too. The interface is not usable, and the link will do an auto-neg
once the cable test is finished. So it does seem reasonable to count
such events.

> > You should then have over 60 drivers implementing this, enough
> > momentum it might actually get used.
> 
> Depends on your definition of "get used", I can guarantee it will 
> get used according to my definition :)

We have too many features which only one driver implements. So yes,
you might use it, with one driver. But will it get used by others?  If
it magically starts working for more than 1/2 the kernel drivers, it
seems much more likely it will find more widespread us.

     Andrew