Subject: Re: [PATCH net v4] smsc911x: only update stats when interface is up

From: Wolfram Sang <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2023 21:48:55 +0200

On Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 12:39:58PM -0700, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Mar 2023 08:40:10 +0200 Wolfram Sang wrote:
> > Otherwise the clocks are not enabled and reading registers will OOPS.
> > Copy the behaviour from Renesas SH_ETH and use a custom flag because
> > using netif_running() is racy. A generic solution still needs to be
> > implemented. Tested on a Renesas APE6-EK.
> 
> Hm, so you opted to not add the flag in the core?
> To keep the backport small? I think we should just add it..
> Clearly multiple drivers would benefit and it's not a huge change.

I did it this way for two reasons. First, yes, this is a minimal patch
for backporting. No dependency on core changes, very easy. Second, this
is a solution I could develop quickly. I am interested in finding
another solution, but I guess it needs more time, especially as it
probably touches 15 drivers. I created an action item for it. I hope
I'll be able to work on it somewhen. But for now, I just need the SMSC
bug fixed and need to move to the next issue. If we later have the
generic solution, converting this driver also won't make a lot of a
difference.