Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next 2/3] ppp: unify two channel structs

From: Qingfang Deng <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 7 May 2026 13:53:30 +0800

On 2026/5/5 19:16, Paolo Abeni wrote:
> On 4/30/26 11:05 AM, Qingfang Deng wrote:
>> Historically, PPP maintained two separate structures for a channel:
>> 'struct channel' was internal to ppp_generic.c, while 'struct ppp_channel'
>> was the public interface that drivers were required to embed. This
>> duplication was redundant and forced drivers to manage the lifecycle of
>> the public structure.
>>
>> Unify these two structures into a single 'struct ppp_channel', which is
>> now internal to ppp_generic.c. Drivers now use a 'ppp_channel_conf'
>> structure to specify registration parameters and receive an opaque
>> pointer to the allocated channel.
>>
>> Key changes:
>> - ppp_register_channel() and ppp_register_net_channel() now return
>>    a 'struct ppp_channel *' instead of taking a pointer to a driver-
>>    embedded structure.
>> - 'struct ppp_channel_ops' methods now take the driver's 'private'
>>    pointer directly as their first argument, simplifying driver logic.
>> - ppp_unregister_channel() now takes the opaque pointer.
>> - Multilink-specific fields are unified and handled via the new
>>    configuration structure.
>>
>> This cleanup simplifies the driver interface and makes the channel
>> lifecycle management more robust by centralizing allocation in the PPP
>> generic layer.
>>
>> Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-3-flash
>> Signed-off-by: Qingfang Deng <[email-masked]>
>> ---
>>   drivers/net/ppp/ppp_async.c      |  51 +++++-----
>>   drivers/net/ppp/ppp_generic.c    | 161 +++++++++++++++----------------
>>   drivers/net/ppp/ppp_synctty.c    |  51 +++++-----
>>   drivers/net/ppp/pppoe.c          |  34 ++++---
>>   drivers/net/ppp/pppox.c          |   4 +-
>>   drivers/net/ppp/pptp.c           |  40 ++++----
>>   drivers/tty/ipwireless/network.c |  30 +++---
>>   include/linux/if_pppox.h         |   2 +-
>>   include/linux/ppp_channel.h      |  49 ++++++----
>>   net/atm/pppoatm.c                |  61 ++++++------
>>   net/l2tp/l2tp_ppp.c              |  34 ++++---
>>   11 files changed, 271 insertions(+), 246 deletions(-)
> This patch is IMHO a bit too big and should be split. Also this kind of
> refactor looks very invasive and potentially regression prone. I think
> it should include a signficant self-test coverage increase.
This is indeed too big. But how do I split it without breaking the build?