Re: ethtool documentation

[Abraham vd Merwe <abraham@2d3d.co.za>]

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Hi Tim!

> These are the valid parameters to the SIOCETHTOOL ioctl().  Network drivers
> should support these as much as possible.
> 
> ETHTOOL_GSET
> ETHTOOL_SSET
> 
>   Get/set NIC settings.  These commands expect a 'struct ethtool_cmd *'
>   argument.  This struct includes fields for supported features (speed,
>   duplex, transceiver), advertised features, speed, duplex, port,
>   transceiver, and autonegotiation.  If the caller attempts to set an
>   invalid value for any field, return -EINVAL.

What is the difference between the supported and advertising fields?
What is MII? (as in the SUPPORTED_MII feature?).

If you can't control the # of ints before Tx/Rx, I take it you can just
set those fields to 0?

> ETHTOOL_GDRVINFO
> 
>   Get driver information.  This command expects a 'struct ethtool_drvinfo *'
>   argument.  This struct includes the driver identifier as a string, the
>   driver version as a string, bus information for the interface, and length
>   information for other ETHTOOL_* commands.

What do you set the bus_info field to if there is no bus? Where are all
these bus types defined? The header file isn't very clear about anything
other than pci bus types.

I take it you can just set fw_version to zero length string if it is unknown?

> ETHTOOL_GEEPROM
> ETHTOOL_SEEPROM
> 
>   Get/set EEPROM data.  These commands expect a 'struct ethtool_eeprom *'
>   argument.  This struct has a magic number, an offset and length pair, and a
>   data field.  If the offset+length are longer than the maximum size, the
>   extra is silently ignored.

Wouldn't it have been better to make this 'n character device which can be
read from / written to just like a normal file (/dev/nvram-like interface) -
that way applications can actually use unused eeprom space.

> ETHTOOL_GCOALESCE
> ETHTOOL_SCOALESCE
> 
>   Get/set coalescing parameters.  These commands expect a 'struct
>   ethtool_coalesce *' argument.  This struct has several fields for
>   configuring coalescing - see ethtool.h for details.  If the caller
>   attempts to set an invalid value, return -EINVAL.

Wtf is coalescing parameters? These commands aren't even defined in the
2.4.18 kernel headers. Is this 2.5.xx additions?

Same goes for the following commands:

> ETHTOOL_GRINGPARAM
> ETHTOOL_SRINGPARAM
> ETHTOOL_GPAUSEPARAM
> ETHTOOL_SPAUSEPARAM
> ETHTOOL_GRXCSUM
> ETHTOOL_SRXCSUM
> ETHTOOL_GTXCSUM
> ETHTOOL_STXCSUM
> ETHTOOL_GSG
> ETHTOOL_SSG
> ETHTOOL_TEST
> ETHTOOL_GSTRINGS
> ETHTOOL_PHYS_ID
> ETHTOOL_GSTATS

-- 

Regards
 Abraham

Lying is an indispensable part of making life tolerable.
		-- Bergan Evans

__________________________________________________________
 Abraham vd Merwe - 2d3D, Inc.

 Device Driver Development, Outsourcing, Embedded Systems

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