Re: [PATCH] net: usb: lan78xx: add weak dependency with micrel phy module

[Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com>]

On 7/24/2024 7:46 AM, Jose Ignacio Tornos Martinez wrote:
> Hello Andrew,
> 
>> Is MODULE_WEAKDEP new?
> Yes, and it has been merged into torvalds/linux.git from today:
> https://git.kernel.org/torvalds/c/f488790059fe7be6b2b059ddee10835b2500b603
> Here the commit reference in torvalds/linux.git if you update your repo:
> https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/61842868de13aa7fd7391c626e889f4d6f1450bf

What is the difference with the existing MODULE_SOFTDEP() which has pre 
and post qualifiers and seems just as fit?

> 
> I will include more references in case you want to get more information:
> kmod reference:
> https://github.com/kmod-project/kmod/commit/05828b4a6e9327a63ef94df544a042b5e9ce4fe7
> kmod test-suite has also been completed:
> https://github.com/kmod-project/kmod/commit/d06712b51404061eef92cb275b8303814fca86ec
> dracut patch has also been approved:
> https://github.com/dracut-ng/dracut-ng/commit/8517a6be5e20f4a6d87e55fce35ee3e29e2a1150
> 
>> It seems like a "Wack a Mole" solution, which is not going to
>> scale. Does dracut not have a set of configuration files indicating
>> what modules should be included, using wildcards? If you want to have
>> NFS root, you need all the network drivers, and so you need all the
>> PHY drivers?
> The intention is to have a general solution not only related to the
> possible phy modules. That is, it is a solution for any module dependencies
> that are solved within the kernel but need to be known by user tools to
> build initramfs. We could use wildcards for some examples but it is not
> always easy to reference them.
> In addition, initramfs needs to be as small as possible so we should avoid
> wildcards and in this case, include the only possible phy modules (indeed
> not all phy's are compatible with a device). In this way, with the default
> behavior, initramfs would include only the drivers for the current machine
> and the only related phy modules.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Best regards
> José Ignacio
> 
> 

-- 
Florian