Re: [PATCH net-next v18 0/6] net: dsa: mxl862xx: devlink flash and rescue

[Daniel Golle <daniel@makrotopia.org>]

On Thu, Oct 01, 2026 at 01:19:01PM +0200, Paolo Abeni wrote:
> On 9/26/26 15:48, Daniel Golle wrote:
> > This series adds "devlink dev flash" and "devlink dev info" support to
> > the MaxLinear MxL862xx DSA driver, and makes a switch stuck in its
> > MCUboot loader recoverable through the same path.
> > 
> > The switch is flashed over the loader's clause-22 SMDIO download
> > interface after the firmware API has rebooted it into MCUboot, and the
> > driver reinitialises through a deferred detach and re-probe once the
> > new image runs. A switch found in MCUboot at probe registers in a
> > reduced rescue mode with firmware version 0.0.0, so the same flash flow
> > recovers it; an interrupted download is drained in the background
> > first. The deferred re-probe comes from a new driver-core helper,
> > device_schedule_reprobe(), which the bound driver calls without a
> > module reference; it also replaces the open-coded self-reprobe that
> > iwlwifi, hci_h5 and btintel_pcie carry, whose work function frees its
> > own module text from under a racing rmmod. fwupd's devlink plugin
> > carries the matching quirks [17].
> > 
> > Patch 3 is a driver-core change and patch 4 does not link without it,
> > so the series needs a driver-core ack before net-next can take it.
> > 
> > Tested on an MxL86252C switch of the BananaPi R4 Pro 8X: an upgrade
> > through fwupd; an unbind and a reboot issued while a flash was running,
> > which wait out the transfer and announce the wait; a host crash and a
> > power cut mid-transfer, recovered by the background drain and by the
> > rescue path on the next boot; and an unbind and a reboot issued while a
> > background drain was running, which abort the drain at once and let it
> > resume and complete on the rebind or reboot.
> > 
> > Changes since v17 [23]:
> 
> Out of sheer curiosity, what represent the number in the square brackets?

Those a are classic footnote references to the URLs listed on the bottom,
below the (lengthy...) history section of the cover letter. Maybe I should
move the URLs above the history section?

> 
> More feedback from clashiko. Requests about comments clarification
> are IMHO mostly pedant and could be ignored, but AFAICS there are a
> few actionable items on patches 3 and 4.

Yeah, I saw that, was about to prepare v19 and go into the next round
of mecha wars[1]. Patch 3 (the device-core one) should be perfect before
going in as it's (hopefully) about to become core infrastructure.


[1]: Fighting against Sashiko reminds me a lot of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion