[dpdk-dev] [PATCH] doc: announce KNI ethtool removal

Jay Rolette rolette at infinite.io
Thu Jul 21 22:54:42 CEST 2016


On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 3:32 PM, Thomas Monjalon <thomas.monjalon at 6wind.com>
wrote:

> 2016-07-21 13:20, Jay Rolette:
> > On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 10:33 AM, Ferruh Yigit <ferruh.yigit at intel.com>
> > wrote:
> > > KNI ethtool is functional and maintained, and it may have users!
> > >
> > > Why just removing it, specially without providing an alternative?
> > > Is is good time to discuss KCP again?
> >
> > Yes, my product uses it.
>
> Your product uses what? KCP? KNI? KNI ethtool?
>

Sorry, that wasn't very clear. It uses KNI + ifconfig to configure the
device/interface in Linux. I'm assuming the "ethtool" bits under discussion
are the same things that make ifconfig work with KNI to the limited extent
it does.

> Seems like we are back to the same discussion we
> > had a few months ago about the KNI situation...
> >
> > It shouldn't be removed unless there is a replacement, ideally one that
> > works with the normal Linux tools like every other network device.
>
> This ethtool module works only for igb and ixgbe!
> There is already no replacement for other drivers.
> Who works on a replacement?
>

Ferruh submitted KCP previously, but you guys didn't like the fact that it
was a kernel module. IIRC, one of the gains from that was simplified
maintenance because you didn't need driver specific support for KNI.
Assuming he's still willing to beat it into shape, we have something that
is already most of the way there.

If people are going to continue to block it because it is a kernel module,
then IMO, it's better to leave the existing support on igx / ixgbe in place
instead of stepping backwards to zero support for ethtool.

> While the code wasn't ready at the time, it was a definite improvement
> over what
> > we have with KNI today.
>


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