On 21-11-2016 14:36, Giuseppe CAVALLARO wrote: > Hello Joao > > On 11/21/2016 2:48 PM, Joao Pinto wrote: >> Synopsys QoS IP is a separated hardware component, so it should be reusable >> by >> all implementations using it and so have its own "core driver" and platform + >> pci glue drivers. This is necessary for example in hardware validation, where >> you prototype an IP and instantiate its drivers and test it. >> >> Was there a strong reason to integrate QoS features directly in stmmac and >> not >> in synopsys/dwc_eth_qos.*? > > We decided to enhance the stmmac on supporting the QoS for several > reasons; for example the common APIs that the driver already exposed and > actually suitable for other SYNP chips. Then, PTP, EEE, > S/RGMII, MMC could be shared among different chips with a minimal > effort. This meant a lot of code already ready. > > For sure, the net-core, Ethtool, mdio parts were reused. Same for the > glue logic files. > For the latter, this helped to easily bring-up new platforms also > because the stmmac uses the HW cap register to auto-configure many > parts of the MAC core, DMA and modules. This helped many users, AFAIK. > > For validation purpose, this is my experience, the stmmac helped > a lot because people used the same code to validate different HW > and it was easy to switch to a platform to another one in order to > verify / check if the support was ok or if a regression was introduced. > This is important for complex supports like PTP or EEE. > > Hoping this can help. > > Do not hesitate to contact me for further details
Thanks for the highly detailed info. My target application is to prototype the Ethernet QoS IP in a FPGA, with a PHY attached and make hardware validation. In your opinion a refactored stmmac with the missing QoS features would be suitable for it? Thanks. > > peppe
