On 05/23/2017 06:04 PM, Mintz, Yuval wrote: >>>> Patches 6-8 add the "ethtool -f" and the boot-time firmware upgrade on >> the >>>> mlxsw spectrum driver. >>> When we tried using `ethtool -E' for qed we got burned for trying to use >> the magic >>> value [1]. When we suggested extending it to allow some private data >> indications, >>> Ben claimed that this entire ethtool infrastructure is a thing of the past, >>> and we should try using MTD instead - a claim no one bothered to counter. >>> >>> Creating proprietary file-formats, filling them with metadata and >>> complementary driver state-machines could easily overcome the original >>> obstacle we faced. But it raises the question of whether these APIs are >>> valid or obsolete. >> The metadata in our format is needed to allow us to hold several firmware >> images for several spectrum silicon variants in one file, hence the metadata >> is used by the driver and does not get transferred to the device. > Understood; Otherwise it would have been 'data' and not 'metadata'. > >> Our code can only be used to transfer firmware to the device, and cannot >> be used to configure the device. > Not sure what this refers to? The differences between '-f' and '-E'? > Also, assuming you haven't started selling your adapters as persistent memory > for storage, what's the difference? >
Sorry, I am not sure I understand. You think that drivers should not implement ethtool's flash_device callback anymore? do you have an alternative for firmware flash?
