[PATCH] staging: most: core: add autoconf ability

[Christian Gromm]

On Fri, 21 Apr 2017 18:15:43 +0200
Greg KH <gregkh at linuxfoundation.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 21, 2017 at 05:36:43PM +0200, Christian Gromm wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On 04/20/2017 05:26 PM, Greg KH wrote:
> > > On Thu, Apr 20, 2017 at 05:01:49PM +0200, Christian Gromm wrote:
> > > > This patch extends the driver with the possibility of automatic
> > > > configuration. This covers channel settings and connection
> > > > establishing of a MOST device interface while it is registered
> > > > with the core.
> > > > 
> > > > Making use of auto configuration will significantly cut the
> > > > start-up overhead and the duration until the driver is
> > > > available in userspace. Since the configuration depends on the
> > > > type of network interface controller its setup and the
> > > > peripheral interface, it can _not_ be part of the kernel and
> > > > needs to be added once the system has been engineered.
> > > 
> > > I don't understand, what is using this new api you have added?
> > > What is missing here?
> > 
> > What's missing is a module that holds the configuration, which looks
> > basically like the sample module below. Once such a module is loaded
> > along with the "regular" driver modules, configuration and linking
> > of the channels is done automatically and you don't need any user
> > space applications taking care of this.
> > 
> > But as stated in the commit message, this can't be part of the
> > kernel tree since the information contained by this module heavily
> > depends on what NIC is used, how it is configured and how the system
> > designer wants to layout the network.
> 
> Well, I can never add an api to the kernel that no one uses, so this
> isn't going to go very far at all.
> 
> Why don't you use DT for all of this?  It looks like that is exactly
> what you are wanting to have your driver know.
>

I understand the device tree as a description of the hardware layout
and to let the kernel know about what HW is there. Never heard that it
is (or can) used to configure certain modules.

thanks,
Chris

> good luck!
> 
> greg k-h