Re: [PATCH 04/37] atl1c: remove VPD register

From: David Miller
Date: Sat Apr 14 2012 - 14:25:28 EST


From: Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:22:49 +0100

> On Sat, 2012-04-14 at 09:12 +0000, Huang, Xiong wrote:
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: David Miller [mailto:davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>> > Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2012 8:46
>> > To: Huang, Xiong
>> > Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; qca-linux-team; nic-
>> > devel
>> > Subject: Re: [PATCH 04/37] atl1c: remove VPD register
>> >
>> > From: xiong <xiong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> > Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:14:29 +0800
>> >
>> > > VPD register is only used for L1(devid=PCI_DEVICE_ID_ATTANSIC_L1) to
>> > > access external NV-memory.
>> > > l1c & later chip doesn't use it any more.
>> > >
>> > > Signed-off-by: xiong <xiong@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> > > Tested-by: Liu David <dwliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >
>> > You just broke ethtool register dumps with this change.
>> >
>> > Now, all the initial registers are reported offset by one entry, yet the last two are
>> > still reported in their original spots.
>> >
>> > This layout is exposed to userspace, and interpreted by tools, and you cannot
>> > change it.
>> >
>> > If this register always reports some value, you should just keep it there in the
>> > dumps.
>> >
>> The VPD register doesn't report anything :(, just a dummy register now.
>> we don't have any special tools in userspace to explain the dumped registers.
>> Actually the purpose of dumping these registers via ethtool is just for debug.
> [...]
>
> Of course, the whole purpose of the operation is for debugging. But you
> should bump the dump version number (currently 0) every time you change
> the offsets of registers in the dump.

And also update the size, and not leave any holes between the actually
used register slots, etc.
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