RE: [PATCH v2] eeprom/optoe: driver to read/write SFP/QSFP/CMIS EEPROMS

[Don Bollinger]

On Fri, 5 Mar 2021 2:55 PM -0800 Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Fri, 5 Mar 2021 11:07:08 -0800 Don Bollinger wrote:
> > Acknowledging your objections, I nonetheless request that optoe be
> > accepted into upstream as an eeprom driver in drivers/misc/eeprom.  It
> > is a legitimate driver, with a legitimate user community, which
> > deserves the benefits of being managed as a legitimate part of the linux
> kernel.
> 
> It's in the best interest of the community to standardize on how we expect
> things to operate. You're free to do whatever you want in your proprietary
> systems but please don't expect us to accept a parallel, in now way
superior
> method of accessing SFPs.

These are not proprietary systems.  The Network Operating Systems that use
optoe are open source projects, Linux based, available on github, and
contributing to the Linux source (see for example
https://github.com/Azure/SONiC).  The switches that these NOSs run on are
open spec systems
(https://www.opencompute.org/wiki/Networking/SpecsAndDesigns).  The fact
that they use the SDK from the switch silicon vendor should not mean they
are banished from the Linux community.

I am proposing acceptance of a commonly used implementation for accessing
SFPs because the one used by the netdev/netlink community does not fit the
architecture of the white box NOS/switch community.  I am not trying to pick
sides, I am trying to make optoe available to both communities, to improve
EEPROM access for both of them.

Don