On Fri, 31 Mar 2000, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> DaveM pointed me to ethtool (include/asm-sparc/ethtool.h), which has
> been available on the Sparc platform for a while.
This is the standard Solaris tool.
I'm gussing the reason it's on Linux at all is to support the Sparc binary.
> If it is ok with
> everybody, I would like to make ethtool the standard tool for
> interacting with media selection in net device drivers.
What is the reason to switch to the Solaris model?
Solely because someone else uses it? (It's in the SPARC-specific side for a
reason -- it's a compatibility layer for Solaris.)
> It is a bit like Donald Becker's 'mii-diag' program, but less tied
> specifically to the MII interface.
The ioctl() calls have existed in Linux for years. Changing the interface
should have a solid technical rationale, not merely "lets change it to
change it".
MII is a well-considered register interface standard. It has flaws, but
none are significant enough to prevent its almost complete adoption as *the*
way to specify the media settings.
> The kernel-visible change would be to move include/asm-sparc*/ethtool.h
> into include/linux. The userspace portion already exists as a RedHat
> SRPM, but possibly needs hacking for cross-platform.
> It would be nice to have a standard way to do media selection like this
> for 2.4.0, and kernel-wise it is a small change (moving one header), but
> people may want to wait until 2.5.x.
Donald Becker
Scyld Computing Corporation, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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