Re: [PATCH net-next v3 5/9] Altera TSE: Add Miscellaneous Files for Altera Ethernet Driver

On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 7:28 PM, Ben Hutchings [off-list ref] wrote:

On Wed, 2014-03-12 at 15:26 -0700, Joe Perches wrote:

quoted

On Wed, 2014-03-12 at 21:14 +0000, Ben Hutchings wrote:

quoted

These look like the statistic names specified in IEEE 802.3.  I would
support a general move to using standard names for MAC stats in Ethernet
drivers, because they are quite clearly defined and widely implemented
in hardware.  However, that is not the current practice in most Linux
drivers.

Hey Ben.

Maybe something like this would be a start?

Change the actual #defines/strings to taste.

Maybe this shouldn't be in uapi or maybe in if_ether.h

[...]

This is pointless without also nailing down the definition of each
statistic.  That could be done with reference to standards/RFCs, of
course.

As I was working through the V4 patch and looking at the names used by
other drivers, it occurred to me it would be useful to create a set of
standard definitions that referenced the relevant IEEE Specification
and RFC. I'm willing to take that on for this submission by adding
those to the driver documentation. I think that would be useful to
users and could then be moved to a "standard definitions" text file
that other drivers could reference.

Joe had a few more comments I'd like to address (thanks Joe), I could
pick this up as part of a V5 submission if you agree, or if you have a
different suggestion I could possibly take that on as well.

Ben.

--
Ben Hutchings
Experience is directly proportional to the value of equipment destroyed.
                                                         - Carolyn Scheppner

All the best,

Vince