Re: [PATCH net-next v2 00/12] cdc_ncm: add buffer tuning and stats using ethtool

On Mon, 2014-05-19 at 09:36 +0200, Bjørn Mork wrote:

Lars Melin [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

Your target audience is embedded systems with limited cpu power and
buffer memory, right?
If so, then you can't expect them to have ethtool included and their
developers are not likely to be happy over having to "waste" another
100KB in order to tune a 20KB driver.
My vote goes for sysfs.

That's of course a very good point.

I will argue that you often need ethtool anyway for basic stuff like
forcing duplex/speed, enabling debug messages, turning on/off pause
frames etc.  But I don't doubt you know what you are talking about here
:-)  So I guess many small embedded devices don't include an ethtool
binary by default.  I do wonder how much we should adapt to that though?
I understand that you don't see it this way, but others might actually
see it as an advantage if we're forcing ethtool onto these devices...

[...]

By the way, ethtool can now be configured without pretty-printing of
register/EEPROM dumps.  This reduces it in size from ~240K to ~60K.

If that's still not small enough, the answer might be to put a limited
reimplementation of ethtool in busybox, toybox or similar.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
Never attribute to conspiracy what can adequately be explained by stupidity.