Re: [PATCH iproute2] ip link: add sub-command to view and change DSA master

On Thu, 8 Sep 2022 08:08:23 -0600
David Ahern [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

Proposing any alternative naming raises the question how far you want to
go with the alternative name. No user of DSA knows the "conduit interface"
or "management port" or whatnot by any other name except "DSA master".
What do we do about the user-visible Documentation/networking/dsa/configuration.rst,
which clearly and consistently uses the 'master' name everywhere?
Do we replace 'master' with something else and act as if it was never
named 'master' in the first place? Do we introduce IFLA_DSA_MGMT_PORT as
UAPI and explain in the documentation "oh yeah, that's how you change
the DSA master"? "Ahh ok, why didn't you just call it IFLA_DSA_MASTER
then?" "Well...."

Also, what about the code in net/dsa/*.c and drivers/net/dsa/, do we
also change that to reflect the new terminology, or do we just have
documentation stating one thing and the code another?

At this stage, I'm much more likely to circumvent all of this, and avoid
triggering anyone by making a writable IFLA_LINK be the mechanism through
which we change the DSA master.  

IMHO, 'master' should be an allowed option giving the precedence of
existing code and existing terminology. An alternative keyword can be
used for those that want to avoid use of 'master' in scripts. vrf is an
example of this -- you can specify 'vrf <device>' as a keyword instead
of 'master <vrf>'

Agreed, just wanted to start discussion of alternative wording.