On Tue, 9 Dec 2025 09:46:51 -0800 Breno Leitao wrote:

quoted

I think I was alluding that another option (not saying that it's the
best but IIUC your requirements it'd be the best fit)):

5) Add a keepalive configfs knob, if set to a non-zero value netconsole
will send an empty (?) message at given interval

  Pros:
   - truly does not require a user binary to run periodically, netcons
     would set a timer in the kernel
  Cons:
   - does not provide the arbitrary "console bypass" message
     functionality  

This is a good idea if we change it slightly. What about a "ping"
configfs item that send sit when I touch it?

Something as:

	# echo 1 > /sys/kernel/configs/<target>/ping

And it would ping the host with a predefined "ping" message, and nothing
else.

That would work, for my current problem, honestly.

One drawback compared to a more flexible "send_msg" is that I don't have
complete flexibility on the message format. Thus, if I want to pass
extra information such as a Nonce, timestamp, host state, interface
name, health state, it will not be possible, which is fine for now,
given I am NOT planning to use it at this stage.

If you still want to tickle it from user space periodically, I guess
send_msg is more flexible. I think the main advantage of keepalive
would be to remove the need for periodic userspace work.