On Sat, Jan 24, 2026 at 06:53:57PM -0800, Ethan Nelson-Moore wrote:

On Sat, Jan 24, 2026 at 10:48 AM Andrew Lunn [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

You are doing the same as phy_do_ioctl(), but for the old mii
code. However, we also have phy_do_ioctl_running(). It might make
sense to add usbnet_mii_ioctl_running()?

Hi, Andrew,

It makes sense in principle, but after applying my patch to smsc95xx
to use phy_do_ioctl_running, smsc75xx is the only driver that would
use such a function, so it would add complexity rather than removing
it.

It is not always about complexity. The mii subsystem is in Maintenance
mode only. Has been for a decade or more. All development work is done
in phylink and phylib. Ideally, drivers using mii should move over to
phylib.

I don't actually expect many will, it requires a driver Maintainer who
cares to do the work. It might however be an good "intro to kernel
hacking" for newbies, since such USB dongles are cheap. And anybody
doing such a conversion would likely learn a lot more than mindlessly
fixing checkpatch and other tools warnings.

usbnet_mii_ioctl_running() would be a hint to use
phy_do_ioctl_running() with such a conversion.

   Andrew