Re: [RFC net-next v2 1/6] ethtool: Add loopback netlink UAPI definitions
From: Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
Date: 2026-03-09 16:46:04
Also in:
linux-rdma, lkml
From: Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
Date: 2026-03-09 16:46:04
Also in:
linux-rdma, lkml
quoted
+ doc: | + Loopback component. Identifies where in the network path the + loopback is applied. + entries: + - + name: mac + doc: MAC loopback + - + name: pcs + doc: PCS loopback + - + name: phy + doc: PHY loopback + - + name: module + doc: Pluggable module (e.g. CMIS (Q)SFP) loopbackShould we also add "serdes" ?
What is the difference between SERDES and PCS? Maybe we should also make it clear PHY means Ethernet PHY. The Marvell Generic PHYs have phy-mvebu-a3700-comphy.c:#define COMPHY_DIG_LOOPBACK_EN 0x23 phy-mvebu-cp110-comphy.c:#define MVEBU_COMPHY_LOOPBACK(n) (0x88c + (n) * 0x1000) which suggests it can also do loopback. We don't want PHY meaning two different things. And maybe we should comment that a Base-T SFP module which contains an Ethernet PHY should appear under PHY, not module? When Linux is driving the PHY, that should just happen. But if it is firmware driving the PHY in the module, we should make our expectations of the firmware clear. Andrew