[RFC net-next 00/12] net: add the PON subsystem

Hi all,

I appreciate to get a common structure for PON gateways, 
HGUs and SFUs in place. 
As mentioned in the other thread on this topic 
([RFC] net: towards a generic PON framework)
https://lore.kernel.org/all/785bffbc-b028-46dd-b3de-b95a28122258@gmail.com/ (local)

we from MaxLinear have also discussed and implemented an abstraction at 
the Linux kernel boundary layer to abstract hardware devices and the OMCI stack 
accordingly. For that reason we definitely endorse such endevor in principle
and we will further comment and reply on this mailing list.

Having said that, such implementation shall be an implementation for all 
people using Linux and PON and not only one specific company implementation
that is being pushed here. The required abstraction needs to support multiple
chipsets and their underlying architectures. Different chips may do certain things
already in hardware (example PLOAM) while others do it in software.
Or how the data is being transferred between driver and OMCI (Ethernet or 
something else).

Before nailing down such interface, this homework needs to be done. 
From MaxLinear side we will look into this and compare to whatever public
information on the interface for the proposed Airoha chip is available, but from
a very first glance it cannot  and will not work as is, but needs abstractions for 
several building blocks. 
Our experts will reach out in this mailing list concerning specific implementations 
and questions on this current proposal.


Stephan Pruecklmayer
MaxLinear
Senior Technical Director Strategic Marketing and Standards