Re: [PATCH net 2/3] net/mlx5e: Prevent entering switchdev mode with inconsistent netns

[Jianbo Liu]

On 9/12/2025 8:11 AM, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:48:24 +0800 Jianbo Liu wrote:
> > > > There is a requirement from customer who wants to manage openvswitch in
> > > > a container. But he can't complete the steps (changing eswitch and
> > > > configuring OVS) in the container if the netns are different.
> > >
> > > You're preventing a configuration which you think is "bad" (for a
> > > reason unknown). How is _rejecting_ a config enabling you to fulfill
> > > some "customer requirement" which sounds like having all interfaces
> > > in a separate ns?
> >
> > My apologies, I wasn't clear. The problem is specific to the OVS control
> > plane. ovs-vsctl cannot manage the switch if the PF uplink and VF
> > representors are in different namespaces. When the PF is in a container
> > while the devlink instance is bound to the host, enabling switchdev
> > creates this exact split: the PF uplink stays in the container, while
> > the VF representors are created on the host.
>
> So you're saying the user can mess up the configuration in a way that'd
> prevent them from using OVS. No strong objection to the patch (assuming
> commit message is improved), but I don't see how this is a fix.

Yes. We are preventing a configuration that breaks the OVS control plane 
for this specific use case. Thank you for the review. I will update the 
commit message.