[PATCH 0/2] ptp: split non-NIC PHC drivers into the clock/timekeeping maintenance domain
From: Wen Gu
Date: Wed Mar 18 2026 - 03:36:40 EST
Hi all,
This series follows the discussion in RFC v1 and RFC v2 [1-2].
# Background
The PTP Hardware Clock (PHC) interface (/dev/ptpX and the standard PTP_*
ioctls) was originally introduced for IEEE 1588 / network oriented clock
drivers. Over time, it has also become a common userspace API for many non-NIC
high-precision clock implementations (virtualization/platform/architecture
provided clocks) [3-7], and more are expected to appear [8-9].
During the review of these incoming non IEEE 1588 based PHC drivers, concerns
were raised that such "non-NIC" clocks may not be a good fit for the netdev
maintainership model [10], where PTP/PHC drivers are currently maintained.
This leaves an unclear upstream home and maintainership model for this class
of drivers.
# Proposal
This series proposes moving PHC drivers that expose a high-precision clock to
userspace via the existing PTP interface (/dev/ptpX + standard PTP_* ioctls),
but are not tied to the traditional NIC/IEEE 1588 packet timestamping
pipeline, out of the netdev maintenance domain and into the clock/timekeeping
maintenance domain.
As discussed in [1-2], this series makes the separation explicit by splitting
drivers/ptp/ into the following groups. This structure provides clearer
ownership and long-term maintenance boundaries:
- drivers/ptp/ : PTP core infrastructure and userspace ABI
(ptp_clock.c, ptp_chardev.c, ptp_sysfs.c,
ptp_vclock.c, etc.) remain here.
- drivers/ptp/ieee1588/ : network / IEEE 1588 oriented PTP drivers.
- drivers/ptp/emulated/ : non IEEE 1588 PTP drivers. They are typically
platform/architecture/virtualization/special
hardware provided high-precision time sources.
Patch 1 performs the refactor: move drivers and split Kconfig/Makefiles
accordingly, without intended functional changes.
Patch 2 updates MAINTAINERS to match the new layout and adds a dedicated entry
for drivers/ptp/emulated/, moving review and ownership routing for this class
of drivers away from the netdev maintainership.
No userspace ABI changes are intended, this is a refactor and maintenance
metadata update only.
# Changes since RFC v2:
- Keep ptp_ocp under the IEEE1588/network-oriented PTP drivers as suggested
by Jakub.
- Following the model used by NTP related code, this series lists tip.git
(timers/core) as the integration tree for emulated PTP clocks in the
MAINTAINERS entry. Guidance from clock/timekeeping maintainers
(Thomas Gleixner, John Stultz, Anna-Maria Behnsen, Frederic Weisbecker,
Daniel Lezcano, Stephen Boyd) on whether this is the appropriate workflow
for this class of drivers would be appreciated.
- Continue listing ourselves as maintainers for now as a fallback contact
point. In the long term it would be preferable for this area to be
maintained by clock/timekeeping experts, and suggestions are welcome.
Thanks for any input.
Regards.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/0afe19db-9c7f-4228-9fc2-f7b34c4bc227@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260227081934.96865-1-guwen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[3] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a0e136d436ded817c0aade72efdefa56a00b4e5e
[4] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=7d10001e20e46ad6ad95622164686bc2cbfc9802
[5] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=2d7de7a3010d713fb89b7ba99e6fdc14475ad106
[6] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=3716a49a81ba19dda7202633a68b28564ba95eb5
[7] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9a17125a18f9ae1e1233a8e2d919059445b9d6fd
[8] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251030121314.56729-1-guwen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[9] https://lore.kernel.org/mhi/20250818-tsc_time_sync-v1-0-2747710693ba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[10] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20251127083610.6b66a728@xxxxxxxxxx/
Wen Gu (2):
ptp: split clock drivers into two subdirectories
MAINTAINERS: update PTP maintainer entries after directory split
MAINTAINERS | 38 ++-
drivers/ptp/Kconfig | 255 ++-----------------
drivers/ptp/Makefile | 27 +-
drivers/ptp/emulated/Kconfig | 61 +++++
drivers/ptp/emulated/Makefile | 11 +
drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_kvm_arm.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_kvm_common.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_kvm_x86.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_s390.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_vmclock.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_vmw.c | 0
drivers/ptp/ieee1588/Kconfig | 179 +++++++++++++
drivers/ptp/ieee1588/Makefile | 16 ++
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_clockmatrix.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_clockmatrix.h | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_dfl_tod.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_dte.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_fc3.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_fc3.h | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_idt82p33.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_idt82p33.h | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_ines.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_mock.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_netc.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_ocp.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_pch.c | 0
drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_qoriq.c | 0
27 files changed, 322 insertions(+), 265 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 drivers/ptp/emulated/Kconfig
create mode 100644 drivers/ptp/emulated/Makefile
rename drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_kvm_arm.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_kvm_common.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_kvm_x86.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_s390.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_vmclock.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => emulated}/ptp_vmw.c (100%)
create mode 100644 drivers/ptp/ieee1588/Kconfig
create mode 100644 drivers/ptp/ieee1588/Makefile
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_clockmatrix.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_clockmatrix.h (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_dfl_tod.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_dte.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_fc3.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_fc3.h (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_idt82p33.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_idt82p33.h (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_ines.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_mock.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_netc.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_ocp.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_pch.c (100%)
rename drivers/ptp/{ => ieee1588}/ptp_qoriq.c (100%)
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2.43.5