Re: [RFC net-next 0/5] Support for PHY test modes

From: Florian Fainelli
Date: Tue May 01 2018 - 13:22:13 EST


On 04/30/2018 04:24 PM, Andrew Lunn wrote:
>> Turning these tests on will typically result in the link partner
>> dropping the link with us, and the interface will be non-functional as
>> far as the data path is concerned (similar to an isolation mode). This
>> might warrant properly reporting that to user-space through e.g: a
>> private IFF_* value maybe?
>
> Hi Florian
>
> I think a IFF_* value would be a good idea. We want to give the user
> some indicate why they don't have working networking. ip link show
> showing PHY-TEST-MODE would help.

IF_OPER_TESTING as defined in RFC 2863 looks like the correct way to
signal that. I did a quick test and setting operstate to
IFF_OPER_TESTING seems to correctly get reflected by iproute2/ifconfig
which no longer see RUNNING though the interface is still UP. If we
couple that with a proper phy_stop(), this would IMHO be consistent from
an user experience perspective.

David, would that look reasonable to you?
--
Florian