Re: [PATCH net-next] net: ipconfig: Make device wait timeout configurable

[David Miller]

From: Thomas Bogendoerfer <tbogendoerfer@xxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 13:06:46 +0100

> If network device drivers are using deferred probing it's possible
> that waiting for devices to show up in ipconfig is already over,
> when the device eventually shows up. With the new netdev_max_wait
> kernel cmdline pataremter it's now possible to extend this time.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Bogendoerfer <tbogendoerfer@xxxxxxx>

This is one of those "user's shouldn't have to figure this crap out"
situations.

To me, a knob is always a step backwards, and makes Linux harder to
use.

The irony in all of this, is that the kernel knows when this stuff is
happening.  So the ipconfig code should be taught that drivers are
still plugging themselves together and probing, instead of setting
some arbitrary timeout to wait for these things to occur.