Re: [PATCH v2 00/17] net: introduce Qualcomm IPA driver (UPDATED)

From: Alex Elder
Date: Wed Mar 11 2020 - 23:10:06 EST


On 3/9/20 11:54 AM, Dave Taht wrote:
> I am happy to see this driver upstream.
>
>> Arnd's concern was that the rmnet_data0 network device does not
>> have the benefit of information about the state of the underlying
>> IPA hardware in order to be effective in controlling TX flow.
>> The feared result is over-buffering of TX packets (bufferbloat).
>> I began working on some simple experiments to see whether (or how
>> much) his concern was warranted. But it turned out that completing
>> these experiments was much more work than had been hoped.
>
> Members of the bufferbloat project *care*, and have tools and testbeds for
> exploring these issues. It would be good to establish a relationship with
> the vendor, obtain hardware, and other (technical and financial) support, if
> possible.
>
> Is there any specific hardware now available (generally or in beta) that
> can be obtained by us to take a harder look? A contact at linaro or QCA
> willing discuss options?

There exists some hardware that could be used, but at the moment I have
not ported this code to operate on it. It is a current effort however,
and I will be glad to keep you in the loop on progress. There are a
couple of target environments we'd like to support but until last week
the primary goal was inclusion in the upstream tree.

I will follow up with you after the dust settles a little bit with
this patch series, maybe in a week or so. In the mean time I'll
also find out whether there are any other resources (people and/or
hardware) available.

-Alex